Major deals from an automaker, a heavy equipment manufacturer and an advanced materials producer top the week’s job creation and site selection announcements:
In Pennsylvania, Moxie Liberty has received air quality permit approval from state regulators for construction of a more than $800 million power plant that will run on natural gas, including gas from the Marcellus Shale. Virignia-based Moxie Liberty plans to build the plant on a 30-acre site. The project will create 500 construction jobs and 30 permanent jobs.
General Motors will invest up to $300 million in its Michigan operations and creating up to 2,000 jobs. Gov. Rick Snyder said the first project, an Information Technology Innovation Center in Warren, will include up to 1,500 high-tech employees who will be hired over the next several years to will develop and review new programs or processes for any aspect of GM operations.
Also in Michigan, Dow Corning will invest $117 million to expand its Auburn manufacturing facility. The expansion will add 73 additional employees to its workforce of 240. The investments will expand the plant’s silicon carbide wafer research, development and manufacturing and development and manufacture of a silicon-based coating that makes touch screens of electronic devices easier to clean.
In North Carolina, Deere-Hitachi Construction Machinery Corp. will expand its operations in Kernersville. The company plans to create at least 340 jobs by the end of 2016 and invest more than $97 million in its Forsyth County facility. Deere-Hitachi, a joint venture between John Deere and Hitachi Construction Machinery, provides Hitachi and Deere brand excavators to U.S. customers.
In Colorado, Hitachi Data Systems will open a new office in Douglas County expected to create hundreds of new jobs in the area over the next five years. HDS provides mid-range and high-end enterprise storage systems, software and services, selling through direct and indirect channels in more than 170 countries and regions. The company’s planned 53,000 square feet of new space in the Meridian Corporate Center will be able to accommodate several hundred employees and will include a new Tech Lab.
In Tennessee, American Blue Ribbon Holdings has relocated its headquarters to Nashville. The company, which acquired Nashville-based restaurant chain O’Charley’s, Inc. earlier this year, is in the midst of an acquisition of restaurant chain J. Alexander’s. With J. Alexander’s added, the company company will have a presence in 43 states with more than 690 restaurants and 35,000 employees throughout eight brands.
