North Carolina Governor Easley Announces 820 Jobs In Catawba County

Job Development Investment Grant Helps Sutter Street Manufacturing Open In Hickory

4/14/2008 -- Raleigh - North Carolina Governor Mike Easley announced today that Sutter Street Manufacturing, a subsidiary of the national home furnishings retailer Williams-Sonoma Inc., will open a product development, regional distribution and upholstered manufacturing facility in Hickory. The company will create 820 jobs during the next five years and invest $2.7 million. A North Carolina Job Development Investment Grant helped make the project possible.

''There is a great tradition of furniture-making in our state and I am glad Williams-Sonoma is bringing it back,'' said Easley. ''I hope this is the first in a long line of furniture-related industries we will be recruiting with better skill and higher pay.''

Sutter Street Manufacturing is a California corporation formed in 2007. Parent company Williams-Sonoma Inc., with approximately 39,000 workers, is a nationwide specialty retailer of products for the home. These products, sold as Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Pottery Barn Kids, PBteen, West Elm and Williams-Sonoma Home, are marketed through 600 locations in 44 states, the District of Columbia and Canada as well as through seven mail order catalogues and six e-commerce web sites.

Sutter Street Manufacturing, which currently employs 50 people in Hickory, will supply Williams-Sonoma brands with upholstered furniture to sell. While wages for the 820 new employees will vary by responsibilities and job function, the average yearly salary will be about $42,000 not including benefits. That is more than the Catawba County average of $33,332.

Howard Lester, Williams-Sonoma’s chairman and CEO, said the company chose Hickory for this project after conducting a comprehensive analysis of potential sites. ''We selected the Catawba County area based on its highly skilled workforce and North Carolina’s commitment to supporting the furniture industry and related jobs in the state,'' Lester said. ''We are excited about the opportunity to make an investment in North Carolina and Catawba County in an effort to protect the high level of furniture-related skills that exist here.''

Rep. Ray Warren (D-Catawba, Alexander) applauded the company on its decision to expand its presence in Hickory. ''I am excited to see more furniture-related jobs come to Catawba County,'' said Warren, who serves on the House Commerce Committee. ''I am proud of the cooperation between our state and local governments, education and economic development agencies that helped make this possible. Our workers are among our strongest assets, and we are thrilled that Williams-Sonoma recognized that.''

Other partners that assisted with this announcement include: the N.C. Department of Commerce; Catawba County; City of Hickory; Catawba County Economic Development Corp.; and Catawba Valley Community College.

The state’s Economic Investment Committee voted unanimously today to award a JDIG to the company to facilitate this project. This is the 74th JDIG award announced since Easley and the General Assembly started the program in 2002, and the fourth awarded this year. Under terms of the 10-year agreement, the N.C. Department of Commerce estimates the project will:
-- Generate a cumulative gross product value of about $757.2 million;
-- Produce a positive, cumulative net state revenue impact of $6.56 million;
-- Contribute up to $1.59 million to the state’s Industrial Development Fund.

For each year in which the company meets the required performance targets, the state will provide a grant equal to 70 percent of the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs. Should the company create the jobs called for under the agreement and sustain them for 10 years, the agreement could yield as much as $8.96 million in maximum benefits for Sutter Street Manufacturing.

Job Development Investment Grants are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant. Since the first grant was awarded in 2003, the program has been responsible for creating more than 27,000 jobs and $4 billion in investment in North Carolina. Sixty percent of the grants to date have been awarded to help existing North Carolina business operations expand.

Source: North Carolina Governor

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