If your company or organization has news on expansion or relocations in the South, send press releases to: Beverly Randle, P O Box 380545, Birmingham, AL 35238-4505. You may fax your press release to 205-733-1974, or e-mail your release to mike@sb-d.com.

QUIZ

Using the latest statistics available, San Jose, Ca., had the highest average annual pay in the country at $49,717. Name the South's top five markets in average annual pay.
(Scroll down for answer)

ALABAMA

Southern Monopole Locates in Steele

Southern Monopole and Utilities Company will bring 100 jobs to Steele, Ala. early next year, with employment expected to reach 250 eventually. The company will locate in the St. Clair County/Steele Industrial Park. The plant will produce steel poles for use by utility companies for cell towers and replacement of wooden utility poles. Production will begin with 30 poles daily with that number growing to meet demand. Southern Monopole is owned by Qualico Steel Company of Webb, Ala.

Auburn Gains Two Auto Supplier Announcements

Two German auto suppliers will invest $30 million and create as many as 400 jobs in Auburn. Stahlschmidt & Maiworm will invest $28 million for an aluminum wheel manufacturing plant at the Auburn Technology Park North and will employ 350 people. Hoerbiger Hydraulik will invest $2 million to locate in Auburn Technology Park North. The company will manufacture hydraulic actuating mechanisms for the BMW Z3 roadster's convertible tops. The company will initially employ 15, with that number possibly increasing to 50 employees.

Cingular to Create 300 Jobs in Hoover

Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest cellular telephone service, will create 300 jobs at its Riverchase office as it consolidates a number of smaller call center operations from other states. This announcement comes after an announcement in April that eliminated 208 jobs at the same Hoover location. Cingular's Hoover operations handle incoming calls from prospective customers responding to advertisements.

JVC Adds DVD Production and Jobs at Tuscaloosa Plant

JVC will invest $12.5 million to expand production at the Tuscaloosa plant to include DVDs as well as the videotapes and compact discs already produced at the site. Fifty new positions will be added to the workforce of 600. The expansion is expected to be complete by September 2002.

Automotive Supplier Opening at Fort McClellan

Hunjan Moulded Products, a Canadian plastic injection manufacturer for the automotive industry, will open a factory at Fort McClellan in Anniston. Hunjan is the first industrial development at the former Army base, which was closed in 1999. The company will locate in a 96,000-square-foot building that was formerly used for training soldiers and military police. Hunjan will spend more than $2 million to upgrade the facility. The company will employ 20 people at start up and may employ as many as 300 at full production. Hunjan is a second-tier supplier to companies such as Honda-Canada, Ford and General Motors.

Allstate Locates in Birmingham

Insurance giant Allstate recently announced that Birmingham will be the site for a regional customer service center that will employ 300. The service center will serve customers in the Central Time Zone. According to a company official, Allstate chose Birmingham because of the available labor and the quality of life offered to its employees.

Minneapolis Manufacturer Opens Shop in Prattville

Minneapolis-based Bemis Company, a plastic packaging manufacturer, has moved into a plant formerly occupied by Wright Plastics in Prattville. The company will hire 150 workers.

ARKANSAS

ICT Group to Add 250 Jobs in Conway

ICT Group in Conway will open a customer contact center in Conway. The new center will add 250 jobs. ICT Group of Langhorne, Pa., provides integrated customer relationship management services.

Nestle to Build Frozen Foods Plant in Jonesboro

Nestle USA is building a 325,000 square foot, $165 million frozen foods plant in Jonesboro, hiring about 1,000 workers. The plant will produce Stouffer's and Lean Cuisine frozen meals. Production will begin in the first half of 2003. The plant will be located on a 100-acre site. Millard Refrigerated Services is partnering with Nestle to provide distribution and logistics services in a more than 200,000-square-foot refrigerated storage facility that will be connected to the Nestle plant. The Millard facility will employ 64 people.

FLORIDA

Mitsubishi Picks Orlando for Western Hemisphere HQ

Mitsubishi has selected the Orlando area for two major facilities. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of America will build a power systems service and manufacturing center in Orange County and has chosen Lake Mary in Seminole County for the Western Hemisphere headquarters for its Power Systems Division. Together, the two facilities will create nearly 500 jobs in the Orlando area. Mitsubishi's manufacturing center will be located in Orlando Central Park. Both projects are a result of the power plant boom in the South.

