Chambers County lands Kia suppliers

Ledgerenquirer.com

February 12, 2008

The Alabama cities of Valley and Lanett have lost 1,000 textile jobs over the last year.

But the Chambers County communities, located about 45 minutes north of Columbus, have suddenly made up that lost work force in a big way.

Three Kia Motors auto parts suppliers have committed to the area's Cusseta Industrial Park off Interstate 85. Combined, they represent nearly 800 jobs for the county that, at 6.3 percent, has one of the highest unemployment rates in Alabama.

'It's, in a single word -- hope,' Valley Mayor Arnold Leak said Tuesday, referring to the three parts plants that look to be up and running by late this year or early 2009.

They all will supply the 2.4-million-square-foot Kia factory now under construction in West Point, Ga., about a 15-minute drive northeast of Valley and Lanett.

'To have some spinoffs coming, we're very appreciative of it,' Leak said.

The first to commit to the communities along the Georgia-Alabama border was South Korea-based Daeki America, which announced its intentions in early January, then broke ground Tuesday on a 42,000-square-foot facility. The company, which makes vehicle air filters, is investing $7.4 million into the plant that will eventually employ 80.

The big catches, however, are A-Jin Industrial Co. and MP Tech Inc., both also from South Korea and, like Daeki, building their first U.S. plants.

A-Jin is a metal stamping company that will invest nearly $89 million into a 330,000-square-foot factory. It will ramp up to 450 employees over three years, according to the Industrial Development Authority of Chambers County.

MP Tech manufactures LED lighting. It is investing $30 million into a 150,000- square-foot facility that will have 250 on its payroll.

'I think incentives played a large part of it, our location and our prime industrial property,' Valerie Gray, Chambers County's economic development director, said of landing the three Kia suppliers.

She called the 13-month courting process 'very competitive and very labor intensive,' including visits nearly a year ago to Seoul, South Korea.

The formal project agreement, which should be signed within 30 days, includes a standard 10-year abatement on property taxes, as well as land and site preparation, Gray said. No education-related taxes are abated, however.

Though she did not disclose a total investment by state and local entities for bringing the parts suppliers to the area, she said it should cost $5,000 per job. The projected 780 jobs on the table would add up to $3.9 million.

That's a price tag the area is willing to pay, Gray said, considering the county has lost 7,500 textile jobs since she arrived in 1999. Fewer than 300 textile jobs remain, she said.

'This is a shot in the arm to us and, of course, more promising things to come in the future,' she said.

The success with the Kia suppliers have given local officials economic confidence they haven't felt in years, said Gray, who now wants to diversify the county's industrial base.

'We do anticipate more suppliers,' she said. 'But we want to focus on some other companies as well and not just be completely saturated with the automotive industry. We want to take a more targeted approach.'

Leak said the county is becoming very proactive, looking to invest in infrastructure such as roadways, develop old textile mills and address quality-of-life issues through parks and walking trails.

'We're trying to redefine ourselves,' he said. 'It's just taking a long time and it's very hard to do. Small towns like Lanett and Valley don't have a lot of resources.'

Chambers County is home to about 36,000 people, with Valley's 9,200 residents and Lanett's 8,400 making up a large portion of the population.

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