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Prince Agri-Products will build a manufacturing, warehousing and laboratory facility in the South Quincy Development District that should be completed in 18 months.
The plant will add 41 new jobs and allow the company to retain 58 existing jobs. QuincyNews.org reported in July the company was adding about 40 jobs with an expansion.
Prince has been based in Quincy since 1960. It is a division of Philbro Animal Health Corporation of Ridgefield Park, New Jersey.
Dean Warras, president of Prince, made the official announcement this morning in the lobby of the Oakley-Lindsay Center as rain cancelled what was to be a ceremonial groundbreaking at the Radio Road location. The company will have some aspects of the plant operational within six to nine months and the overall project will be done in 18 months.
"As soon as the rain does stop, we'll break ground." Warras said.
The company has purchased 26 acres to build a 165,000 square foot facility with smaller out buildings. A news release from Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich says the cost of the expansion is $1.86 million.
Warras said the company has been considering the expansion for a year and looked at other sites. Warras said the familiarity with the existing workforce plus economic incentives from the city, county and state for infrastructure improvements along Illinois 57 and Radio Road helped convince the company to stay. "For our 100 or so employees we'll have around the Quincy area, the quality of the workforce helped us make this decision," Warras said.
Quincy's river access was another important factor in Prince's decision. Quincy is open to year-round barge traffic and the company brings in large quantities of materials in via barge.
The viability of the South Quincy Levee during this summer's flood also helped keep the company here.
"If you realize they were looking at this location for quite some time (the flood) gave them the opportunity to fly over...to make sure the levee area was strong and holding," Quincy Mayor John Spring said. "That was a major selling point. That and the barge opportunities."
Adams County Board Chairman Mike McLaughlin said County Engineer Dick Klusmeyer was working with IDOT on $4.7 million in road upgrades and the Federal Railroad Authority on $3.5 million in rail improvements to provide Prince with the access it needs.
GREDF President Jim Mentesti called the news "a retention success story" which comes on the heels of multiple business closings and job reductions the Quincy area has seen so far this year. GREDF lists nearly $10 million of infrastructure improvements have gone inton South Quincy Development District to make Prince's expansion possible.
Prince provides product to animal feed manufacturers and distributors around the world, primarily for dairy, swine, poultry and beef.
Besides its Quincy headquarters, Prince has operations in Marion, Iowa and Bremen, Indiana.