West Virginia Business Blog

Positive Economic Development News Continues As Summer Approaches

2008-06-13T11:03:00.000-04:00

(The information was compiled from media reports and information from the West Virginia Development Office.)

Purchase Signals State Aircraft Maker May Take Off
An aircraft manufacturing operation in Martinsburg may see better times thanks to a recent acquisition of the company. In late May it was announced that Emirates Investment & Development, also known as Emivest, had acquired an 80 percent interest in Sino Swearingen Aircraft Corp. The transaction, according to a statement from Sen. Jay Rockefeller, is great news for the company and its Martinsburg employees. In a prepared statement, Emivest said the acquisition will enable Sino Swearingen to initiate full-scale production of its SJ30 business jet. The fuselage, wings and tail for the jet are manufactured at Martinsburg, and the aircraft is assembled in San Antonio, Texas. Emivest said Sino Swearingen has more than 550 employees in San Antonio and Martinsburg.

New Federal Contract Expands FBI Center’s Biometrics Efforts
Two Fairmont companies are joining Lockheed Martin Corporation in developing a new biometrics project for the FBI's fingerprint center in Clarksburg. The companies are Global Science and Technology and Innovative Management and Technology Services. The project, called the Next Generation Identification System, will expand the size of the FBI's current database for fingerprints and other biometrics identifiers. The new system will include palm prints, iris scans and facial recognition capabilities. The 10-year contract is valued at $1 billion.

DirecTV Purchasing West Virginia Call Center; Preserving 600 Jobs
More than 600 jobs will be saved thanks to DirecTV’s purchase of a Huntington call center. The company has agreed to pay approximately $1.5 million for PRC's Huntington operations, which could preserve more than 600 jobs depending on how many employees are retained. DirecTV is the call center's sole customer and says it expects to keep most of the center's workers.

CertainTeed Gypsum Opens Massive New Plant Near Moundsville
CertainTeed Gypsum hosted the grand opening of its new manufacturing plant near Moundsville on May 30. At $150 million, the CertainTeed Gypsum plant represents the largest manufacturing investment in the state since 1996, when Toyota announced it was locating an engine plant in Buffalo. The 750,000-square-foot manufacturing facility sits near the American Electric Power (AEP) Kammer-Mitchell coal-burning power plant. CertainTeed recycles a byproduct from AEP's scrubber stack and converts it into raw material for producing high-quality gypsum wallboards. The new plant is expected to create 200 jobs within three years.

Italian Auto Parts Firm Expanding Manufacturing Operations In Wayne County
Allevard Sogefi is investing $7 million to add production of engine filter systems to its manufacturing plant in Prichard, W.Va. The Allevard Sogefi USA Inc. plant will continue to produce stabilizer bars for vehicle suspensions. The new engine filter systems product line is expected to start operation by the end of 2009 and create 65 jobs by the end of 2010. West Virginia will be the site of the first engine filter systems production site the Italian automotive component manufacturer has built in North America. Sogefi is recognized as a worldwide leader in car vehicles components, specializing in filtration systems and the suspensions' flexible components.

Plastics Recycling Firm Begins Operations In Jackson County
Intercontinental Export-Import Inc. (IEI) has opened a plastics recycling operation called Total Recycling Solutions LLC, in Ravenswood. IEI purchased the 217,000-square-foot polymer processing facility formerly occupied by Ravenswood Specialty Services Inc. The plant will provide extrusion, grinding and other services. Initially the company will employ 40 people, projected to increase to 185 in three years. IEI has operated in West Virginia for about five years. The company has two facilities in Wood County and has expanded operations four times during this period.

AT&T Latest To Upgrade Wireless Network
AT&T is investing $27 million to upgrade and expand its wireless network in West Virginia, the company announced recently. AT&T will unveil third-generation technology on its network along the Interstate 64 corridor from Charleston to Olive Hill, Ky. By year-end, the company plans to offer wireless service along the entire length of the West Virginia Turnpike. Company officials say third-generation technology will be extended across the network over the next two years. Third-generation (3G) technology offers a variety of advanced features, including simultaneous voice and data. Verizon, which bought West Virginia Wireless last year, is preparing to launch its own 3G wireless service here this fall.

Toyota Investing $500 Million To Improve Putnam Plant
Toyota is investing $500 million to maintain the competitiveness of its massive production facility in Putnam County. Even though the engine and transmission manufacturing plant is the most productive in North America, Toyota Motor has been making the investment to upgrade its production lines and to keep up with the latest technology. The investment is spread among the four- and six-cylinder lines and the automatic transmission plant. The facility currently has 1,350 workers.

