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Airbus Americas Chairman: $600 million Mobile plant to become 'showcase' facility
By Kelli Dugan | kdugan@al.com
November 16, 2012 at 12:44 PM
MOBILE, Alabama - As Airbus works to create its "showcase" facility at Mobile's Brookley Aeroplex, the planemaker will also be developing a site equipped to accommodate any number of future projects.
"We don't know what this industrial presence in the United States will stimulate," said Airbus Americas Inc. Chairman Allan McArtor Friday from the Airbus Engineering Center in Mobile Friday.
With aircraft demand expected to eclipse $4.5 trillion in the next 30 years and the United States representing the largest single-aisle market in the world, McArtor said what he does know is that selecting Mobile to house Airbus' first final assembly line in this country was a strategic step designed to help the company grow on pace with demand.
"I don't want (Airbus) to look back 20 years from now and say, 'What in the world were they thinking? Why didn't they plan for this in Mobile?' McArtor told a small group of reporters. "We have to make sure what we do here is compatible with (our) future growth."
more...
[al.com]
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Mobile area leaders look back on distinguished tenure of chamber president
By Ellen Mitchell | emitchell@al.com
on November 16, 2012
MOBILE, Alabama -- With the announced retirementof Win Hallett, president of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, many area leaders wondered if there was a person passionate enough about the city to fill his shoes.
Hallett, who has served as the business organization's president since 1991, announced his retirement today during the annual board of directors and advisor's fall meeting.
Elizabeth Sanders, president and CEO of the Downtown Mobile Alliance, said Hallett is responsible for and led the modernization of the chamber into the 21st century.
"He envisioned it and enabled it to happen," she said. "He also clearly understood and embraced the importance of a vital downtown commercial district. Win has been supportive and created good partnerships all throughout the years."
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Council tackles economic incentives plan;Rules for new businesses bring local policy in line with those of other large Alabama cities
By Jason Morton
Staff Writer
Published: Sunday, November 18, 2012
TUSCALOOSA | More than three months after it was suggested, the City Council appears to be moving forward with a new, citywide economic incentive policy.
The changes reflect rights and permissions granted to local governments in the early 2000s by the Alabama Legislature and brings Tuscaloosa's policy more in line with those of other large cities across the state.
City officials also contend that the changes are necessary to make Tuscaloosa more attractive to potential developers.
"The changes to the (Alabama) constitution (give) the city a lot of flexibility," said City Attorney Tim Nunnally during last week's meeting of the council's Public Projects Committee. "And it gives the city policy the same breadth that state law allows it to have."
more...
[al.com]
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Auburn opens $7 million research facility to test poultry feed
By Evan Belanger | ebelanger@al.com
November 16, 2012
AUBURN, Alabama -- Auburn University opened today a $7.1 million research facility that could increase statewide poultry production and drive down consumer costs.
Funded as a joint venture between Auburn and various poultry companies, the facility allows researchers to test various mixtures of poultry feed to increase production and seek additives that could reduce dependency on costly corn.
It is one of only two such facilities in the nation.
With the price of corn -- the primary ingredient in poultry feed -- at record highs, poultry feed costs constitute about 70 percent of the total production price, Auburn officials said during an opening ceremony today.
The research facility and similar technologies will also play an important role in increasing food production, said William Batchelor, dean of Auburn's college of agriculture.
more... [al.com] |
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If you build it ...
Building a key tool in wooing industry
11/18/12
By Bernie Delinski
Staff Writer
ROGERSVILLE - On the surface, it looks like 40,000 square feet of empty space.
Local leaders, however, say the speculative building in Rogersville Industrial Park is creating quite a stir. In fact, they say it might have paid for itself already by luring industrial prospects that located elsewhere in the Shoals.
The ultimate goal is for someone to locate an industry in the building, which was constructed at a cost of $1 million by the Shoals Economic Development Authority in 2010.
But another goal comes with that, SEDA President Forrest Wright said.
"To help understand and define the value of its success, understand it's both a recruiting tool and advertising tool," Wright said. "It has served its purpose to get people to look at this area and really set the new tone for the Rogersville park.
"The facility has been looked at by a lot of companies, some of which have actually chosen to be in the Shoals. It gave us the opportunity to showcase the entire area," he said.
An example is TASUS Corp., which announced this year plans to open a plant in the Florence-Lauderdale Industrial Park in a $19.1 million investment that will bring 135 jobs.
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[TimesDaily]
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Brasfield & Gorrie wins contract to build $545,000 prayer garden at Trinity United Methodist
Published: Monday, November 19, 2012
By Stan Diel | sdiel@al.com
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Brasfield & Gorrie has been awarded the contract to build a $545,000 prayer garden and columbarium at Homewood's Trinity United Methodist Church, the company announced today.
Work on the 4,500 square-foot project began last month. A columbarium is a vault for urns.
The project will include a stone labyrinth and fountain, as well, Brasfield & Gorrie said in a prepared statement. The addition is being built between the East Narthex and Wesley Hall. Johnson & Co. is the architect on the project.
"This prayer garden will add a unique element to the campus and will be a special place all church members can enjoy and appreciate," Robby Hayes, operations manager at Brasfield & Gorrie, said in a prepared statement.
more...
[al.com]
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