Merck-Medco Expands in Tampa

Merck-Medco Managed Care is opening a new pharmacy customer care call center in Tampa in December. At capacity, the 125,000-square-foot facility, located in Hidden River Business Park, will house 1,000 employees.

Pharmaceutical Company Moves R&D to Tampa

Beach Products, a company that develops, manufactures and markets generic drugs, will move its research and development division, Pharmaceutical Associates, into 13,000 square feet of leased space in the Linbaugh Center in Tampa. Beach Products, headquartered in Tampa, will continue to manufacture its products in its plant in Greenville, S.C. About 40 employees of Pharmaceutical Associates will work at the Tampa site.

SailTech Relocates to Bradenton from Canada

SailTech International is relocating its Vancouver, British Columbia headquarters and production line to Bradenton, Fla. The company is taking over 30,000 square feet of space in Tampa Bay with an option on 50,000 more square feet. At full capacity, the new facility will allow the company to produce over 50 sail and power boats each year.

Cingular Wireless to Open Call Center in Ocala

Cingular Wireless, the nation's second largest wireless carrier, will open a new regional customer call center in Ocala. The company will renovate a 102,400-square-foot facility formerly occupied by Lockheed Martin in Ocala Commerce Center. The new center will house 900 employees who will provide customer service support.

Big Distribution Center Slated for West Palm Beach

Costco Wholesale Corp., has bought 69 acres in suburban West Palm Beach to build a 400,000-square-foot distribution center. The facility is expected to create 300 new jobs.

GEORGIA

Texas-Pirelli Tire Building New Plant in Rome

Texas-Pirelli Tire North America has begun construction on a tire manufacturing plant in Rome. The 400,000-square-foot, $140 million building will include manufacturing, offices and research facilities. The plant will be operational by mid-2002 and will manufacture tires for new vehicles and for replacement tire markets. The Rome site will serve as the company's North American headquarters and will replace a plant in Hanford, Calif., that closed earlier this year. In total, 55 corporate employees and 250 production workers will be employed at the new plant within three years.

Another UPS Distribution Center Slated for Georgia

Atlanta-based UPS has purchased 30 acres in an Empowerment Zone located south of Atlanta's Turner Field for a new distribution center. The large distribution hub will be UPS' fifth large hub in the Atlanta area. UPS also operates 24 smaller hubs in Atlanta. The new hub will employ 300 workers. Former President Clinton created the Atlanta Empowerment Zone in 1994. The area includes 30 poor inner city neighborhoods that surround the city's central business district.

Best Buy Opens Distribution Center in Dublin

Minneapolis-based Best Buy Co. has opened a $40 million regional distribution center in Dublin, Ga. The electronics retailer is hiring 250 employees for the 748,000-square-foot facility. The new center will supply Best Buy stores in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee.

Call Center to Locate in Augusta

Civic Development Group will open an outbound call center that will provide employment for 200 people. CDG, a Woodbridge, New Jersey-based teleservices company, will locate the center in 10,000 square feet of space at the Westgate Center Business Park. CDG's center will serve its clients in the fundraising, credit and telephone fields.

Sprint's New Internet Center in Atlanta

Sprint Corp. has opened its seventh Sprint E/Solutions Internet Center in Atlanta. The 100,000-square-foot facility will provide Web-hosting support, collocation, monitoring and reporting performance and other information technology services.

KANSAS

Millennium Marketing to Add 500 Jobs in Shawnee

Telemarketing company Millenninum Marketing has moved to a new headquarters in Shawnee, Kan. and will add 500 jobs to its operations by year's end. The company, a national marketer of magazine subscriptions, recently moved from a 2,000-square- foot office in Shawnee into a 42,000-square-foot converted retail space in the Shawnee Shopping Center.

Cox Plans Call Center Near Wichita

Atlanta-based Cox Communications will build a new customer call center in northeast Wichita, a development that will bring 150 new jobs during the next three years. The 35,000-square-foot center in the Comotara Industrial Park is designed to centralize much of the company's customer service calls in one location.

