Incentives Land GE Aviation for Auburn

Nov. 01--When GE Aviation announced last year that it was building a jet engine parts factory in Auburn, it said the site would make coatings for components in the GE Rolls-Royce F136 jet engine for the Joint Strike Fighter F-35 planes.

Defense funding for the Joint Strike Fighter is now up in the air, but GE Aviation is still committed to Auburn. It broke ground there Monday on a 300,000-square-foot, $50 million facility.

Although the contract for the F-35 may still be, well, up in the air, the plant, expected to employee between 300 and 400 people by the end of the decade, will still produce precision, super-alloy machined parts for GE jet engines for future commercial and military aircraft, as well as existing aircraft, officials said Monday.

Every two seconds an airplane with a GE engine takes off somewhere in the world, said Colleen Athans, a vice president and general manager at GE Aviation.

"We are here to stay," Athans told a crowd of local and state officials at the groundbreaking.

This year, commercial engine production by GE Aviation and GE's two partner companies is expected to grow more than 10 percent from 2010's 2,000 engines, the company said. GE Aviation ex pects to invest hundreds of millions of dollars across 30 facilities in the U.S. in the next several years.

As for why GE Aviation chose Auburn for this new facility, Athans said there were a lot of factors. Most important were the local incentives, she said. Educational resources, including Auburn and Tuskegee universities, and proximity to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport were others high on the list.

A spokesperson for the Alabama Development Office said Monday evening that the state did not have an incentive agreement with GE.

The city of Auburn, however, approved the following incentives earlier this year, according to council meeting minutes:

--About 45.09 acres on a lease/sale arrangement in the Auburn Technology Park West;

--Up to $700,000 for site improvements;

--$25,000 for a Phase II at the site;

--A 15-year tax abatement for the project;

--A waiver of building permits and water/sewer access fees;

--Up to $50,000 for relocation assistance.

--Up to $90,000 for training assistance; and

--Financing for a build to suit/lease back arrangement for a manufacturing facility.

Gov. Robert Bentley and others praised GE Aviation on its decision to locate in Auburn and pledged their backing.

"On a state level, we want to do everything we can to support you," Bentley said.

He told Athans that she would find hard-working, well-trained workers in east Alabama.

GE Aviation will soon begin recruiting at Auburn and Tuskegee. Limited hiring will begin next year.

Rick Kennedy, a GE Aviation spokesman, said that the hundreds of jobs expected by the end of the decade will be a mix of salaried engineers and hourly positions.

GE Aviation is based in Cincinnati and is an operating unit of GE, which already has about 1,400 employees in Alabama. GE Aviation has 37,000 employees worldwide.

House Speaker Mike Hubbard, who represents Lee County and lives in Auburn, told GE Aviation representatives Monday that they will quickly learn that they made the right choice by locating in Auburn. He added that it is a great place to live, work and raise a family.

Like Bentley, he pledged his support to his new constituent.

"You have a friend in the Alabama Legislature, a very pro-business Legislature."

The GE groundbreaking was the second of the day in Lee County. Pharmavite LLC, manufacturer of Nature Made vitamins and SOYJOY bars, celebrated beginning work at its 330,000square-foot facility in Opelika. When it opens in 2013, it is expected to employ 230 people.

Copyright 2011 - Montgomery Advertiser, Ala.