Business

With job boom, Mayor Freeman sees need for housing

By Bill Moss, Published: December 21, 2015

A partnership of Swiss and Canadian manufacturers plans to invest at least $217 million and hire 350 workers at a new automotive parts plant in Mills River over the next six years, the Henderson County Board of Commissioners and Mills River Town Council said in public notices this week.

Under the project outlined in public notices, GF Linamar would invest at least $42.3 million in a manufacturing facility plus $174.9 million in machinery and equipment through 2023. The $217 million total does not include land acquisition costs.
One of the most prized industrial recruits in recent history in Henderson County, the plant would create 350 new jobs through 2021 at wages higher than the average rate for full-time employment plus benefits, Henderson County said in the notice of the public hearing.
The Henderson County Board of Commissioners in its Jan. 4 meeting will consider a request from the automotive plant for $6,945,672 in tax incentives over 14 years. The tax incentives, in the form of property tax refunds if the company meets job creation and investment pledges, would total up to $138,672 in the first year. The Board of Commissioners will hold a public hearing on the request at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 4 at the Historic Courthouse.

Recruitment of the Swiss-Canadian partnership appears to have come down to Mills River and Columbia, S.C. The  State newspaper reported on Dec. 4 that the corporation was considering construction of an automotive components plant off Interstate 77. “Both states have rolled out the red carpet to us,’’ Linamar CEO Jim Jarrell told the Columbia newspaper.

The prospect of 350 more jobs — on top of 300 jobs in two other plants in the pipeline — had Mills River officials rethinking their approach to higher density housing. Mills River Mayor Larry Freeman said Tuesday that the new jobs is likely to renew the discussion by the Town Council on affordable housing.

In addition to the possible auto industry supplier, RAUMEDIC, a German company that makes components for the medical industry, is building a 60,000-square-foot plant that will employ 172 people at Broadpointe Industrial Park, and Tri-Hishtill will employ 125 people at a plant-grafting operation on School House Road in Mills River.

"That's not just 350 jobs," he said. "That's 350 families. We need those people living in Mills River, buying local products, paying local property tax. It makes it really necessary that we begin to address affordable housing. We ned those families to be in our schools, to be using our health care to contribute to this community."

Freeman said a proposal that Town Manager Jeff Wells presented to add quarter-acre lots to the town code would be a good starting place.

"The town council has already seen that," he said. "It give us something to build on and to grow on."

GF Corp., a 213-year-old Swiss company, and Ontario-based Linamar Corp. announced a partnership last July to invest in a new high pressure light metal die casting plant in the Southeast U.S.

Under the headline "GF to enter the promising North American automotive market," the announcement said that GF Linamar LLC would launch its U.S. operation in 2017 with production of light metal components for a European car manufacturer.

“Both parties will also cooperate in Asia and in Europe in order to meet their respective customers demand for integrated casting solutions,” GF Corp. said. “The joint venture plans to produce lightweight powertrain and structural components, drawing from the expertise of both partners."

“GF and Linamar complement each other very well combining leading expertise in casting respectively in machining” GF CEO Yves Serra said in the news release. “Our cooperation allows both partners to offer integrated solutions to their customers and for GF Automotive to expand its activities in the promising North American market.”
Founded in 1802 when 29-year-old Johann Conrad Fischer bought a water-driven mill and used it as copper smelting plant, GF Automotive has 126 companies, including 47 production facilities, in 31 countries. A worldwide automotive supplier, GF specializes in lightweight solutions for the automotive industry.

Founded in 1966, Linamar Corp. has 48 manufacturing facilities and a workforce of 19,500 employees. The company is known for its expertise in precision machining of metallic powertrain products for the automotive industry.