TIFTON — The Tift County Development Authority has received a $1 million OneGeorgia grant award to support an expansion of Tifton’s Heatcraft Refrigeration Products, LLC. Fitzgerald-Ben Hill County, Douglas-Coffee County, Valdosta-Lowndes and the City of Folkston also received grant awards.
A total of $13.4 million in OneGeorgia grants were awarded to various communities in the state. The awards will assist with a variety of economic development projects in rural Georgia aimed at creating jobs, stimulating new private investment, supporting the retention of existing jobs and enhancing regional competitiveness through capacity-building projects. The Development Authority’s EDGE award was one of six that totaled $4.6 million to be used for more than $119 million in total project costs that are projected to create over 1,535 jobs within the next three years.
Heatcraft is a manufacturer of climate-control products for commercial and industrial applications. The company plans to construct a 310,000-square-foot manufacturing facility adjacent to its existing facility in the Magnolia Industrial Park. HRP, headquartered in Stone Mountain, is a subsidiary of Lennox International, a publicly traded company whose history dates from 1895 when Dave Lennox built and sold the industry’s first riveted-steel furnace which was more durable than the cast iron furnaces of the time.
Units manufactured at the Tifton facility include evaporators, condensers and other refrigeration products representing the five market-leading brands of Bohn, Larkin, Climate Control, Chandler and Interlink. With 267 existing jobs and 325 new jobs, the expansion will make the Tifton plant the only refrigeration manufacturing facility in North America for HRP. The total cost to complete the project is $25.5 million.
Members of the development authority and Heatcraft accepted the check this week from Gov. Sonny Perdue in Dahlonega at the most recent meeting of the OneGeorgia Authority.
“This is the last step before a community celebration scheduled for early next year,” said Brad Day, president and CEO of the Tifton-Tift County Chamber of Commerce. “As we handle the last details of this deal, 350 new jobs and $22 million of private investment will bring good news to our community.”
Other area communities receivng OneGeorgia awards are:
• The Douglas-Coffee County Industrial Authority received a SILF loan award of $2.5 million to use toward the $7.1 million Optima Chemical Group, LLC project that is expected to add 40 new jobs there within four years.
• The Fitzgerald-Ben Hill Development Authority received a $500,000 equity loan award to be used to purchase machinery and equipment on behalf of Agri-Products, Inc./Suncoast Bedding’s location in the Fitzgerald Industrial Park in Ben Hill County. The total cost of the project is $6.3 million and is expected to create 50 new jobs in two years.
• The City of Folkston received an equity grant award for $500,000 to be used for sewer infrastructure improvements to support the expansion of the D. Ray James State Prison. The prison employs 317 people and is the largest industry in the county. The project is expected to produce 51 new jobs in two years and the total cost of the project is $35.7 million.
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$1 million grant will benefit Heatcraft expansion
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