Kia updates

[ATLman1]

IT IS FINALLY STARTING!!!!!

State to begin site preparation for Kia plant

Information from: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Georgia in the next few weeks expects to start felling trees and demolishing houses on the site of Kia Motors' planned $1.2 billion plant in West Point.

The Georgia State Financing and Investment Commission, after a bidding process, has selected Ashland Paving and Construction, known as APAC, to clear Kia's 2,200-acre West Point site, said Bert Brantley, a spokesman for the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

The main road running through the site should close next week, and APAC's clearing work should begin later this month, Brantley said.

The site preparation, which Georgia agreed to do in its contract with Kia, will take several months. State officials want the job done by fall, when Kia has said it wants to be ready to start work on the plant.

[ATLman1]

Construction is set to begin on new interchange off of I-85 near West Point. The new exit is being built for KIA. The cost of construction is $35 million. Here is the link West Point interchange

[ATLman1]

Another article from the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer on Kia's construction Kia construction

[where_am_I]

How far is this development from Columbus?

[ATLman1]

How far is this development from Columbus?

The site is located at the Troup/Harris County line along I-85. It is probably 30-40 minutes and around 30 miles from the Columbus city limits.

[ATLman1]

Harris County is buying 200 acres of land 2.3 miles southeast of Interstate 85 near West Point to create a North Harris Business Park, in hopes of attracting suppliers to a Kia Motors Corp. plant to be built just north of West Point and other businesses. There are four to five good spots for companies. It would be good for five employers with 100 employees each.

[Lady Celeste]

I really hope more development comes that way. I love seeing the Columbus metro wake up from it's nap.

[ATLman1]

I really hope more development comes that way. I love seeing the Columbus metro wake up from it's nap.

Seems like Harris County is finally waking up. There is a lot of stuff planned for the I-185 corridor.

[gah]

According to AJC, groundbreaking for KIA set for October 20th! Let's hope that the announcements for suppliers setting up shop in the area will start to follow in short order!

[ATLman1]

Nice article from the AJC on Kia's impact on West Georgia and East Alabama. Kia groundbreaking

[ATLman1]

Groundbreaking Today!!! Columbus Ledger-Enquirer articles:

West Point Braces for Boom

Kia

[ATLman1]

LaGrange's website has a lot of good information about Kia new plant this is being built in the LaGrange area. The site has some pictures of the development site.

Kia site pictures

[ATLman1]

$80 million interchange for the Kia Motors plant on Interstate 85 set to begin construction:

The Georgia Department of Transportation project is being designed by Norcross-based Jordan, Jones and Goulding and set to begin construction in April. The project will widen and divert part of Gabbettville Road, creating a new road to be named Kia Boulevard, and create an interchange for easy access to the auto plant.

The project also will add a four-lane frontage road, Kia Parkway, that will run parallel to I-85 from the interchange to Ga. 18, entering onto that highway just south of the West Point Industrial Park.

The proposed Kia Boulevard would have a 20-to-32-foot median, and traffic signals at the interchange and at the road

[ATLman1]

FIRST KIA SUPPLIER LOCATING IN LAGRANGE:

A Kia Motors supplier plans to start operations by the end of this month in a leased building at 1980 Lukken Industrial Drive in LaGrange. Engineering World LLC is the first supplier to locate in Troup County. It will have about 10 employees making car door hinges, automation systems, small springs, racks and motion-oriented parts for Kia suppliers Maxforma Plastics and Mando America Corp., both of which have plants in Opelika. The company plans to hire 75 workers by the time Kia opens its new plant.

[ATLman1]

GRADING AT KIA SITE NEARLY DONE: From the LaGrange Daily News

Grading at the 2,200-acre Kia Motors construction site in West Point should be completed by the end of this month. Construction is expected to start in June, and cars will start coming off the line during the first quarter of 2009.

[ATLman1]

Marietta company will build I-85 interchange near Kia plant

$80 million construction project to be completed by December 2008

Gov. Sonny Perdue will announce today the awarding of a contract for $80.85 million to build a cloverleaf interchange at Mile Post 6 on Interstate 85 near the Kia Motors Manufacturing of Georgia plant site at West Point. The contract also calls for a frontage road and improvements to other roads near the interchange.