Metal Stamping and Plating Company to Relocate to Independence

Valentec-Wells, a metal stamping and plating company is relocating from Costa Mesa, Calif. to the Lake City Army Ammunition Plant in Independence. The company will bring 80 new jobs and occupy 55,000 square feet of manufacturing space. The U.S. Army Armament Retooling and Manufacturing Support Program assisted with the rehabilitation of the space for Valentec-Wells by providing $1.8 million for improvements. Valentec-Wells is the nation's largest producer of machine gun links, and is owned by Safety Components of Greenville, S.C. It is one of the largest manufacturers of small and medium-caliber cartridge links worldwide and is also a supplier of automotive safety components.

CNH Global Moves Warehouse Operations

CNH Global, previously Case Corp., is moving its warehouse operations to a 202,000-square-foot building in north Wichita. The move will provide space for a previously announced expansion at CNH's Wichita farm machine plant. In 2002 CNH will hire 150 more workers at the Wichita plant to build new lines of skid steer loaders. The plant currently employs 650 workers. The plant produces small utility loaders used in construction and farming.

Tango Trucking to Build New Terminal Near Arkansas City

Tango Trucking, a Louisiana trucking company, will build a new terminal at Strother Field near Arkansas City to bring live cattle into the new Future Beef Processing Plant. The company will be located on 17 acres at Strother Field and will build a 72,000- square-foot shop and an additional 3,500 square feet of office space. The company will hire 70 employees initially, and hope to hire up to 360 employees within five years.

UPS Moves Regional Headquarters to Leawood

UPS will move its current general services regional headquarters from Omaha, Neb., to Leawood. UPS will locate 70 executives from Omaha and will retain 30 existing Kansas City area sales and marketing staff. Total investment for the project is $4 million.

KENTUCKY

Linens 'n Things to Open Distribution Center in Bullitt County

Linens 'n Things will open a distribution center in Shepherdsville's Cedar Grove Business Park that will employ 360 workers in a 611,000-square-foot facility.

Automotive Supplier Lands in Franklin

Toledo, Ohio-based New Mather Metals recently broke ground on its second plant in the state -- a facility in Franklin, Ky. -- that will employ 94 workers. The plant will make stabilizers for Toyota, Nissan and possibly Honda. The plant is a 100,000-square-foot facility that is located on 30 acres in Simpson County.

Another Supplier for Kentucky

KIRIU USA Corp. will locate a $9 million, 35,000-square-foot facility in Bowling Green. The plant will make auto brake rotors for Nissan's expanding Smyrna, Tenn. plant. The facility will employ 50 workers.

Call Center to Open in Paintsville

Millennium Teleservices will open its eighth call center in Kentucky since 1998. The company will open a 10,000-square-foot outbound teleservices center employing 200 people at the Paintsville facility.

American Woodmark to Open $20M Facility in Hazard

American Woodmark Corp. plans to build a 220,00-square-foot facility at the Coalfields Industrial Park in Hazard, Ky. The facility will be used to process lumber into hardwood components for kitchen and bath cabinets. By the end of 2002, about 260 workers will be hired and capital investment should total $20 million.

LOUISIANA

ExxonMobil Expands in Baton Rouge

ExxonMobil Chemical Company will expand its Baton Rouge plant to boost production capacity for two metallocene ethylene elastomers. The facilities, which will begin production by mid-2003, will allow ExxonMobil to expand its ethylene elastomers range to include metallocene ethylene propylene diene rubber to enhance the plastomers operation at the site. Plastomers and EPDM are used in packaging food, automotive hoses and seals, roof sheeting and other consumer products.

Automotive Supplier to Locate in Shreveport

Another automotive supplier for GM's expanding automotive facility in Shreveport is landing in the area. Louisville, Ky.-based T&WA, a tire and wheel assembly company, is breaking ground on a 43,000-square-foot facility in the Shreveport area. The company is expected to employ 27 workers at the plant, which is scheduled to open in May of next year. GM's Shreveport plant is currently undergoing an $800 million expansion.

MARYLAND

Human Genome Sciences Building $250 Million Campus in Rockville

Human Genome Sciences is building a new research and development and corporate campus in Rockville, Md. The company has broken ground on the more than $250 million first phase of the project. When complete, the 55-acre campus will provide more than one million square feet of office and lab space in interconnected buildings. Human Genome produces gene-based pharmaceuticals.

