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July 21, 2016

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The long-awaited expansion of Sattler Corp. will now be able to become a reality thanks to a deal involving two nearby fields.

The expansion at Sattler’s plant at the corner of Main Street and Mount Herman Road in Hudson had been put on hold due to the company’s inability to acquire suitable adjacent property.

But now adjacent property has been made available by the Town of Hudson, which received state and federal permission to sell about 2.36 acres of Redwood Park after the Hudson Optimist Club donated another 8-acre parcel to be added to the park. Permission was needed because grant money had been used to develop the park.

A property of equal or greater value was required by the state in order to be able to remove the restriction to the land in the park.

David Rivers, the vice president of manufacturing for Sattler, said the 2.36-acre parcel, with an assessed value of $63,140 , will be purchased by Outdura Real Estate LLC, a division of Sattler.

The land once was a baseball field but has not been used for that purpose over the past 10 years, Hudson Town Manager Rebecca Bentley said.

It is not yet determined what kind of expansion will take place on the land, Rivers said, bu the plant’s employment could grow by 30 percent over three to five years, depending on what equipment is purchased and which segment of the markets require investment. Sattler currently has 86 employees in Hudson.

“It was beneficial and important to both parties,” Rivers said of keeping Sattler in Hudson instead of moving to a different location to allow for expansion.

The plant, which first opened in 1904, is the longest continuously operating textile plant in Caldwell County and on of the longest operating in the state. Sattler Corp., and Austrian textile manufacturer, bought the former Shuford Mills plant in 2011 and in 2012 made Hudson Sattler’s North American headquarters.

Part of the land donated by the Hudson Optimist Club is used as a baseball field. The clubhouse and parking lot would still belong to the club, and the Optimists will have priority use of the donated land, Bentley said.

“Everybody wins in this situation,” she said.

Bentley said the closing date for the sale has not been set but is estimated for September.

By Briana Adhikusuma, (Lenoir) News-Topic

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July 13, 2016

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A Lenoir pharmaceutical maker that has more than quadrupled its size since early 2013 is planning a new expansion that could add up to 50 new jobs over two years.

Exela Pharma Sciences, which makes injectable and ophthalmic pharmaceutical products, will lease the former Expo building off Nuway Circle from Blue Ridge Electric Membership Corp. and plans to expand it manufacturing of sterile syringes and infusion bags for hospitals, according to information from the Caldwell County Economic Development Commission. The new jobs would pay wages averaging more than $50,000 per year.

The company plans to invest $5 million and has applied for a state grant to help pay for renovating the building, which is about 86,400 square feet.

The Caldwell County Board of Commissioners will have a public hearing on providing a local job-creation incentive of $2,000 for each new job created by the expansion. The incentives would not be paid until after the new jobs are filled, documented, and maintained.

Exela, which is based in the former Broyhill Furniture Industries headquarters along U.S. 321, had 16 employees when it opened in Lenoir in 2008, about 40 employees at the start of 2013, 109 in August 2014, about 160 last summer, and about 180 currently.

In addition to its headquarters, Exela has operations in a building on William White Place, a short distance from Nuway Circle and the Expo building, and in a former warehouse on Morganton Boulevard.

By Guy Lucas, (Lenoir) News-Topic