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.

ALABAMA

Service Zone Centers in Hamilton and Winfield to Create 1,200 Jobs; 600 Jobs to Be Created in Andalusia

Service Zone will open two call centers that will create 1,200 jobs in Marion County. Service Zone specializes in telephone technical support consulting and call center services. Two 44,000 square foot centers will be constructed, one to locate in the Bedford Industrial Park in Hamilton, and the other to be constructed in the Winfield Industrial Park in Winfield. Each center will eventually house 600 employees with room for expansion on two 20-acre sites. Most of the 1,200 employees will handle inbound calls and customer relations for Service Zone clients. Service Zone had previously announced it would construct a 44,000 square foot plant employing 600 in Andalusia.

GE Plastics Invest $185 Million in Burkville

GE Plastics will increase capacity at its Burkville site with a $185 million investment. The plant produces LEXAN resin, an engineering resin material used in a variety of markets and shipped around the world. The expansion will support the growing markets for the material in optical discs, automotive components, computers and other industries. Scheduled for completion in early 2002, the project will bring several hundred skilled piping, structural and electrical workers to the plant in 2002. GE Plastics' Burkville plant currently employs 405 people who live in some 13 Alabama counties. The plant started up in 1987 with an initial investment of $325 million. When the latest expansion is complete, GE's investment in the plant will total about $1.2 billion.

CRH to Add 275 Jobs in Clanton

CRH North America will spend $21 million to expand its factory in Clanton, creating 275 jobs. CRH is a subsidiary of Germany-based C. Rob Hammerstein & Company. The automotive supplier currently operates a 50,000 square foot plant in Chilton County with 70 workers making seat frames for BMW in South Carolina. The expansion comes as the company expects to win business with Ford and Chrysler. The expansion project will increase the factory's size to 175,000 square feet.

Teksid Plans $41 Million Plant in Sylacauga

Teksid Aluminum Components will expand its facilities in Sylacauga with a new $41 million plant. The expansion will create more than 100 jobs. The company will produce aluminum cylinder blocks and be built on the same site as the $75 million Teksid aluminum manufacturing plant. Teksid is a subsidiary of Fiat Group Company, which is the world's largest producer of metallurgical products for the automotive industry.

Cintas to Build $7.3 Million Plant in Huntsville

Cintas Corporation, the nation's largest supplier of corporate identity uniforms, is building a $7.3 million processing plant in Huntsville. Cintas has provided uniforms to the Huntsville/Decatur market for eight years. The new plant will replace a smaller one in Decatur.

Boeing Adding Jobs in Decatur

Decatur's Boeing plant is adding 100 employees after successful tests on the Delta IV rocket, which is assembled in Decatur. A successful CBC static fire test insured the rocket plant's need for more employees for its Delta IV program. Boeing has announced four Delta IV launches in 2002 and eight in 2003. The plant currently employs 545.

ARKANSAS

Team Ward to Create 100 Jobs in Monticello

Team Ward Inc. of Monticello, which makes War Eagle Boats, has acquired a former 300,000 square foot Burlington Industries plant in Monticello and will create 100 new jobs there. Team Ward began building boats in 1945. Lines have included Duracraft and War Eagle. War Eagle is the official boat of Ducks Unlimited.

Commercial Group South Expands in Marianna

A wooden modular home and building manufacturer has begun operations in Marianna, Ark. Commercial Group South, LLC, has moved into its new 60,000 square foot facility. Up to 100 new jobs are expected at the new modular buildings plant.

Frito-Lay to Expand Jonesboro Plant

Frito-Lay will invest in a $35 million expansion, adding 100,000 square feet and 100 new jobs to its Jonesboro, Ark., plant over the next two years. The expansion project will create room to manufacture a new single-serve snack product. Construction is due for completion in November, with start-up in December.

New Industry Opens in Bradley County

H&L Poultry Processing has begun production with 170 new employees working on two shifts at the Warren Industrial Park. The company will employ up to 300 people within a few months. H&L Poultry Processing located in what was previously known as the Warren Industrial Park speculative building. The 50,000 square foot, pre-engineered metal frame speculative building was constructed of 26-gauge metal panels with pre-cast tilt-up concrete panels on three sides.

Maxwell Expands, Creates 100 Jobs

Maxwell Hardwood Flooring has completed an expansion that adds more than 100 jobs to its operations in Monticello. The company installed a third production line to be used in the manufacture of its lines of hardwood flooring and increase its production capacity by 90 percent. The improvements to the facilities include the enlargement of several existing buildings and the addition of a high-speed production line and a new 140,000-board-foot capacity dry kiln. Spurring the company's growth has been the boom in housing starts and downtown development in major cities in recent years.

Georgia-Pacific Plans $20 Million Fort Smith Expansion

Georgia-Pacific Corp. plans to invest $19.6 million in expanding a Dixie Products paper cup and paper plate plant at Fort Smith. The expansion will increase employment at the plant to 350 workers at the former Fort James Corp. facility.

FLORIDA

Nextel Partners Breaks Ground in Panama City Beach

Nextel Partners recently celebrated the groundbreaking of its 65,000 square foot customer support facility at Beckrich Office Park in Panama City. The office park is a development of St. Joe Commercial. The building is scheduled for completion in first quarter 2002. The center will employ as many as 600 people and provide an annual $10 million economic boost to the community.

RF Micro in Joint Venture With Cirent Semiconductor

Orange County approved $1.6 million in tax incentives for North Carolina-based RF Micro Devices to start a joint venture with Orlando-based Cirent Semiconductor. In May, the two companies announced plans for a joint venture at Cirent's chip plant in Orlando. RF Micro plans to invest $58 million in the plant and create about 50 new, high-wage jobs.

Osceola Gains 500 New Jobs

Osceola County gained 500 new jobs when Marlin eSourcing Solutions recently opened a 400,000 square foot warehouse distribution, training, co-location and call center. Marlin eSourcing has had an office in Orlando for two years, where it handled a smaller array of services. At the Kissimmee facility, the company will offer more services, including their hosting and co-location facilities for uninterrupted Internet business operations, redundant Internet access, customer service center and fulfillment center for rapid delivery of products. The new facility will also house a training center where call center staff gets the latest information on products and services offered by clients.

GEORGIA

Valdosta Site Choice for Regal Marine

Orlando boat manufacturer Regal Marine is expanding by opening an additional manufacturing plant in Valdosta. The new plant will boost the company's manufacturing space by 50 percent and provide room for further expansion. Regal acquired a 123,000 square foot building in Valdosta. The company's Orlando headquarters include more than 300,000 square feet of manufacturing space and employs more than 650 people. Privately held Regal Marine has been building luxury and performance sport boats in Florida since 1969.

Office Depot Building Large Facility

Florida-based Office Depot is building a 550,000 square foot distribution center in north Gwinnett County. The facility will be the first for a new $150 million, 250-acre business park called Hamilton Mill Business Center. The facility will handle mainly local distribution in the Atlanta area, but will handle some long-haul traffic as well.

Best Buy to Open Distribution Center in Dublin

Minneapolis-based Best Buy Co. opened its newest distribution center at 100 Best Buy Drive in Dublin, Ga. on June 14. The new $40 million facility will supply consumer electronics and home office products to 65 Best Buy stores in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama and Tennessee. The Distribution Center will bring approximately 250 jobs to Dublin. Best Buy operates six additional major distribution facilities in Dinuba, Calif.; Ardmore, Okla.; Edina and Bloomington, Minn.; Staunton, Va.; and Findlay, Ohio.

Ford to Open Marine Division Plant in Kennesaw

Ford Power Products, a subsidiary of Dearborn, Mich.-based Ford Motor Co., will open its new marinization and light assembly operation in Kennesaw in September. The 42,000 square foot facility will house Ford's Marine Division offices, marinization operations, and inventory for engine and parts fulfillment. "The plant location and warmer Georgia climate are more conducive to engine and boat testing, compared to the extended winters of Michigan, and many of our market partners, suppliers and customers are nearby," said Jack Damron, president and CEO of Ford Power Products.

GE Power Systems Adds 200 Jobs

GE Power Systems will add 200 new production jobs at its newly acquired Jarco facility in Duluth, Ga. With the addition of these new positions, employment at the 115,000 square foot Duluth facility will grow to approximately 400 people. Jarco, a family-owned business existing since 1973, is a manufacturer of gas and steam turbine components. It's business operations will be integrated into GE's gas turbine organization based in Greenville, S.C.

KANSAS

Coleman Relocating Grill Making Operations to Wichita

The Coleman Co. is moving its outdoor grill manufacturing operations to Wichita from Neosho, Mo., this fall company officials announced. The relocation will create about 65 permanent jobs and about the same number of seasonal jobs. The company is moving the grill facility to a building the Hayes Co. is vacating in September. The Sunbeam Corp., Coleman's parent company, will continue to make grills at its Neosho plant under the Grillmaster and Sunbeam brands.

Haye's $20 Million Plant Nearly Complete

The Hayes Co., is in the final stages of completing its $20 million manufacturing and office facility just north of Wichita. The company will be moving into the 400,000 square foot plant in September and plans to have up to 600 employees working there. Hayes makes lawn and garden products that are sold by Home Depot, Target, Wal-Mart, Kmart and Sam's Club.

Pegasus Opens Lenexa Center

Pegasus Communications held a ceremony this summer marking the opening of its new customer care center in Lenexa, Kan. The 50,000 square foot facility was built to accommodate customer growth in Pegasus' satellite television business and the recent launch of the company's broadband satellite Internet services.

KENTUCKY

Healthcare Recoveries Adding 175 Jobs in Louisville

Healthcare Recoveries will expand its business and create 175 jobs at its Louisville headquarters. Healthcare Recoveries has provided health insurance recovery services for private health care payers since 1988. At the end of 2000, the company expanded into the business of selling property and casualty insurance recovery services. The company also has offices in Pittsburgh, Milwaukee and Encino, Ca., and employs 681 people, including 500 in Louisville.

Kentucky Web Site to Market State-Produced Goods

Kentuckyvirtual.com, a new Web site that will market Kentucky products through a $6 million Edmonson County storage and shipping facility, was recently announced at Kentucky Crafted: The Market, which is an arts and crafts show. The Kentucky Web page will serve as a sort of display window where the world can see what is being made by small producers in Kentucky, from beefsteak to architectural woodwork. The program will also help small producers deliver their goods to far-off places. The Web site will be run from a new 32,000 square foot fulfillment center about 100 miles from Louisville. The center will employ 35 to 40 people, and will market 5,000 to 7,000 products from 250 to 300 companies.

Citicorp to Provide Northern Kentucky with up to 2000 New Jobs

The Citicorp Credit Services cards operation in Boone County will expand, creating up to 2,000 new jobs. Citibank will construct a new 180,000 square foot facility on the 81-acre campus. The existing Citicorp Credit Services operation, a 145,000 square foot facility that opened in 1996, currently employs 940. The operation provides collections, credit risk detection and customer service for Citibank card members nationwide. The new building will support the expansion of these services.

Thomson Learning to Build 835,000 Square Foot Facility in Boone County

Thomson Learning will build an 835,000 square foot facility in Boone County that will house offices and a warehouse distribution center. Thomson will consolidate its distribution centers in Florence, Hebron and Cincinnati at the location, to be built at the Enterprise V Park on Mount Zion Road. The building will be divided into 60,000 square feet of office space and 775,000 square feet of distribution space. Construction will be complete by early 2002. The number of jobs created by the new center has not yet been announced.

LOUISIANA

Cingular Wireless Adds to Baton Rouge Call Center

Cingular Wireless is adding 270 workers to its Baton Rouge-based call center operations. Currently, 180 are employed at the customer service facility. Baton Rouge has become a popular location for call centers. Convergys operates a large, 650-employee facility in Baton Rouge and West TeleServices has created over 5,000 jobs in the Baton Rouge area in just the last year.

Aggreko to Expand in New Iberia

Aggreko, Inc., a multinational utility company announced it would stay in Louisiana and build a $3 million headquarters for its growth in North America and its future planned expansion into South America. The company recently celebrated a groundbreaking ceremony at a 6-acre plot on the company's New Iberia campus. Aggreko, part of the UK-based Aggreko, PLC, supplies engineering services and equipment for electrical generation, temperature control, and compressed air utility applications. The company currently employs 200 people in Louisiana and will add 100 more employees over the next few years.

Folger Begins Expansion

Folger Coffee Co., began work in July on a $100 million expansion of its eastern New Orleans roasting facilities. The expansion, which consists primarily of upgrades to the company's roasting and packaging operations, will result in the hiring of 80 more employees once the project is completed in early 2003. The plant now employs 450 people.

MARYLAND

Toyota Financial Services Selects Baltimore County

Toyota Financial Services (TFS) has chosen Owings Mills, Md., as the site of their Eastern Region Customer Service Center. The center will employ approximately 440 employees, and will handle all of the collections, lease terminations, administrative activities and customer service functions for the Eastern U.S. region. It will join an existing CSC that is located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and a new Western region CSC that will open this fall in Chandler, Ariz. The company is leasing 100,000 square feet of office space in Owings Mills.

Battelle to Build East Coast HQ

Maryland's Board of Public Works approved a $2.1 million contract to sell 30.5 acres of land owned by the Maryland Transportation Authority to Ohio-based Battelle Memorial Institute. Battelle plans to build its East Coast headquarters on the site and plans to hire an estimated 250 people. Battelle has worked to develop technology for such inventions as the copy machine, compact discs, the bar code system and ecommerce technology that allows banking and shopping on the Internet.

Hughes Electronics Opens $20 Million Nerve Center in Germantown

Hughes Network Systems opened their new $20 million operations center this summer. The center was launched to consolidate eight operations into a nerve center for a $1.4 billion satellite-based broadband network. The 43,000 square foot facility will be the brain for the satellite firm's biggest product push in years -- a broadband satellite service known as DirecWay.

Huge Complex Planned for Gaithersburg Biotech Company

Gaithersburg, Md.-based MedImmune is building a new headquarters in three stages that will eventally grow to 750,000 square feet. The first phase will consist of a 210,000 square foot, $70 million complex that includes office and research space. After phase three is completed, the new facility will have enough room for over 2,000 employees. The current MedImmune headquarters houses about 500 workers. MedImmune has five products on the market and six in development. It's lead product, Synagis, is designed to prevent lower respiratory tract disease in infants.

MISSISSIPPI

Mississippi Gulf Coast Chosen for 700 Employee Center

Cingular, the nation's second largest wireless carrier and a Fortune 100 company, will locate a 700-person customer care center on the Mississippi coast. The center will be located in the vacant Wal-Mart building in Ocean Springs. Cingular expects to begin operations in the facility later this summer. The customer care center is a high-end, inbound call center.

MISSOURI

Missouri's Top Employer to Build in Moberly

Wal-Mart will locate a distribution facility in Moberly, investing millions and creating hundreds of jobs. The project involves the development of a 160-acre site in Moberly, where Wal-Mart will construct a 450,000 square foot distribution center. The company will create more than 300 jobs within two years, which could grow to 400 new jobs over a three-year period.

Cape Girardeau Industrial Park Lands Aircraft Manufacturer

Renaissance Aircraft will invest $1 million to construct a manufacturing facility in the Greater Cape Girardeau Industrial Park. Renaissance Aircraft is a Georgia-based, chartered limited liability company that manufactures aircraft primarily used for the agricultural industry. The company will create 50 new jobs in the city of Cape Girardeau.

Positronic to Expand in Cabool

Positronic Industries has been approved for $65,000 in development tax credits by the Missouri Department of Economic Development. The company donated $130,000 to the Cabool Revitalization Group for exterior renovation and structural repairs to renovate a blighted building on Main Street in Cabool. Once renovated, the company will lease the building and expand its operations, creating more than 45 jobs in two years. Positronic Industries is a global company that produces and sells electronic connectors, power connectors and connection systems to the electronics industry.

NORTH CAROLINA

Lowe's to Build Regional Distribution Center in Northampton County

Lowe's Companies will construct a regional distribution center on a 225-acre site near Garysburg in Northampton County. The center will employ 600 workers when in full operation. The 1.3 million square foot facility will serve five Mid-Atlantic states. Lowe's will invest $59 million in land, building and equipment in the county. Lowe's is based out of Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Triangle to Gain Jobs from Invensys

Invensys Power Systems is scaling down operations in the Midwest and shifting work to its Raleigh headquarters and other facilities. Invensys will add manufacturing and support workers in Raleigh as it moves product lines from its 300-worker Necedah, Wisconsin operation. Company officials had said last year that the consolidation plan for its Secure Power Group, which includes products from Powerware, Best Power and IPM, would result in a work force reduction of six percent, or about 270 employees worldwide. But the Raleigh operation will grow. New jobs in Raleigh will total between 50 and 100. Invensys currently has about 1,800 workers and four facilities in Raleigh, with enough space to house the new employees.

Aegis Communications Group to Locate Call Center in Rocky Mount

Aegis Communications Group, a provider of integrated marketing services, will locate a high tech call center in the former Circuit City call center facility at Crossroads Plaza in Rocky Mount. Aegis will create 600 new jobs over the next five years, and invest $5 million in equipment.

Plant to Manufacture Nylon in Stoneville

Unifi-Sans Technical Fibers, a new joint venture of Unifi Nylon, will refurbish a 236,000 square foot facility in Stoneville formerly used by Unifi. Unifi and Sans Fibers will convert the facility to manufacture high tenacity nylon 6.6 light denier industrial yarns. Total investment in plant refurbishing and equipment will be $25 million and the company will create 100 new jobs.

Aisin AW to Hire 100 for Durham Plant

Japanese auto parts maker, Aisin AW, will hire 100 workers at its Durham plant this summer. The company currently has 170 employees in various manufacturing positions, making Toyota Camry transmissions.

OKLAHOMA

Dal-Tile to Open New Tile Plant in Muskogee

Dal-Tile International will locate a new floor tile manufacturing facility in Muskogee. The plant will be located on 150 acres at the Port of Muskogee/John T. Griffin Industrial Park. The plant will be one of the largest tile facilities in the U.S. Headquartered in Dallas, Dal-Tile is the largest manufacturer, distributor and marketer of ceramic tile in the U.S., with 7,600 employees in North America.

SOUTH CAROLINA

Musachi Opens 120,000 S.F. Facility in Marlboro County

Musachi Seimitsu, the world's leading manufacturer of beveled gears, camshafts and other automotive related parts, hosted a grand opening in June at its new Marlboro County plant. The 120,000 square foot facility will make products from Visteon, the Dana Corporation, plus assemble ATV transmission units for the Honda ATV plant in Timmonsville, S.C.

New Jobs, Investment for North Charleston Region

Scientific Research Corporation (SRC) will expand in Charleston, investing $4.5 million and producing 140 new jobs. SRC uses applied research and hands-on operations to develop and improve computing technologies. The company specializes in system design, rapid prototyping, hardware and software integration, testing, installation and maintenance. SRC will occupy 30,000 square feet of a new 70,000 square foot office building under construction in North Charleston's Faber Place Office Park.

SunCom to Build New Headquarters on Daniel Island

The Daniel Island Company, the Trammell Crow Company and Brumley Meyer & Kapp have announced a joint venture to build a 100,000 square foot SunCom regional headquarters facility for Triton PCS in the Daniel Island Corporate Center. The $13.5 million facility will house 575 local administrative, engineering, customer service and sales and marketing employees.

Verizon Wireless to Expand Customer Call Center and Build New HQ for Carolinas Region

Verizon Wireless is building a new facility for its Carolinas Region headquarters in order to accommodate a planned expansion of its customer service call center. Construction of the new $38 million, 192,000 square foot facility in Mauldin has already begun and should be complete by January 2002. The expansion at the call center will create 750 jobs by 2005.