Global Payments Expands Call Center

Atlanta-based Global Payments, a credit-card processing company, is expanding its new customer service center in Owings Mills, Md., and will employ 500 workers by the end of the year. The company moved 300 of its workers from Hanover, Md., to a new building in Owings Mills this summer and has added another 50 workers since July. The company wanted to stay near its current employees homes. More than half live in Anne Arundel County; studies show these employees would tolerate the commute, and that 130 new employees could be found nearby.

Garden State Tanning to Relocate Headquarters to Hagerstown

Garden State Tanning will relocate its headquarters from King of Prussia, Pa., to Hagerstown during the first quarter of 2002. The company will relocate into 17,500 square feet of the OSI building. The move will create 25 new jobs. Garden State is a supplier of seats and other interior products to the automotive industry.

Arundel Gets 150 New Jobs

Sears, Roebuck and Co., has taken a large block of space in the Odenton Industrial Park for a new regional repair center that will bring 150 new jobs to Anne Arundel County. The company leased 106,000 square feet of space for the repair center, where the company will fix household items from televisions to lawn mowers.

MISSISSIPPI

Automotive Supplier Picks Vicksburg

Calsonic Kansei North America is building a plant in the Ceres Industrial Park in Warren County. The automotive supplier will make parts for Nissan's plant near Jackson. The company bought 55 acres for a $17.3 million, 190,000-square-foot plant that will initially employ 140 workers. Employment will increase to 400 when fully operational.

Heartland Catfish Completes $9 Million Expansion

Heartland Catfish has invested $9 million and hired 200 workers to expand its processing capability at its Itta Bena plant. The expansion doubles the amount of catfish produced at the facility to about 70 million pounds this year. The new facility has room for two additional processing lines that may be added in the next two to three years.

Packaging Company Picks Olive Branch

California-based Genlabs, a packaging company for car care products, expects to hire 30 workers when it opens its new manufacturing plant in Olive Branch in January. The company is renovating a 36,000-square-foot building near the Metro Industrial Park. The facility will serve company customers located in the Midwest and on the East Coast.

Oreck's Suppliers to Build on Mississippi Gulf Coast

The Long Beach, Miss.-based Oreck vacuum cleaner plant has prompted two suppliers to open facilities near the Mississippi Gulf Coast plant. Oregon-based Puget Plastics Corp., which makes various parts for Oreck, and Kentucky-based John Anson, are planning supplier operations that are expected to employ up to 650. The facilities will be located so close to the Oreck plant, that parts will be moved by a conveyer belt.

MISSOURI

Wal-Mart to Open Distribution Facility in Moberly

Wal-Mart has announced plans to locate a distribution facility in Moberly. The project involves the development of a 160-acre area in Moberly, where Wal-Mart will construct a 450,000-square-foot distribution center. The company will create more than 400 new jobs within three years. Wal-Mart is Missouri's largest employer.

Harley-Davidson To Expand Kansas City Plant

Harley-Davidson will hire 300 people over the next few years as part of its plans to build a new motorcycle at the company's Kansas City plant. Harley is planning the production of a new bike called the V-Rod.

Tipton Gains New Manufacturing Plant

Delta USA Corporation will open a new manufacturing facility in the former FASCO building in Tipton. The manufacturer of parts for the automotive industry will make a multi-million dollar investment and create more than 120 jobs within two years. Delta USA is a Japanese-owned, privately held company that manufactures seat mechanisms. The company has been established in the United States since 1988 with corporate headquarters in Eldon, Mo.

Cerner Begins Expansion at North Kansas City Campus

Cerner Corporation has held groundbreaking ceremonies for the first phase of a 10-year expansion at its North Kansas City campus. Cerner, a software developer for managing healthcare information, will begin the expansion with a four-story, 124,000- square-foot world headquarters building. It is the first of nine buildings in the company's $191 million expansion plan for the next decade. The building will be completed in fall 2002. The company hired about 300 workers in the second quarter and has openings for 150 employees.

Textron Expands in Columbia

Textron Automotive is building a $10 million, 64,000-square-foot facility that will double production at its Columbia-based instrument panel plant. The expansion will add 140 workers. Textron built the existing plant after securing a contract with Ford and Mitsubishi. In 1995, Textron added Chrysler to its product line.

NORTH CAROLINA

Truck Manufacturer to Expand

Freightliner LLC has purchased 10 acres next to its Mount Holly manufacturing plant, where it plans to expand and start producing a new medium-duty truck line. Company officials are hoping the new truck will help the plant, which has seen hundreds of layoffs in the last 12 months.

