Work on plant to start in March

02/09/03

By GUY BUSBY

Baldwin Register
Staff Reporter
 

FOLEY -- The announcement that more than 100 new manufacturing jobs are coming to Foley was welcome news to Baldwin officials who hope it is the start of a new upward economic trend for the area.

On Friday, representatives of Pro-Cell announced that they were building a new plant east of Foley to manufacture vinyl decking material. The plant will employ about 30 people in its first year of operation and more than 100 after three years, according to Kevin Sloan, one of the owners of Pro-Cell.

Lance LaCour, director of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance, said the new plant is a good start toward the group's goal of creating 1,000 new jobs in the area after almost two years of a slow economy.

"Our goal this year is to come up with plans for 1,000 new jobs in the county," he said. "That's both in new industry and expansions of existing industry."

LaCour said the announcement by Pro-Cell comes on top of news of other jobs coming into the county, such as 25 to 40 jobs at the Essex Express trucking operation in the Loxley area. Robertsdale officials also announced that a boat manufacturing company planned to open in central Baldwin, employing about 20 people, according to reports.

LaCour said that since 2001, about 1,200 jobs have been lost in Baldwin County through plant cutbacks and closings. Many of those jobs were lost when the Packard Hughes plant closed in Robertsdale in March 2002 and the Foley and Fairhope plants of Goodrich were consolidated, LaCour said.

Other losses were the result of attrition as workers left plants and were not replaced.

"It's been on the down side with businesses not wanting to stay with us, but it's such a relief to have a business come down here and we welcome you," State Rep. Joe Faust told the Pro-Cell executives on Friday.

Sloan said he and his father, Larry Sloan, also an owner of the company, feel that the Pro-Cell plant should provide jobs well into the future. He said the company is an environmentally friendly operation and that the demand for long-lasting vinyl deck material should increase in the future.

Both Sloans praised the work done by LaCour and Foley officials in helping them select the area for the plant.

"After we told them what we were looking for, Lance was like a bulldog, meeting with us on Saturdays, whatever it took," Kevin Sloan said. "People like the mayor (Tim Russell) council and board members have been great."

Sloan said the response by local officials, as well as south Baldwin's location near the Southeastern markets that the company hopes to serve, led them to select the Foley site.

"We feel very welcome in Baldwin County and in Foley," he said.

Sloan said the company will make boards from a vinyl compound that will last longer than conventional lumber. He pointed out that vinyl is a safe product and that pipes used to carry water are often made from a vinyl compound.

Russell said local officials have worked since November to bring the company to the area.

"We're delighted to have Pro-Cell joining our community," he said. "It's a great day for Foley and for Baldwin County."

Company officials plan to build the 60,000-square-foot facility on a 20-acre tract east of Foley on the Foley Beach Express. Work on the plant is scheduled to start in March, with the first boards produced by June. The material should be on the market by late July or August, Sloan said.

Pro-Cell will lease the site from the Foley Industrial Development Board under an agreement in which the lease price will be tied to the annual payroll.

The lease price, which starts at $20,000 an acre, will be reduced as the local payroll is increased, according to the agreement.

The annual payroll at the end of year one is projected to be more than $750,000. The payroll is predicted to increase to $3.5 million in the next three years, according to a statement issued by the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance.