Elkay Manufacturing to Anchor New Industrial Park in Lumberton, NC and Add 20 Jobs
Today in Lumberton, NC, Governor Roy Cooper announced that Elkay Manufacturing, a leading producer of sinks and water delivery products, will expand its operations in Robeson County, and add 20 new jobs. The company will invest $5.5 million in a facility in Lumberton, becoming the first tenant in the Lumberton/Robeson County I-95/I-74 Industrial Park. The new park is being funded by a $3.7M grant from the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority Utility Account and $250,000 from the Golden LEAF Foundation.
“Elkay’s expansion plus its selection of the new Robeson County industrial park brings twice the good news,” said Governor Cooper. “Rural North Carolina can offer the industrial sites, workforce, and transportation systems that manufacturers expect to find in a world-class business location.”
Family-owned since 1920, Elkay has been making innovative products and delivering exceptional customer care for over a century. While well-known as America’s top selling kitchen sink company, Elkay’s commercial offerings, springing from an expansion more than four decades ago, today delivers faucets, water coolers, drinking fountains, Smartwell Water Delivery Systems, and the award-winning ezH2O bottle filling stations, in addition to world-class stainless steel and quartz sinks. Headquartered in the United States in Downers Grove, Illinois, Elkay employs over 2,400 employees worldwide, working from 28 locations across the U.S., China and Mexico. The company’s Robeson County site serves as a central production hub for the Eastern United States.
“We are blessed to be experiencing a period of significant business growth, with much of this product manufactured right here in our Lumberton facility,” said Ken Blazer, Director, Global Distribution & Logistics for Elkay. “In order to support this expansion, we are moving our distribution function from the Lumberton facility to this new location, freeing up space for additional manufacturing capacity. Once the new distribution site is operational, we expect to be able to add manufacturing and distribution roles to our workforce to support our five-year growth strategy.”
Maxis Advisors managed the site selection and incentive negotiation processes for Elkay and secured significant state and local support for the project.
“It’s been immensely rewarding to see the impact that this project will have on the Lumberton community,” said Dianne Jones, Senior Manager of Client Services. “This entire project hinged on Elkay’s longstanding commitment to the area and bring this transformative project to fruition.”
“North Carolina’s advantages as a business location once again prove their merit,” said North Carolina Commerce Secretary Machelle Baker Sanders. “In addition to our excellent workforce, our state’s central, east coast location and strong road network offers companies like Elkay an ideal location from which to grow.”
“Elkay is an important employer in our region and has been a long-time employer in Robeson County for many years. It is great to see them expand,” said N.C. Representative Charles Graham. “These new jobs and the company’s investment will bring more prosperity and growth to the area; this is great news for Robeson County.”
“Many people have encouraged Elkay’s expansion and helped develop our new industrial park,” said N.C. Senator Danny Britt. “Today we open the first chapter of this new opportunity, for both Elkay and for the people of Robeson County and the surrounding area.”
Project partners included the North Carolina Department of Commerce, Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina, North Carolina General Assembly, the North Carolina Community College System, the North Carolina Rural Infrastructure Authority, the North Carolina Department of Transportation, the Golden LEAF Foundation, Robeson County and the Robeson County Office of Economic Development.
About Maxis Advisors
Maxis Advisors provides comprehensive incentive analysis and negotiation, location analysis and selection, and real estate advisory services throughout the U.S. to international and domestic companies.
Founded in 1996, Maxis applies its expertise in incentive negotiation and site selection to increase project ROI and IRR for manufacturing, distribution, office and real estate development projects. Maxis has successfully negotiated incentive packages on projects representing over $8 billion in capital investment and 6,500 jobs in 42 states.
For more information, see www.maxisadvisors.com.