Sitel Puts 600 New Workers on the Phones

Sitel Corp. is adding 600 workers to its Charlotte-area call center by year-end, citing increased demand from its Fortune 500 clients. The company currently employs over 1,000 people at its facility in the University Research Park, located north of Charlotte.

EDS Expands in Charlotte

Electronic Data Systems will open a 47,000-square-foot expansion of its Charlotte operations. The Plano, Tex.-based technology giant has been on a national growth curve that is prompting local expansion.

Aegis to Open 1000 Employee Center in Rocky Mount

Texas-based Aegis Communications Group will open a new 60,000-square-foot customer service center in Rocky Mount. The facility will employ 1000 people. Aegis Communications provides multi-channel customer relationship management and comprehensive marketing research for its customers.

CIGNA to Hire 400 Employees in Charlotte

CIGNA HealthCare will hire up to 200 service representatives and claim processors at its Charlotte Service Center by year's end. The insurer plans to add 200 more employees there by the end of 2002. The 130,000-square-foot center, at Regency Executive Park, currently has a staff of 800.

Mobile-Home Parts Distributor to Move to Rowan County

Service Supply Distribution is relocating from Stanly County to a 56,000-square-foot speculative building on a six-acre site built last year in Rowan County's Summit Corporate Center, bringing 60 jobs. It will be the second tenant for the county-owned business park; GDX Automotive is located in a 450,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in the park.

SPX Headquarters to Locate in Ballantyne Corporate Park

The Michigan-based technical products and systems company, SPX Corporation, will take part of a 104,000-square-foot building in Charlotte's Ballantyne Corporate Park for its headquarters office. SPX, which employs 50 at its Muskegon, Mich. headquarters, will extend relocation offers to the majority of the staff there. The company acquired Charlotte-based United Dominion Industries Ltd. in May and will consolidate the former UDI group with the headquarters operations in Charlotte. The office will open in April 2002.

Genesco Chooses Wilson County for Distribution

Genesco Inc. will open a new 322,000-square-foot distribution facility in Wilson County that will employ 120 workers. The Nashville-based retailer has bought 215 acres and expects to open the facility in the spring of next year. The company will distribute Genesco's Journeys teen retail division to the parent company's 800 retail stores.

DaimlerChrysler Division to Open in Huntersville

DaimlerChrysler has leased 12,500 square feet of space at Pizzagalli Properties' NorthPointe Executive Park in Huntersville as a headquarters for its Sprinter Van division. The division will employ 40 by year-end and expand to as many as 55 next year. The Sprinter, a light commercial cargo and passenger vehicle, is designed by Mercedes-Benz and marketed in the U.S. under the Freightliner brand of Freightliner Corporation. Functions at NorthPointe will include sales and marketing, engineering and administration. One of DaimlerChrysler's key clients is Federal Express, which will take about 2,000 of the 3,500 vans the company expects to sell by year-end.

British Company Picks Cary

A British company that dresses phones, computer accessories and other electronics in colorful, interchangeable skins has picked Cary as the site for its U.S. operations. Officials with e-comeleon say plans call for starting up in November with a staff of about 12 people.

OKLAHOMA

Advantage Marketing Systems Opens in Oklahoma City

Advantage Marketing Systems, a direct sales company, has opened a new, 23,000-square-foot national training center and warehouse/call center in Oklahoma City. The investment in the new facility will make room for more than 100 new jobs.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Target to Build Large Distribution Center

Target officials have selected a site near Lugoff, S.C. for a 1.35 million-square-foot distribution facility. Ground was broken in October for the $85 million project, which is expected to employ as many as 1,000 workers by 2006. The larger retailer will serve stores in Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas from the facility.

New Plant for Orangeburg

Scienda Building Sciences has opened a new facility in Orangeburg. The $17 million plant, which is expected to employ 150 workers, will assemble steel frames. Scienda designs and builds light-guage structures.

Road Rescue Expands in Marion

St. Paul, Minn.-based ambulance manufacturer Road Rescue, Inc., a subsidiary of Spartan Motors Inc., is investing $4 million to expand an existing facility in Marion. The company began construction on the 100,000-square-foot plant in September, with completion expected by January 2002. Road Rescue will hire 120 workers at the new factory over the next five years. When completed the plant will have more than 90,000 square feet of manufacturing space.

