Greensboro, North Carolina, Considers Incentives To Lure British Aerospace Manufacturer to PTI
Apr. 17—GREENSBORO — The city may offer at least $240,000 in incentives to a British aerospace manufacturer to build a maintenance facility here.
The agenda for today's 5:30 p.m. City Council meeting includes a public hearing for incentives offered to Marshall USA, a subsidiary of Marshall Aerospace. The council meets at 300 W. Washington St.
The company is proposing to build the $50 million facility at Piedmont Triad International Airport and create up to 240 jobs, according to city documents.
The average wage for the new full-time positions would be approximately $73,250 with additional benefits and no new jobs will pay below $15 per hour, the documents say.
The company expects to create the new jobs by Dec. 31, 2027. The incentive grant would expire if the new jobs are not created and the investment is not made by that date.
The company is also eligible for an additional $250 incentive per job for any new employee whose permanent address is located in an "Impact Zone" or who is hired through NCWorks Career Centers.
The company would be paid in annual installments after the new jobs are created and the investment is confirmed. The agreement also would have a claw-back provision that requires the new jobs be maintained for a certain period of time (not yet specified) and capital investment be made as per the incentive grant agreement.
The new facility would allow the company to better meet the C-130 aircraft maintenance requirements of the U.S. military, documents say.
"It's a company that we would be very pleased to bring to Greensboro and Guilford County," Mayor Nancy Vaughan said.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners plans to hold a similar public hearing at its 5:30 p.m. meeting on Thursday. The county would offer up to $308,879 in incentives, plus a $124,000 local matching fund utility grant. The board meets at the Old County Courthouse, 301 W. Market St.
A state Commerce Department incentive package also is likely from the Job Development Grant program.
According to its website, Marshall Aerospace has operations in the U.K., Europe, Middle East, Canada and U.S. Its primary customers are Air Forces across the globe.
PTI already has a FedEx cargo-sorting hub, HAECO maintenance facilities, HondaJet manufacturing operations, as well as other aviation companies on its campus. And Boom Supersonic is building a supersonic jet manufacturing facility at the airport, with plans to create 2,400 jobs by 2032.
PTI remains the state's third-largest airport overall and third for commercial service, at $9.3 billion in economic impact in 2021, according to an N.C. Aviation Division report released in January. That is up 7.6% from the 2019 report.
John H. Boyd, a global site-selection expert with The Boyd Co. of Boca Raton, Fla., recently told the News & Record that it's not surprising that Marshall is considering PTI for the maintenance facility given the burgeoning aerotropolis and advanced manufacturing already in the Triad.
"Even more so than pharma and biotech, the aerospace industry — given its very demanding, precision skill sets in manufacturing and engineering — tends to cluster when making location decisions," Boyd said.
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