Posted Jun 10, 2013, 7:25 PM
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Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Seattle, WA
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Deal will bring 1,200 jobs to Cedar City
Quote:
Development incentives from the Governor's Office of Economic Development have cleared the way for a Cedar City firm to continue manufacturing parts for the SyberJet SJ30 and hire as many as 1,200 employees over the next 20 years.
Brice Wallace
The Enterprise
MSC Aerospace will make Cedar City the headquarters and a manufacturing site for subsidiary SyberJet Aircraft and also expand its subsidiary Metalcraft Technologies Inc. (MTI) there, resulting in 1,200 new jobs over the next two decades.
The announcement came Thursday, one day after the Governor’s Office of Economic Development (GOED) board approved a pair of tax credit incentives to land the projects in Utah. GOED approved incentives of $16.8 million for SyberJet and $15 million for MTI.
MTI, an aircraft parts maker, acquired light business jet company SyberJet in 2011. MSC Aerospace had been considering placing the SyberJet plant at existing facilities near San Antonio, Texas. The new SyberJet facility will be an assembly plant for its SJ30 aircraft and be adjacent to the Cedar City Municipal Airport.
The $380 million SyberJet facility is expect to result in 240 new full-time jobs paying an average of twice the Iron County average wage. The $20 million expansion at MTI will result in 960 new jobs paying an average of at least 40 percent above the county average.
“MSC is excited to continue its long-standing relationships with Cedar City, Iron County and the state of Utah,” David J. Grant, MSC chairman, said. “We are proud of our track record of success in the aerospace industry and hope for a bright future southern Utah.”
MTI currently has 400 employees at a facility that houses corporate and staff offices, sheet metal fabrication, machining, heat treatment, inspection, and shipping and receiving operations. Its customers include Boeing, Bombardier’s Learjet, General Electric, Gulfstream, Lockheed, Northrop Grumman, SyberJet and Vought.
MTI acquired SyberJet in 2011 after one of its investors, Emivest Aerospace, went bankrupt following a dip in light aircraft demand. The SJ30 program once had the financial backing of several individuals and entities, including Gulfstream Aerospace, General Dynamics (now Lockheed-Martin), a collection of Taiwanese financial investors and Emirate Investment Development Corp. PDC (Emivest Aerospace).
Before acquiring SyberJet for $3.5 million, MTI did wing and fuselage manufacturing for the company and MTI will continue to be a major SyberJet subcontractor by manufacturing and assembling the majority of the SJ30 airframe structure. SyberJet’s website describes its SJ30 model as the world’s fastest and longest-range seven-seat light business jet and “the first new concept business jet to come onto the market since 1963.”
GOED board officials were excited for a chance to get the project. “These are very, very high paying jobs in a rural community,” said Jerry Oldroyd, chairman of the GOED board’s incentives committee. “It is in an aerospace cluster — right at the heart of the aerospace cluster. …”
“This is really a big deal for Cedar City,” said board chairman Mel Lavitt.
Oldroyd quickly agreed. “It’s not very often that we have a rural incentive of a $400 million capital investment that employs 1,200 people,” he said. “This is a huge deal not only for Cedar City but for the state of Utah.”
In addition to the incentives approved for SyberJet and MTI, the GOED board also approved up to $350,000 to be used to make up any shortfall for work to provide direct access between the SyberJet facility and the airport, estimated at $1 million and to be funded primarily with a federal grant and a Cedar City incentive. SyberJet said that the combined incentives from state and local governments total more than $43 million.
GOED officials said the SyberJet incentive project will result in wages of $280 million and new state tax revenues of $67 million over 20 years. The MTI expansion will mean total new wages of $740 million and state tax revenue of $60 million over 20 years.
“For nearly 25 years, MTI has been a valuable member of our community and operates two manufacturing facilities with over 250,000 square feet in Cedar City,” Cedar City Mayor Joe Burgess said. “MTI and its parent company, MSC, are cornerstones of our manufacturing community, providing our residents with good jobs and supplying the nation’s aerospace industry with top-quality products.”
“Utah’s aerospace industry is rapidly growing. We have the physical space, the technology and the workforce for aerospace companies to rapidly grow operations in Utah,” Gov. Gary R. Herbert said in a prepared statement. “I’m confident the MSC expansion will attract additional support vendors and other aerospace companies.”
Read more: The Enterprise - Deal will bring 1 200 jobs to Cedar City
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