Gov. Bob Riley will be in Oxford today to break ground for a massive factory that is expected to bring 700 jobs to the area.At 3 p.m., local and state officials, together with representatives of Austria-based wood-products manufacturer Kronospan, will celebrate the beginning of construction at the future plant’s site on Alabama 202 near U.S. 78 in the Bynum area.
“There’s a lot of interest even among people with jobs right now,” said Oxford City Councilman Steven Waits.
Local residents and area contractors have expressed strong interest in working for and doing business with the factory. Officials at the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce and the Oxford City Hall have received numerous calls about the project since its announcement in April.
Kronospan officials have said they hope to begin operations within a year, but county officials have said 18 months is a more realistic timetable. The company has not announced when or how it plans to begin hiring.
The planned factory will be almost twice the size of the Louisiana Superdome, an 800,000-square-foot structure spanning 18 acres, and jobs at the factory will pay an average of $17.40 an hour, while the average non-management job will pay $16.60 an hour, according to the governor’s office.
