Swift plant will come to Foley

Should open within a year, employ up to 100 workers

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Press Register

By GUY BUSBY Staff Reporter FOLEY

Swift Supply of Atmore will open a plant in Foley within the next year that could employ up to 100 workers making wooden supports to be used in home construction, according to officials.

The Foley Industrial Development Board voted to lease a 23-acre, city-owned site on the Foley Beach Express to Swift. The company will pay $25,996 a year for 11 years to lease the site east of Foley, according to the agreement.

David Swift, president of Swift Supply, said he hopes to have the facility open within a year.

The plant will make trusses, prefabricated components to reinforce houses, he said. It should employ 20 people soon after opening, increasing to 30 in about two years, and continue to expand until about 100 people are working at the site, he said.

The company's payroll is expected to be about $550,000 a year with 20 workers, or about $27,500 per job, increasing to about $895,000 after two years, according to the agreement between the city and Swift. The company's projection is that another 15 workers would be added in the third year, increasing the annual payroll to about $1.45 million. Bob Higgins of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance said manufacturing jobs are a particular benefit to the region.

"Our economy is growing so rapidly here, especially in service and hospitality, that it makes it more important to have economic diversity," he said. "You need a good mix in the economy, and manufacturing is a really strong sector to have there."

Swift said the Foley location will allow the company to make the trusses near the booming housing markets in south Baldwin, Northwest Florida and coastal Mississippi. Higgins said having the building materials made in Foley could also help lower area housing costs. He called that a key to the economic health of Baldwin County, where a variety of workers needs to be able to find affordable homes. The company plans to spend about $2.7 million to build and equip the plant, according to the agreement between the city and Swift.

In return, Foley officials will waive property taxes that are not earmarked for education for the term of the 11-year lease. The tax abatement will save Swift about $47,890 a year, according to the agreement.

The company will also have the option to buy the 23-acre site for $100 at the end of the lease if the facility remains in Foley, according to officials.

Swift said that while his family has operated a lumber facility in Atmore since the 1920s, the company's roots are in south Baldwin. The Swift family ran a sawmill in the Bon Secour area in the 1880s, he said, which is an area still known as the Swift community.