NGK Celebrates Opening Of New Spark Plug Plant
NGK Spark Plug Co. Ltd. marked the opening of its new spark plug plant near Sissonville in May. The new facility was built alongside the company's existing oxygen sensor plant and distribution center. The $15 million spark plug plant spans 85,000 square feet and houses two assembly lines capable of producing 20 million spark plugs per year. Jobs created by this new facility will total 80 within three years' time. The sensor plant and distribution center employ more than 200 people.

Suddenlink Plans New $3.5M Call Center In W.Va.
Suddenlink Communications has announced that it will expand its call center in Wood County and add 33 new jobs. The $3.5 million addition will be completed by October. The 18,000-square-foot facility will serve 240,000 cable, Internet and phone customers in a five-state region. The company currently employs 188 people in Parkersburg.

Spring Arrives With Positive Economic Development Announcements

2008-05-01T10:05:00.001-04:00

As questions and concerns grow regarding whether or not the United States has slipped into a recession, West Virginia’s economy seems to be holding its own. Provided are several recent positive economic development announcements that illustrate this.

State Employment Up; Unemployment Down
West Virginia’s unemployment rate fell three-tenths of a percentage point to 5.4 percent in March, WORKFORCE West Virginia reports. The number of unemployed state residents fell 3,000 to 43,200. Total nonfarm payroll employment rose 8,300, with gains of 1,700 in the goods-producing sector and 6,600 in the service-providing sector. Within the goods-producing sector gains of 1,800 in construction and 100 in natural resources and mining, the state had a decline 200 manufacturing jobs. The service-providing sector contained a number of gains including 1,700 in leisure and hospitality, 1,500 in government, 1,300 in trade, transportation, and utilities, 900 in professional and business services, 500 in educational and health services, 500 in other services, and 200 in financial activities. Information employment was unchanged over the month. Since March 2007, total nonfarm payroll employment has risen 1,600, with a gain of 4,900 in the service-providing sector versus a decline of 3,300 in the goods-producing sector.

Construction Begins On Chemical Plant At Belle
The Kureha Corp. has broken ground on a new plastics manufacturing plant in Belle. In December, the Japan-headquartered Kureha Corp. announced it would build a $100 million plastics plant on the grounds of DuPont Co.'s Belle plant. The plant will produce polyglycolic acid, or PGA, a polymer used in food and beverage packaging. Production of PGA - sold under the Kuredux trade name - in Belle should begin in early 2010, creating 50 jobs. During the heavy construction phase in 2009, nearly 250 construction workers will be hired.

CSX Relocating 80 Dispatchers To Huntington
In early April CSX Huntington announced expansion plans that include creating 80 new dispatcher jobs with an average annual wage of $75,000 plus benefits. The dispatchers will be based at CSX division headquarters in Huntington, W.Va. Additional support positions will also be created. The $7.8 million investment for the expansion project includes renovations and new equipment, as well as relocation costs. This expansion is part of CSX's corporate plan to relocate approximately 300 trained dispatchers from Jacksonville, Fla. to six locations across its 21-state system.

ICG Opens New Mine In Raleigh County
International Coal Group has invested $90 million to breathe new life into a former coal mine in Raleigh County. Company officials had a dedication ceremony recently at the Beckley Pocahontas #3 mine in Eccles. Ultimately, company officials said the mine will employ more than 250 workers, have a $19 million annual payroll and generate $12 million in state taxes. Production is expected to start in September, and at full production the mine is expected to yield 1.4 million tons of high-quality metallurgical coal each year.

Production Ready To Resume At Stamping Plant
Charleston Stamping & Manufacturing Inc. is one step closer to resuming production at its complex in South Charleston. The company, which took over the auto body stamping plant in South Charleston last year, has completed to robotic press lines and is ready to start production. The company is investing $20 million to restart the plant, and the state of West Virginia is providing another $15 million. At the time of the plant reopening announcement last May, company officials said the addition of new automation equipment was expected to allow the plant to create 79 jobs in its first year, 140 jobs in its second year and as many as 550 jobs in its fourth or fifth year.

Groundbreaking Ceremony For New Business Park
Governor Joe Manchin, Harrison County officials and private developers held a groundbreaking ceremony today for a new 250-acre business park that is just off I-79 near Bridgeport. The White Oaks Business Park is being constructed next to the Jerry Dove Drive exit of Interstate 79. Developers envision White Oaks will eventually contain retail stores, offices, health care and leisure facilities. The business park is expected to generate $150 million in new building construction and take about seven years to fully develop. One of the first tenants will be Steptoe & Johnson, which is going to relocate the law firm’s main office there.

