NEW PLANT IN DULUTHE MAY MEAN EXPANSION IN GF
FFEDERAL GRANT, DULUTH INVESTMENT LEAD TO GROWTH
Tu-Uyen Tran, Herald Staff Writer
09/06/2001
Grand Forks Herald
FINAL
06
© Copyright 2001, Grand Forks Herald. All Rights Reserved.
The $5.75 million facility to be built in Duluth for Cirrus Design Corp. will probably require an expansion in Grand Forks as well.
Bill King, business administration vice president, said he would be visiting Grand Forks soon to talk with officials about changes to its plant here.
The plant is owned by the city and leased to Cirrus, a maker of single-engine airplanes.
King has said in the past that the company wants bigger parking lots and additional air handling and conditioning equipment. He said he thought there might be a need for a physical expansion as well.
Cirrus employs about 125 in Grand Forks.
On Tuesday, Duluth officials reported the city had received a $3.5 million federal grant. The Duluth Economic Development Authority will put in another $2.25 million to pay for a new building.
King said this would allow Cirrus to move the production line for airplane interiors, making room for assembly in the main plant, also in Duluth.
AUGMENTING HIBBING
The new building will also be used for painting and finishing, he said, augmenting but not replacing Cirrus’ plant in Hibbing, Minn.
With more extra space for manufacturing in Duluth, King said, the company will need to get more capacity from its Grand Forks plant, which makes parts of the fuselage.
Cirrus now makes about a plane a day, but it is aiming to ramp up significantly. According to King, the current capacity at its three plants limits production to about three planes a day.
In August, the company won $100.3 million in investments from Crescent Investments of Atlanta.
King said it was like hitting the lottery twice in two weeks.
Tran reports on business. Contact him at 780-1248, (800) 477-6572, ext. 248, or ttran@gfherald.com.
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