TENNESSEE

VoiceStream to Create 600 Jobs with Nashville Call Center

Washington-based VoiceStream will add 500 to 600 employees in Nashville with its 65,000 square foot call center to be built in the Grassmere Business Park. The project should be completed by August, depending on a merger with West Point, Georgia-based Powertel. The call center project originated with Powertel, which planned construction of a 50,000 square foot facility employing 500 workers. When the company announced merger plans with VoiceStream in August, 2000, plans for the call center were adjusted to create a larger center.

Araco Chooses Jackson for U.S. Headquarters

Araco Corporation, one of the Japanese Companies in the Toyota Group, has joint venture plans with Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls to establish a $30 million automotive parts production operation and U.S. joint venture company headquarters in Jackson. The operation will include a 190,000 square foot facility on a 40-acre site in Tiger Jones Technology Park and create 100 new jobs. The company will be operational by 2003.

Tennessee's First Korean Investment Chooses Clinton

Tennessee's first Korean automobile parts manufacturer, Samlip America, the largest Korean auto supplier, will manufacture shifter and park brake assemblies at its new 35,000 square foot facility in the Clinton I-75 Industrial Park. The company will hire 100 workers through 2002.

Kirkland Expands Operations in Jackson

Jackson-based home decorating retailer Kirkland's, has signed a long-term lease on the former Alsteel facility to open a national distribution center. The company also signed an option on an adjacent 22-acres for future expansion. During the next several years, Kirkland will expand and consolidate all of its distribution activities into the Jackson operation. Kirkland's Distribution Center will be a 303,000 square foot facility. The company will hire 120 people within four years, and plans several facility expansions within that time. Kirkland's expansion plans will ultimately create 300 new jobs.

Toyo Seat USA to Locate Plant in Grundy County

Toyo Seat USA will locate an expansion plant that will employ 100 people in the production of automotive seat frames and mechanisms for the automotive industry. The $12 million project will include expansion of the 50,000 square foot Pelham Spec Building for additional manufacturing space and 8,000 square feet of new office space. Toyo Seat is a Tier II automotive manufacturer of seat frames and mechanisms supplying Tier I automotive manufacturers such as Lear Seating, Johnson Controls, Ford Motor Company's Visteon Division and Magna Seating Systems.

TEXAS

Exel Plastics to Open Brownsville Facility

Exel Plastics, a custom plastic injection molder based in Streamwood, IL, has opened a manufacturing facility in Brownsville. The plant, located in a 40,000 square foot space at the NAFTA Industrial Park, will create 55 jobs in two years. Exel Plastics supplies plastic components to manufacturers in the consumer product and electronic industries.

Katoen Natie Builds New Polymers Terminal

Katoen Natie Gulf Coast has begun construction of its Houston Polymers Terminal. The first phase of the project is a 300,000 square foot warehouse, scheduled for completion is February. The company plans to add up to 1.3 million square feet of industrial space on a 72-acre site near the Port of Houston. The project will create 75 new jobs and primarily handle plastic resins and dry, non-hazardous chemicals.

Houston Area Site Chosen for Home Depot Distribution Center

Baytown's Cedar Crossing Industrial Park, featured in SB&D as one of the South's best supersites last year, is the site of a new 755,000 square foot warehouse distribution center for Home Depot. The $25 million warehouse is being built on a 40-acre site and will serve as Home Depot's distribution center for the Southwestern United States. The project is expected to create 250 jobs.

Fairchild Adding 100 Jobs in San Antonio

Fairchild Dornier Corp. recently designated its facility at the San Antonio International Airport as the official U.S. site for repairing, overhauling and maintaining the company's newest 32-seat regional jet. The new 328JET, a plane that is manufactured in San Antonio and Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany, is the first in a family of new jets to be built by the company. Fairchild already employs 700 in San Antonio. The lastest expansion is expected to create 100 more certified aircraft mechanics.

Chase Adds 400 Jobs to San Antonion Operation

The credit card arm of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co., is adding 400 jobs to its San Antonio call center. The unit currently employs 500. The company is building at 152,000 square foot call center that will help serve over 20 million Chase account holders.

Micron Technology Picks Allen

Micron Technology, a world leader in semiconductor memory products, has opened it Micron Texas Engineering Center in Allen, Tex. The company, which is headquartered in Boise, Idaho, manufactures DRAMs, very fast SRAMs, Flash Memory and other memory modules. Eighty employees will eventually be working at the Allen facility.