New Prison Possible For Preston County Complex

2008-01-08T16:05:00.000-05:00

The U.S. Bureau of Prisons is considering a major expansion at its sprawling complex in Preston County, W.Va. The bureau is exploring the construction of a medium-security facility that would hold more than 1,100 inmates and include a central utility plant, radio tower, warehouses and a staff training center. The new facility would create 250 new jobs.

The prison system already operates a high-security men’s prison, a minimum-security men’s camp and a women’s prison at the site. About 450 employees work at the existing facilities, which hold 2,355 inmates. West Virginia has five federal prisons and is building a sixth, a medium-security complex in McDowell County.

Work Nearing Completion on WVHTC Foundation’s New Towers

2008-01-02T09:00:00.000-05:00

Work is nearing completion of the West Virginia High Technology Consortium Foundation’s north and south towers that stand alongside I-79 in south Fairmont. The two buildings, which will cost about $25 million, are the newest addition to the foundation's sprawling I-79 Technology Park. Construction started on the project about a year and a half ago, and the buildings will house primarily high-technology companies. The facilities feature balconies, roof-top gardens, and a 6,000-square-foot conference facility.

The south building will be occupied first, and Northrop Grumman Corp. will be the initial tenant to move into the facility on March 1. Work has also started on the space for Electronic Warfare Associates Inc. (EWA) in the south tower, and that office should be completed and ready for move-in at the end of March. ManTech International Corp. is expected to move into the north building in May or June.

New Corporate Headquarters Building Set For Parkersburg

2008-01-02T08:54:00.000-05:00

Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield has signed a contract to build a four-story corporate headquarters building in downtown Parkersburg. The $19.3 million building will be located at Seventh and Market Streets. Construction is expected to begin in early January and the company plans to move into the new building by March 2009.

The new building will consolidate the company’s 675 Parkersburg-based employees into one building, enhancing operating efficiencies. The total cost of the project, including furniture, equipment and fixtures is expected to be about $27 million.

Japanese Company Will Open Plastics Plant In Kanawha Valley

2007-12-18T09:56:00.000-05:00

Kureha Corp. will invest more than $100 million to build a specialty plastics plant at Belle, W.Va. and create about 50 new jobs. The project will occupy some of the vacant land inside the DuPont plant.

The Japanese company, headquartered in Tokyo, is a producer of specialty chemicals and plastic products. Kureha said it will create a new subsidiary to produce a high-performance polymer, polyglycolic acid (PGA) used in beverage containers. Construction is scheduled to begin early next year with production to start in early 2010.

Kureha is the 20th Japanese company to invest in West Virginia.

Hino Motors Produces First Trucks

2007-11-20T13:35:00.000-05:00

Production has begun at the new Hino Motors Manufacturing plant in Wood County. The plant, which is located near Williamstown, produced its first truck this past week. The truck-assembly plant currently employs 72 people and will start production at two trucks per day. The goal is to increase that to 20 vehicles per day. Hino is a subsidiary of the Toyota Group.

Magnum Coal To Open New Mine In Kanawha County

2007-11-20T13:33:00.000-05:00

Magnum Coal Co. has announced plans to open a new underground mine in early January in eastern Kanawha County. The Charleston-based company plans to open the new mine in the Cabin Creek area and eventually employ about 88 people. This is the first new mine to open in Kanawha County in several years.

Dominion Exploration To Double Headquarters Head Count

2007-10-31T10:25:00.000-04:00

Dominion Exploration & Production is bringing 50 new jobs to its Lewis County headquarters over the next year. The new positions will be in new finance, accounting, land management and computer technology. The additions will nearly double the number of employees, from 65 to 1115, at the Dominion subsidiary's headquarters in Jane Lew. Statewide, Dominion has about 1,400 employees, including those who work in its natural gas pipeline, storage and distribution businesses.

CAMC To Add 180 New Jobs

2007-10-17T14:09:00.001-04:00

Charleston Area Medical Center has announced plans to add 180 new employees to its hospital and health care facilities in Kanawha and Putnam Counties, W.Va. Hospital officials say the employment growth is needed to meet an increase in patients, volumes and services. The hospital now has about 4,800 workers, making it the third-largest private employer in West Virginia. The majority of new employees will work at CAMC General Hospital, where 24 additional intensive-care unit beds will be added on two floors next year. Workers also are needed at CAMC’s hospital in Putnam County and at Memorial Hospital’s new five-floor Robert C. Byrd Ambulatory Building in Kanawha City. The facility is expected to be completed next July.