Parts and Machinery Relocates Plant

Parts and Machinery Inc., a Union County manufacturer of piping has invested $2.5 million to relocate and expand within the county. The company, needing more manufacturing space and wanting to diversify its product line to include piping for the power industry, will expand its employment base from 58 to 100 workers over the next two years.

TENNESSEE

Williams Refining and Marketing to Invest $400 Million in Memphis

Williams Refining and Marketing, the nation's largest-volume transporter of natural gas, is investing $400 million in an expansion of its current Memphis operations. The company plans three projects in the city, which will create a total of 90 jobs. Current employment for Williams in Memphis is 300 people. The project will include expanding Williams' refinery, building a power generation facility and constructing a support facility.

Auto Supplier Expands in Dayton

The Lear Corp., a maker of automotive interior products, is expanding its Dayton plant by 80,000 square feet and hiring 100 more employees. The company recently secured new contracts with Ford, Nissan and GM.

Cormetech to Expand Cleveland Plant

Durham-based Cormetech will expand its manufacturing facility in Cleveland. The project will more than triple the plant's capacity by early 2002 and add 50 jobs to its current employment of 130. Cormetech supplies selective catalytic reduction catalysts, used to reduce emissions contributing to smog and acid rain. The company designs and manufactures products to limit nitrogen oxides emissions from coal and gas fired plants that generate electricity. Cormetech Inc., founded in 1989, is a joint equity company of Corning Inc. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

New Jersey Company Lands in Chattanooga

Covista Communications is relocating its headquarters from Little Falls, N.J., to Chattanooga as well as opening a new 200-employee call center there. Covista also plans to build a telecommunications switching and interconnection facility in Chattanooga. Covista officials cited lower operating costs as the factor in the move. The company is a long distance telecommunications, Internet and data services provider.

TEXAS

SimuFlite Breaks Ground at Dallas/Fort Worth International

GE Capital SimuFlite Training International has broken ground on its third major expansion in six years at its training facility at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. The 70,000-square-foot north wing will contain six simulator bays, additional classrooms and office space. With the expansion, SimuFlite, which employs about 450, will have a training facility totaling 411,000 square feet. The company provides advanced training to pilots and maintenance professionals operating turbine-powered aircraft in corporate, military and government service.

Varitek Relocates From San Diego to Houston

Varitek Industries has relocated its research and development, communications operations and corporate management from San Diego to Houston in a consolidation move. Varitek develops proprietary telematics and wireless telemetry solutions.

Sysco Plans Major Relocation to Austin Ranch in Lewisville

Sysco Corporation will relocate and expand its Metroplex operation at the Billingsley Company's 1,900-acre Austin Ranch. Sysco Food Services of Dallas has put 48 acres under contract where is will build a 557,000-square-foot distribution warehouse that will employ 800. The land is part of 200 acres the Billingsley Company has set aside for industrial development at Austin Ranch. Sysco will be relocating from 279,000 square feet of space in Farmers Branch, where it has been for 20 years. The company employs 700.

Port Arthur Gains Jobs from Joint Venture

Texas-based Tex-Mix has formed a joint venture with CNG Enterprises to open a quick-freeze operation in Port Arthur that will employ 150 people. The joint venture was created to import jalapeno peppers from Mexico and olives from Spain.

General Packaging Opens Plant in Brownsville

General Packaging Corporation, a corrugated box and foam-cushioning manufacturer from Richardson, has opened a new 15,000-square-foot facility in Brownsville. The company will hire 50 people within three years and will service existing clients such as Tyco Matamoros and work to create new packaging business in the area.

Headquarters Moved From California to Dallas/Fort Worth

Kinko's Inc. officials have announced the company is relocating it headquarters from Ventura, Ca. to the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Officials with the company have cited costs as the main factor behind the move. One company official pointed to the fact that there are no income taxes in Texas and housing and office space costs less there than in California. Up to 500 jobs are expected to be created when the company relocates. Officials with Kinko's are searching for approximately 100,000 square feet of space in the Dallas/Fort Worth region.

Dow Chemical Building $200 Million Plant

A $200 million polyurethane plant is being built in Freeport, Tex., by Dow Chemical Co. The facility will make polymeric methylene diphenyl (PMDI), which is used to produce automobile trim, instrument panels and adhesives. The new plant will employ approximately 80 workers and will be completed in 2004.