C.W. Matthews Contracting Co., Marietta, was awarded the project and has been given notice to proceed by the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The project is to be completed by Dec. 31, 2008, just months before Kia expects to begin producing cars at the West Point plant site in the second quarter 2009.

[ATLman1]

Construction of Kia plant begins soon

State awards $80.85 million interchange, road contract

Buildings will start going up later this month at the Kia Motors Manufacturing of Georgia automobile plant in West Point, said Hal Gibson of H.G.C. Consultants of West Point. His company contracted with the Georgia State Investment and Finance Commission to help oversee the state's portion of the Kia site project.

A total of 2.4 million square feet of floor space under roof will be built as part of Kia's expected $1.2 billion investment in facilities and equipment, he said Thursday. The plant off Interstate 85 at West Point is expected to employ 2,800-2,900 workers when fully operational.

If the square footage sounds huge, the amount of dirt moved to create the large plain and pad where multiple buildings will go up parallel to and facing I-85 is even more staggering -- 14 million cubic yards, Gibson said.

Ted Graham of Graham Brothers Construction Co., Dublin, Ga., said his company has about completed the site preparation that began in August, and expects to wrap up that work in two to three weeks. The pad was completed in March. They also will do much of the earth moving and preparation work for an I-85 interchange to serve the Kia plant near Gabbettville Road, working for C.W. Matthews Contracting Co., Marietta. Gov. Sonny Perdue announced Thursday the awarding of the $80.85 million contract to Matthews through the Georgia Department of Transportation.

The company was given notice to proceed with the project May 25 and is expected to begin work within weeks, said David Spear, DOT assistant director for public relations. The project is to be completed by Dec. 31, 2008, just months before Kia expects to be producing pilot cars in the second quarter of 2009.

"It will be a traditional diamond configuration interchange," said Spear, "and will be approximately at Mile Post 6, Gabbettville Road."

The federal government will pick up 80 percent and the state, 20 percent of the cost, he said.

While the cost may sound high, Spear said it involves much more than the interchange, which will include 1.5 miles of paved surface in two-lane entrance and exit ramps. It also includes 4.6 miles of frontage road linking Gabbettville Road and Georgia Highway 18 and relocating and widening part of Gabbettville Road, as well as an entrance road to the Kia plant.

The project features two-lane exit ramps in both the northbound and southbound directions, with a two-lane entrance ramp southbound, tapering into one lane, Spear said. Northbound, a two-lane entrance ramp is planned. Gabbettville Road will be relocated at its intersection with Sandtown Road. The four-lane interchange and bridge will end at County Road 94/Warner Road.

The interchange project was expedited under DOT's design-build authority, which Spear said was recently revitalized by the Georgia Legislature.

"It allows us to do both the design and construction components at the same time, which is helpful on a project like this that needs to be expedited for economic development," said Spear. "It normally would be stretched out over time. We still adhered to all the federal environmental requirements, but this project is condensing our work and expediting schedules. We can't do this on every project."

Both Gabbettville Road and the frontage road will be open to the public, Spear said, and some "ancillary commercial and retail development" is planned in that area.

In preparation for construction of the main Kia buildings, paving of a large parking lot and of roads through the site is about to begin, said Graham, as he drove a reporter on a tour of the huge Kia site Wednesday. The building pad covers 650 acres. Within three weeks, the first of several large parking lots should be paved. Water and natural gas lines also are being installed, with those services to be provided by the city of West Point.

The state contract with C.W. Matthews as project manager for site development was in the $40 million range, Gibson said.

"This whole project has just been huge and on a different scale that nobody's accustomed to operating in," he said. "This is the largest single compacted dirt pad that's ever been done in the Southeast. For the most part, it's completely flattened. Part of the time they were working 24 hours a day."

At the height of plant construction, Graham and Gibson said 2,000-3,000 construction workers will be on site.

"Kia has to be producing pilot vehicles by the early second quarter 2009 and be at production rate by the third quarter 2009," said Gibson, who served five years as director of plant operations at Columbus State University, until 2000.

The administration building will be closest to the interstate, with the main auto assembly plant structures behind it, an artist rendering shows. Behind the plant will be a two-lane oval where new cars will be test driven, Gibson said.