VIRGINIA

Symantec Locates East Coast Hub in Newport News

Symantec, the developer of Norton anti-virus software, will locate its East Coast product development facility in the city of Newport News. The company will invest $22 million and create 300 new jobs. Newport News won out over sites in California and Canada for the facility. Symantec is a world leader in utility software. The company's Norton brand of consumer security products leads the worldwide market.

Hampton Lands Raytheon Technical Services

Raytheon Technical Services Co., a global electronics and aviation technology leader, headquartered in Reston, Va., was awarded a NASA contract that will bring approximately 200 jobs to Hampton by the end of the first quarter next year. Raytheon expects that figure to expand to 300 jobs within the eight-year contract term. Raytheon will provide research and information technology services and will increase commercial technology applications for NASA Langley Research Center utilizing Raytheon-developed software.

Maple Leaf Bakery Expands in Roanoke

In June, Maple Leaf Bakery announced it's expanding its current distribution center located in the Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology. Maple Leaf will hire 45 new employees and invest and additional $11 million to create a training center and classroom. In April 1997, the company announced the creation of 180 jobs.

Another Major Expansion for America Online

Sources with AOL Time Warner are indicating the media giant is planning another massive expansion at AOL's 100-acre in campus Loudoun County, Va. The company plans to construct two more buildings totaling 400,000 square feet. The expansion is expected to result in 1,200 to 1,400 new AOL jobs in northern Virginia. New York-based AOL Time Warner is just now finishing a multibuilding expansion at the campus, which includes two buildings and a childcare center. The two newest buildings to be built have been described as "creative centers."

Southwest Virginia Gaining 500 New Jobs from Travelocity

Travelocity.com is opening a call center that will bring 500 jobs to Clinton. Travelocity will take over space vacated by Nexus Communications. Anne Arundel County-based Nexus and its directory assistance service closed its Clinton call center and shut down operations in February. Officials of the $2.27 million Travelocity center have begun training employees. The online travel company will hire 100 people initially, and expects that number to grow to 500 over the next several months.

Rural Virginia Lands Another Call Center

TeleCorp PCS announced in July that it will locate an inbound call center in rural Lebanon, Va. Through an investment of $4.6 million, TeleCorp will hire 300 new employees to handle billing, coverage, technical and general support for its customers. TeleCorp is AT&T Wireless' largest affiliate with licenses covering approximately 37 million people from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. The company provides its SunCom digital wireless services in selected markets in 14 states and Puerto Rico.

Shipping Co. Relocates From New York City to Hampton Roads

Zim-American Israeli Shipping Co., is relocating its U.S. headquarters from New York City to Norfolk, Va. The company will invest $6.2 million to locate in a new building in the Lake Wright Executive Center. The company will also hire 235 people to work in the facility. Zim is the general agent in North America for Zim Israel Navigation Co., the ninth-largest container shipping company in the world.

WEST VIRGINIA

Ecolab Bringing 85 New Jobs to Martinsburg

Ecolab, Inc., has announced a $20 million, 85-employee facility in Berkeley County, W.V. that will produce cleaning supplies. The company is a global leader in commercial cleaning and sanitation products used extensively by hospitals, hotels and restaurants in more than 190 countries. Founded in 1924, the St. Paul, Minn.-based Ecolab reported revenues of more than $2.6 billion last year.

Akzo Nobel Plant Opens in Gallipolis

Akzo Nobel, which operates in 75 countries and has made infrastructure investments in West Virginia nearly every year since 1987, is expanding its plant in Gallipolis Ferry, W.V. The $10 investment will allow the plant to expand its capacity to manufacture flame retardants for plastics used in televisions, computers, autos and other products.

Kanawha Valley Gets 500 New Jobs

Dow Chemical and CDI Corp. announced plans to create 500 jobs in the Charleston, W.V. area. CDI, a leading technical and engineering services firm, said most of the jobs will be in the South Charleston Technical Center. The jobs will focus on providing engineering services for Dow and other customers in West Virginia.