Atlantic Metrocast To Set Up Operations In New Orleans
By: Jacquetta White | New Orleans Times-Picayune | 04/28/2010
A pre-stressed concrete manufacturing firm, whose parent company was founded in New Orleans but moved out of state six decades ago, will move into a berth at the Port of New Orleans, the company’s head along with state and local officials announced Wednesday.
Atlantic Metrocast Inc., a subsidiary of Atlantic Wood Industries in Savannah, Ga., is investing $5 million to turn five acres of a former container terminal at France Road into a site that will produce pre-stressed and pre-cast concrete products, such as concrete pilings, slabs and beams. The product will be distributed throughout Louisiana and the Gulf Coast.
The company will begin manufacturing in three to four weeks, Bill Crossman, Atlantic Metrocast president and chief executive officer said. The company has already moved equipment to the site, which did not need much modification. Crossman said Atlantic Metrocast is starting to hire and plans to hit its employment goal of 100 in about a year.
The manufacturer considered several sites in Louisiana and Mississippi before deciding to locate here, Crossman said. The attention his company received from the state office of economic development, the Port of New Orleans and regional economic development agency GNO Inc. sealed the deal. The parties worked as a collaborative to woo the manufacturer.
“It’s one small step for the economy and one giant step for economic development,” said Michael Hecht, chief executive offer of GNO Inc. Hecht said the company isn’t a “prodigal son” but a business that made the call to locate in New Orleans because it made good business sense.
As part of its plan to operate here, Atlantic Metrocast will receive a $160,000 performance-based grant from Louisiana Economic Development that will require it to maintain its 100 job and $3.2 million payroll projections.
“I don’t think if you moved a plant to a small town you would have gotten a warmer welcome than we’ve gotten here,” Crossman said. “It’s really quite humbling and we will do you proud, I promise.”
Atlantic Wood Industries was founded in New Orleans in the early 1900’s. When the company was purchased in the late 1940’s it was moved out of state.
Secretary of Economic Development Stephen Moret hailed the return as a sign of things to come in New Orleans.
“This is a project that represents something that is going to become a trend: A company that used to do business in New Orleans and moved decades ago and came back,” Moret said.
