According to Calvin Miller of the Talladega County Economic Development Authority, the $63 million facility will house between 50-75 employees. Workers are expected to earn an average of $16 per hour.
“When they first started, they talked about having 50 (employees) because they were talking about only one operation,” Miller said. “That was when they were going to spend $39 million. But it has increased to $63 million.”
The majority of the cost, nearly $47 million, is expected to go toward manufacturing machinery. Including materials, the plant is estimated to cost around $15 million to build.
Some clearing of the site on Fayetteville Road next to the industrial park sign had been done by Tuesday. Gaston Construction received the contract for the land preparation.
The Sylacauga Industrial Development Board closed on the land Nov. 16 with funding from IKO. Miller said this was to take advantage of a site preparation grant.
“(The grant) can only go to a public body,” he said. “IKO uses their money to purchase the land. But they do a lease with the City of Sylacauga. It is a lease until the site preparation grant is made, and then after that the property is turned over to IKO.”
No dates for when the company will begin hiring or for a ceremonial groundbreaking have been announced.
A March 24 release from IKO announced their plans to build a factory in the Sylacauga area.
Derek Fee, manager of corporate communications for IKO, stated then the company planned to build a “state-of-the-art, high-performance shingle plant.” He estimated the size of the building would be around 150,000 square feet, based on some of their other facilities.
Owners established the Canada-based company more than 50 years ago. IKO has more than 25 asphalt roofing materials manufacturing plants in the U.S., Canada and Europe combined.
For more information on IKO, visit their website at www.iko.com.
Contact Matt Quillen at mquillen@dailyhome.com.