Massey To Build Regional HQ In Southern West Virginia

2007-10-17T06:35:00.000-04:00

Massey Energy plans to build a 51,000-square-foot regional headquarters facility in Boone County, W.Va. The three-story building will consolidate Massey’s existing Charleston and Chapmanville offices and be closer to its mining operations in Southern West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. About 100 employees will work at the new regional headquarters. Massey, headquartered in Richmond, Va., has operations in West Virginia, Kentucky and Virginia. It is the fourth-largest coal company in the United States based on produced coal revenues.

Chesapeake Energy Breaks Ground For New Eastern HQ Building

2007-09-10T09:13:00.000-04:00

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has broken ground for its new regional headquarters in Charleston. The three-story, C-shaped building will cost approximately $25 million. The building is being constructed at the Northgate Business Park. Completion is expected in 2009.

AT&T To Hire 100 For Call Center

2007-09-10T09:12:00.000-04:00

AT&T West Virginia announced plans to open an in-bound call center in Wheeling. The company expects to hire 200 to staff the new facility in the Highlands Development complex. The call center will provide troubleshooting assistance to wireless customers across the country. The Ohio County Development Authority has agreed to construct a new 90,000-square-foot, and AT&T will lease 45,000 square feet on the second floor. Total investment for the project is approximately $8 million.

InfoCision Plans To Hire 100 Telecommuters In Wetzel

2007-09-10T09:10:00.000-04:00

Infocision plans to hire 100 telecommuters to work from their homes in Wetzel County, W.Va. Full and part time positions will be available. InfoCision provides call center services for nonprofit organizations and Fortune 1000 companies. The company has 12 operations in Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania, including call centers in Huntington and Clarksburg.

New Coal Mine To Begin Production In Raleigh County

2007-08-13T08:58:00.000-04:00

Coal production will begin this month at the new Beckley Pocahontas Mine in Raleigh County. The mine, owned by International Coal Group of Scott Depot, W.Va., is ready for operation after a year of construction and preparation. Company officials say the mine will not reach full production capacity until mid-2008. At full capacity, the mine is expected to yield 1.4 million tons of high-grade metallurgical coal per year. About 150 miners will work underground in three shifts, maintaining a continuous operation. Another 30 workers will man the large new “prep plant” that cleans the coal in preparation for shipment.

Defense, Tech Firm To Expand Workforce In West Virginia

2007-08-13T08:57:00.000-04:00

Northrop Grumman Corp. has announced it will be expanding its workforce in West Virginia. The Los Angeles-based national defense and technology company announced plans in early August to build a National Work Force Center somewhere within the Interstate 79 technology corridor in northcentral West Virginia. The work force center will add 50 new full-time technology jobs, including software, network, system and database engineers. The jobs will be based in West Virginia, but the employees will work on projects worldwide. Northrop Grumman already has 75 employees in West Virginia and has partnered with other West Virginia companies for projects with NASA, the Department of Defense and the U.S. Postal Service.

Federal Loan To Aid Fiber Optic Service To Homes, Businesses

2007-06-25T11:39:00.000-04:00

Sixteen communities in Raleigh and Fayette counties are set to receive fiber optic high-speed broadband services thanks to a $37 million federal loan. The loan will be provided to the Beckley Service Area Company’s ITown Communications project.

The loan, which will be repaid over 17 years, will be used for the construction of an open access Fiber-to-the-Premise (FTTP) system in which fiber optic cables will connect homes and businesses to a broadband network. When completed, the ITown Communications Project estimates that 12,624 homes and 1,124 businesses in the region will have high-speed internet access -- but has the capacity to expand and provide over 33,000 homes and 2,200 businesses with broadband access. Funding for this project comes from the US Department of Agriculture’s Rural Development program.

Toyota Truck Company Picks Wood County For New Assembly Plant

2007-06-25T11:36:00.000-04:00

West Virginia's burgeoning automotive industry is getting bigger. Hino Motors, a Toyota truck affiliate company, announced June 25 that it will build a vehicle assembly plant in West Virginia. The company said it will invest $8.6 million to upgrade a now-vacant plant in Wood County and install manufacturing equipment. Hino said that when operations begin in November, the 194,000-square-foot plant will employ about 80 people. They will build 2,500 trucks annually.

Sen. Jay Rockefeller and Gov. Joe Manchin joined Hideichiro Chikahiro, president of Hino Motors Manufacturing U.S.A. Inc., took part in the announcement that Hino will assemble medium and heavy-duty trucks at the former Walker Systems plant off W.Va. 14.

