Steel manufacturer expands capacity and creates critical manufacturing jobs.
THE PROJECT:
Farwest Steel Corporation is a leading processor, fabricator and distributor of carbon steel products in the Western United States. As a critical step in its continued growth, the company was looking to increase its steel fabrication services and consolidate some of its other operational locations into a new, centralized facility.
Development of a new, 353,000 square foot plant allowed Farwest to add a cut-to-length steel coil processing line to provide flat steel stock for distribution and custom fabrication. Because the project served as a lynchpin for the City of Vancouver’s economic development efforts, the Port of Vancouver undertook $400,000 of infrastructure improvements to the site, and the City itself provided tax incentives that effectively lowered construction costs by 8%.
COMMUNITY IMPACTS:
- Create 300 construction jobs and 128 permanent jobs; Maintain 100 permanent jobs.
- Target hiring efforts in Portland and Vancouver for previously unemployed or low-income persons.
- Each full-time position pays living wages and provides a competitive benefits package including health care coverage, retirement benefits, disability insurance, group life insurance and profit sharing.
- Vocational training opportunities available through a collaboration effort with Clark County College to develop a steel-industry curriculum which would provide students with sought-after, marketable skills.
- Revitalization of Vancouver’s industrial district, through an increased access to high quality jobs thus attracting additional businesses for a wide variety of industrial support services.
KEY COMMUNITY DEMOGRAPHICS:
- Poverty Rate: 34.7%
- Median Family Income: 36.6% of benchmark
- Unemployment Rate: 2.1 times the national average
- Fruit Valley Area Plan
FINANCING:
- Total Project Cost: $49.6 million
- NCF Deployed Allocation: $12.0 million
- Total NMTC Allocation: $48.0 million
PROJECT PARTNERS:
- United Fund Advisors (National Community Fund I, LLC)
- Community Reinvestment Fund
- Brownfield Revitalization, LLC
- JPMorgan Chase
- Bank of America
- Farwest Steel Corporation
- City of Vancouver
- Port of Vancouver
- Specht Development
