Selzer Automotive, LP announced plans to locate its first North American based facility in Auburn at The Alabama-Germany Partnership 10th Anniversary Celebration held in Huntsville on Thursday, April 24. The new facility will be located in Auburn Technology Park West, located off of Beehive Road, Auburn, AL. Initially, the company will bring a $22 million capital investment to the Auburn economy and create 80 new jobs. Selzer is the first US venture for Germany-based Selzer Fertigungstechnik GmbH & Co. KG, parent company of Selzer Automotive, LP.

Governor Bob Riley was joined by Auburn Mayor Bill Ham, Jr. and company officials to make the announcement at the event Thursday night in Huntsville.
“Alabama is making such tremendous strides, and this announcement helps us continue our progress,” said Governor Riley. “Selzer is a world-class company joining the ranks of 57 other German-based manufacturers that have located in Alabama. This company could’ve gone virtually anywhere in the nation, but they chose Alabama and we are proud to be their partner in bringing more economic opportunities to our citizens.”

Selzer has been a renowned name in precision engineering for more than 80 years, developing and manufacturing metal components and subassemblies for gearboxes, engines, braking systems, and professional electrical power tools. Based out of Driedorf-Roth, Germany, Selzer employs more than 600 people at its German and Brazilian locations and is one of the foremost suppliers for the automotive and electrical power tool industries.

In its first phase of production, the Auburn location will produce and assemble transmission components for a dual-clutch system for the US-based automotive industry. Dual-clutch systems improve driving performance and provide better gas mileage than traditional clutch systems.

“After an extensive search and site selection process involving 27 locations in 7 states throughout the Southeast, we are pleased to announce the location of our first US facility in Auburn, AL,” said Hans-Joachim Selzer, Authorized Signatory of the Selzer Companies.

Mayor Bill Ham, Jr. commented, “On behalf of the citizens of Auburn, I would like to welcome Selzer to their new home in Auburn Technology Park West. At a time when many cities nationwide are losing industry, we are fortunate to be able to announce the location of a new business with such a significant capital investment and job creation. Over the last several months, we have enjoyed getting to know the Selzer family during the recruitment process and we look forward to welcoming them to Auburn.”

Construction of Selzer’s new facility will begin in summer 2008. Company officials are currently utilizing the Auburn Center for Developing Industries (ACDI), located at 1500 Pumphrey Avenue in Auburn, until their permanent facility is complete. For more information on Selzer please visit www.selzer-automotive.com or contact the City of Auburn Economic Development Department at (334) 501-7270.

Source: City of Auburn Website

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Auburn will soon get a new sports store, Academy Sports & Outdoors, which plans to locate next to the soon-to-open Sam’s Club.

Construction on the approximately 85,000-square-foot store is scheduled to start in mid-February, Academy Real Estate Director John Hay said.

The stores, based in the Houston suburb of Katy, Texas, offer various items from sports apparel to outdoor supplies to exercise equipment.

Academy is finalizing the purchase of the property, and Hay said his company would like to open sometime in August.

Source: OANow.com

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Sam’s Club will show off its best with a wine tasting and book signing, among other things, when it opens its doors to the public Thursday.

Construction on the building at Exit 57 on Interstate 85 and Glenn Avenue started last spring and was completed in November, Club Manager Aubrey Morrison said.

Sam’s Club is accepting applicants for the Auburn store at www.samsclub.com. The store will initially hire roughly 170 people and more as business grows, Morrison said.

Before the grand opening, the store will have a check-granting ceremony to those organizations on Tuesday and Wednesday, and business members are invited to tour the store.

Source: OANow.com

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Auburn will get its first full format natural and organic grocery store next year.

Asheville, NC-based Earth Fare market and café will open in the old Food World located on Opelika Road sometime in September 2008. The supermarket, known as a leader in the natural foods industry, will feature more than 30,000 square feet of the best quality all natural and organic foods for the people of Auburn.

The store features organic and specialty produce; artisan and farmstead cheeses from America and around the globe; eclectic wines and microbrews; authentically natural beef, chicken and pork products produced without antibiotics, growth hormones or animal by-products in the feed; organic milk and dairy products; specialty and gourmet groceries; natural supplements, herbs and
personal care products; and a full service deli and café complete with coffee bar, bakery, sushi bar and brick-fired pizza oven.