NRP Investing In New Coal Prep Plant, Rail Loading Facility

2007-05-21T18:56:00.000-04:00

Natural Resource Partners is building a new coal preparation plant and railroad loading operation in McDowell County, W.Va. Construction and operation of the $16.2 million prep plant facility near Eckman should be completed by the third quarter. NRP said work on the railroad loading operation is expected to take until next year. NRP owns and manages coal properties and coal handling and transportation operations in Appalachia, the Illinois Basin and the Powder River Basin. The company is based in Houston and has its operational headquarters in Huntington.

Lockheed Martin Opens Biometric Center In Fairmont

2007-05-19T08:33:00.000-04:00

Lockheed Martin has opened a research and development center in Fairmont that is designed to promote its biometrics efforts. The company’s Biometric Experimentation and Advanced Concepts center will employ up to 10 people and will be a collaborative effort for the experimentation, testing and analysis of biometrics research. The center will work with West Virginia University’s Center for Identification Technology Research and the Multi-Sector Management Consortiums network of more than 200 universities worldwide

Stamping Plant To Reopen; Create Hundreds Of New Jobs

2007-05-18T17:25:00.000-04:00

A former automotive stamping plant in South Charleston is coming back to life. Governor Manchin announced May 17 that more than 500 manufacturing jobs will be created over the next five years by Charleston Stamping & Manufacturing Inc. The company is reopening an idle stamping operation that closed last year. Charleston Stamping will invest more than $35 million to refurbish the plant with new automation equipment, Wise said. That figure includes a $15 million loan preliminarily approved today by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority. The modernization is expected to allow the company to create 79 jobs in its first year, 140 jobs in its second year, and as many as 550 jobs in its fourth or fifth year. The plant is located in the 80-acre industrial park owned by Park Corp.

Acquisition Will Greatly Expand Mylan's Operations

2007-05-16T10:22:00.000-04:00

Mylan Laboratories Inc. announced that is has agreed to buy Merck KGaA's generic-drug unit for $6.7 billion in cash to become the world's third-largest maker of generic versions of drugs. Mylan is headquartered in Canonsburg, Penn., but has major operations in Morgantown. The combination will let Mylan achieve economies of scale in manufacturing and gain access to new markets and products, company officials said. The enlarged company will have 10,000 employees and would have had 2006 sales of about $4.2 billion.

Allegheny Energy, American Electric Power To Build 765-kV Transmission Lines

2007-04-23T08:37:00.000-04:00

Two major electric utility companies will be working together to build new major electric transmission lines. Allegheny Energy, Inc. has signed a memorandum of understanding with American Electric Power to form a joint venture company to build and own new electric transmission assets, including new 765-kV transmission lines and related facilities. The joint venture will build and own approximately 250 miles of 765-kV transmission lines from AEP’s Amos power station (Poca, W.Va.) to the Maryland border. An additional estimated 40 miles of 765-kV transmission line from the Maryland border to the Kemptown substation will be developed and owned by Allegheny.

Based on current plans, the proposed project is estimated to cost approximately $1.8 billion, some of which would be owned by the joint venture, with other portions owned by the respective companies. Allegheny and AEP expect to execute definitive agreements for the joint venture by mid-2007 and anticipate the joint venture will begin operations in the second half of 2007. Completion of the Amos-Kemptown is expected in 2012.

Allegheny’s Trans-Allegheny Interstate Line (TrAIL), a separate, 210-mile project scheduled for completion in 2011, would not be part of the joint venture. The agreement also does not preclude either company from pursuing other transmission opportunities in PJM.

Snowshoe Expanding Ski Runs

2007-03-29T08:41:00.000-04:00

Snowshoe Mountain Resort will be expanding its skiing capacity with the addition of two new trails for skiers and snowboarders, bringing the resort's number of slopes to 59 by next winter. The Pocahontas County resort and Sawmill Village, a residential development company at Snowshoe, announced a partnership today to construct the slopes for roughly $1 million. The trails will be adjacent to the Sawmill Village development in Snowshoe's South Mountain area.

Biodiesel Fuel Operation To Begin Production

2007-03-22T06:37:00.000-04:00

Emerald Biofuels, an Illinois-based alternative energy company, has announced plans for a $15 million project to produce biodiesel fuel at the Bayer CropScience Manufacturing Industrial Park in Institute, W.Va.

Construction of the production plant is expected to begin in June, with the first shipments to follow by the end of the year. Emerald Biofuels will produce 30 million gallons of biodiesel fuel annually. At least a dozen employees already working for Bayer CropScience will support the biodiesel plant.