LoPresti Fury recently announced that it will be relocating their sport aircraft manufacturing facility from Vero Beach, Fla., to Belen, N.M. The company plans on building a 100,000 square foot facility at the Belen Alexander Municipal Airport and creating over 300 new jobs for New Mexicans.
“Belen beat out 74 communities nationwide to be the new home of the LoPresti Fury aircraft,” said Economic Development Secretary Rick Homans. “New companies like LoPresti confirm that New Mexico is building a strong aviation cluster that will provide thousands of jobs to New Mexicans in the decades to come.”
LoPresti will be investing approximately $5.1 million in capital for building construction and approximately $5 million for infrastructure and equipment. LoPresti will relocate its principal staff to New Mexico within the next 6 months, hire 52 staff by the end of year one, hire 166 by the end of year two and in year three the company plans to have a staff of over 300 in order to meet production needs.
The company plans on taking advantage of state incentives such as the Job Training Incentive Program, the High Wage Job Tax Credit and the Rural Job Tax Credit. Additionally, LoPresti will be receiving property tax incentives from the local community.
The LoPresti Fury aircraft is a high performance airplane that can provide fast and economical transportation. The plane can be flown approximately 1,000 miles in less than 5 hours, non-stop, carrying 2 people, 200 pounds of luggage and use about 55 gallons of fuel. The current cost per plane is approximately $295,000.
“We conducted a long and thorough search and Belen was the obvious choice,” said LoPresti CEO, Curt LoPresti. “Gov. Richardson and city of Belen have created a unique, business friendly climate that offers the right financial incentives and a qualified workforce.”
“These will be high wage jobs that will pay between $25,000 and $30,000 dollars a year,” said Acting President of the NM Economic Development Partnership, Clark Krause. “The Partnership’s sole purpose is to attract companies like LoPresti that will provide better jobs for New Mexicans and future generations to come.”
“Locating any new factory within a community requires an understanding of how the business and community will interact over time,” stated LoPresti vice president of operations, RJ Siegel. “At the end of the day, you need to get past a lot of vague language and find a community you trust, that shares mutual values. We believe we have found such a community in New Mexico and in the City of Belen.”
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