Expected to employ more than 100 people, Earth Fare prides itself on excellent customer service with a team committed to helping customers navigate the thousands of delicious options that line its shelves and refrigerated cases. The meat department will feature an old-school full-service counter; the cheese shop will cut and wrap 80 pound wheels of naturally aged cheese on
site. The produce shelves will feature as much seasonal food from local farmers as possible.

“Food should be fun,” says Earth Fare Director of Marketing Troy DeGroff. “People are tired of the same old highly processed refined foods sold in conventional stores that have only one flavor note. At Earth Fare, we remember that foods grown naturally with organic means and produced with minimal processing taste better and are healthier for you.”

Mayor Bill Ham, Jr. commented, “We are delighted to welcome Earth Fare to the City of Auburn. As a leader in the natural foods industry, I am certain that Earth Fare’s new Auburn location will draw customers from throughout East Alabama. We look forward to the opening of the store next year.”

Earth Fare has a strict food philosophy which means customers don’t have to read labels for things like partially hydrogenated oils and high fructose corn syrup—those ingredients are not allowed on the store shelves. No artificial synthetic ingredients are allowed. Organic, Fair Trade and Local products predominate, as it isn’t enough for foods sold at Earth Fare to be all-natural—
they must be good for the communities, the producers and the planet as well.

Earth Fare Market and Café was founded in Asheville, North Carolina in 1975 and has grown into a premier chain of natural and organic markets located in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Tennessee. 2008 plans for the company include not only the Auburn store, but stores in Rockhill, SC and Tennessee as well.

For further information, please contact: Troy DeGroff, Director of Sales & Marketing, at 828-281-4800 ext. 119

Source: AuburnAlabama.org

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Auburn-Opelika was named the third best small-size metro area in the nation for attracting and opening small businesses, according to a report released Thursday, June 21.

Expansion Management magazine along with the National Policy Research Council, a non-partisan think tank, worked together to compile lists of the most popular cities and counties for business expansion and relocation. More than 19 million companies were monitored over an eight year period for this study.

“It’s really no surprise, since we’re sandwiched between Montgomery with the Hyundai plant and Lagrange and the Kia plant,” Auburn mayor Bill Ham Jr. said. “It’s pretty obvious that (the city) would be in the upper numbers.”

The report’s primary focus was to determine the most popular places which successfully attracted small business and thus expanded the local economy. The rankings were calculated by two factors: relocation rate and new branch rate. This took into consideration all small business that relocated to a new area or were established in a new area which not only stayed afloat, but became thriving assets to the market.
Tim Babe, co-owner of Eccentric located at 106A N. College Street, said the seasonal flux of students and residents makes business difficult at times.

“(Auburn’s) a hard place to start a business, but it’s a nice community,” Babe said. “Auburn-Opelika is a place where people from Beauregard and Loachapoka and other small area communities come to shop, whereas we go to Atlanta or Birmingham, which helps business out.”
While consumer demand does impact potential success, several other factors attribute to the local businesses’ prosperity. Opelika Mayor Gary Fuller said a variety of reasons account for Auburn-Opelika’s high ranking.

“The quality of life in our cities is extremely good,” Fuller said. “We have great public schools along with Southern Union and Auburn University. We have an abundance of recreational opportunities, and our medical facilities, like the East Alabama Medical Center, are impeccable.”
The “Top Cities for Business Attraction” study is the first of its kind.

The destinations were divided into cities and counties, which were further divided by size into large, midsize and small metros and counties.
Auburn-Opelika was not the only Alabama city to be mentioned on the list. In fact, the state of Alabama as a whole ranked ninth best out of the entire nation. Huntsville was ranked the second best city in the midsize-metro category, only behind Canton-Massillon, Ohio. Mobile was ranked 20th on the same list.

Alabama cities definitely dominated the small-metro category with four cities being named. Behind Auburn-Opelika came Montgomery in ninth, Gadsden in 11th and Anniston in 15th.

Lee County came in seventh in the small-county category, while Jefferson County, encompassing the Birmingham and Hoover areas, was ranked
19th in the midsize-county category.

“I think it is important for people to remember how critical small businesses are to the Alabama economy,” said Todd Stacy, deputy press secretary of the office to Gov. Bob Riley. “While we love to see outside companies invest here and bring in jobs, it is also nice to see that our home-grown Alabama businesses are thriving as well.”

“The challenge for us in city government is to handle city development, so that in five or 10 years from now, we’re prepared for the future,” Mayor Fuller said. “There is no question our best days are ahead of us.”

Source: Auburn Plainsman

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