On another part of the site, a training center building is nearing completion where Kia and the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education will jointly train Kia employees.

"We'll wrap up that construction in about a month and turn that building over to them in July," said Gibson. "It will operate through the state's Quickstart program."

Plant construction will be under the supervision of AMCO, Kia's or Hyundai Motor Co.'s construction procurement company, part of Hyundai Corporation, Gibson said.

[ATLman1]

Kia auto parts suppliers nearing major decisions

Columbus Ledger-Enquirer:

The quest to land a Kia auto supplier and potentially hundreds of jobs is heating up, with a flurry of decisions by Korean companies expected within 60 to 90 days.

The LaGrange and Troup County area of Georgia is banking on becoming a big winner in the months-long process that has included routine visits to South Korea to meet with auto parts manufacturers.

Those overseas jaunts

[gah]

Hmmm ... seems as though my info was not far off the mark. Will see what (if anything) more I can

sniff out.

As the article says, the "problem" is that Alabama can offer better incentives and, so may get the plum projects. I am okay with that (so long as the plants are in the Lee/Russell County area). The Muscogee Tech Park is way too valuable to let go to some pissant project paying minimum wage. Better to wait for a blue ribbon prospect than waste it on a less than desirable outfit.

Best outcome for all concerned would probably be location in PC -- Alabama incentives and access to large Georgia workforce. Since Korea has a real commitment to education/culture, I would not be surprised to learn that Auburn/Opelika gets more than just a few of the better projects.

[ATLman1]

Supplier to build at Kia site in West Point

From the AJC:

Hyundai Mobis, the largest auto parts supplier in South Korea, will begin construction by the end of September on a 310,000-square-foot facility. By 2010, Hyundai Mobis expects to employ 600 and invest $60 million.

West Point put out the welcome mat in 2006 when it was announced that Kia would build a manufacturing plant there. The Kia plant, its first in the United States, is scheduled to be operational in the fall of 2009. Eventually, it will employ 2,500, and suppliers will create an additional 2,000 jobs.

The entire Kia campus will be 2,200 acres, including a test track, with the buildings taking up 650 acres. The facility will have the capability to produce 300,000 vehicles a year.

Hyundai Mobis, which has plants in Ohio and Alabama, will supply various parts, including front-end modules, cockpit modules and bumpers.

[aboutmetro]

Depending on which source you quote, between 500 to 1000 jobs are going to the Montgomery Hyundai plant expansion to produce Kia engines. Rumors are that the break plant in Opelika will get the contract for Kia breaks.

[ATLman1]

Kia opens training center in West Point

Some hiring expected to begin next month

Full-scale hiring is still a few weeks away. But Kia Motors officially opened its state-of-the-art training center Tuesday morning in nearby West Point.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue was among the high-powered executives and state officials who showed up to "test drive" the facility that will train the $1.2 billion plant's work force.

South Korea-based Kia Motors Corp. is constructing its 2.4-million-square-foot auto assembly plant on more than 2,000 acres of land directly off Interstate 85. The center is on the site at 900 Gabbettville Rd.

The completion date for the factory is November 2009. It will employ nearly 3,000 production, maintenance and administrative workers. A redesigned Sorento sports utility vehicle is expected to be made there, with workers turning out 300,000 copies per year at full capacity.

[aboutmetro]

The company has said that it plans to retool the West Point plan to make smaller cars (due to high gas prices). Locally, Kia officials are still saying it will be making the next generation Sorento, sending mixed signals. The Story on GPB.

[ATLman1]

Kia supplier will create 350 new jobs

The Kia suppliers keep coming to West Point, Ga.

Powertech America, the company that will manufacture transmissions for the new cars, will build a new facility on the Kia site, it was announced Friday.

It will create 350 new jobs and $150 million in capital investment, Gov. Sonny Perdue's office said in a news release.

[aboutmetro]

KIA says it's still on track to begin full production in Nov '09. Below is an aerial taken on 9/30.

In addition to KIA, the site will also have Glovis and Mobis with a total of 1,300 additional jobs. Once up and running - and when the economy comes back - KIA designed the facility to be able to double its production facility.