VIRGINIA

VeriSign Expands in Northern Virginia

Who says tech is dead? VeriSign plans to expand in Herndon, Va., by leasing an entire 405,000 square-foot office facility in Woodland Park. The new 13-story office building, named Waterview I, is close to completion. The new facility can accommodate up to 1,600 employees.

Wal-Mart to Hire 600 People in Louisa County

Wal-Mart will create 600 new jobs in Louisa County by opening a new food distribution center in the Zion Crossroads area. Construction on the 880,000-square-foot facility will begin in spring 2002, with completion planned by spring 2003.

Sara Lee Expanding Virginia Plant

Sara Lee Coffee & Tea Co., is expanding it Suffolk, Va., plant with a $93 million concentrated liquid coffee production line. Plans call for a 152,000-square-foot building and the hiring of 100 additional workers.

Ford Motor to Invest $375 Million to Expand Norfolk Assembly Plant

Ford Motor Company will invest $375 on an expansion at its Norfolk assembly plant with the addition of a 350,000-square-foot body shop. The expansion will create 200 new jobs. The plant currently employs 2,400 people. The plant will continue to assemble the F-150 pickup trucks. Ford sold 876,716 F-Series pickup trucks last year, and they have been the best selling vehicle in the United States for the past 19 years. The Norfolk facility produced about 240,000 F-Series pickup trucks last year. Ford's Norfolk plant is among the company's oldest assembly operations and originally produced Model T cars when it first opened in 1925.

Southwest Virginia Secures Call Center

TeleCorp PCS Inc. will locate an inbound call center in Southwest Virginia's Russell County. With an investment of $4.6 million, TeleCorp will hire 300 employees to handle billing, coverage, technical and general support questions for its customers. The company provides SunCom digital wireless services in selected markets in 14 states and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Headquartered in Arlington, Va., TeleCorp employs more than 2,800 people.

AFFINA Locates in Hampton Roads

AFFINA has selected Bridgeway Commerce Park in Suffolk as the site for its new 40,000-square-foot customer contact center. With an investment of $5 million the center will support the expansion of 1-800-MEDICARE. The AFFINA center will employ up to 450 people. AFFINA partners with Fortune 1000 companies and government agencies to provide comprehensive customer relationship management programs integrating call center, Internet, database marketing, market research, customized technology solutions, closed-loop lead management and fulfillment services.

Blackstone Chosen for Manufacturing Plant

LaJobi Industries will locate a manufacturing operation in Blackstone, Va. Headquartered in Edison, New Jersey, LaJobi manufactures a line of baby cribs in Italy and sells them to national chain stores including Babies-R-Us and Burlington Coat Factory. The company is investing $4 million in the facility, and hiring 110 people to manufacture complementary case goods for its cribs.

K-B Toys to Locate Facility in Blairs

K-B Toys will locate a distribution facility in Blairs, investing $10 million in the facility, and creating 150 new jobs. The jobs will include e-commerce database managers, inventory clerks, customer service representatives, systems administrators and management level employees.

WEST VIRGINIA

Cooling Tower Plant to Open in Barbour County

A New Jersey company that makes industrial cooling towers is opening a 25,000-square-foot plant in Barbour County. KCKJ Enterprises has purchased a building in Philippi Industrial Park. The company chose the Philippi park because Snyder Industries, which makes a component of the plastic towers, is located there. KCKJ will employ 60 workers at the plant by fall of 2002.

Aerospace Company Announces Expansion

Gov. Bob Wise announced the expansion of FCX Systems to a new 36,000-square-foot building in the Chaplin Hill Road Industrial Park, Monongalia County. "FCX has been an important part of West Virginia's economic family since 1987," Wise said. "Participating in a company's success is what economic development is all about." FCX systems, which designs, manufactures and sells solid state frequency converters worldwide for commercial aviation, private, government, corporate and industrial lab applications, employs 67 people and plans to double its workforce within three years at its new location, with an investment of $2.7 million.

QUIZ ANSWER

You may have answered correctly the top four markets for average annual pay in the South. Yet, we're certain very few of you got the fifth one right. The top five markets for average annual pay in the South are Washington D.C./MD/VA/WV ($39,509); Dallas/Fort Worth ($36,815); Houston ($35,766); Atlanta ($35,374); and Huntsville, Ala. ($33,906).