An American/Austrian partnership will invest approximately $8 million to build a 35,000 square foot manufacturing facility in the Cavalier Industrial Park in Chesapeake, Va. As a 50/50 partnership between Earthcore Industries of Jacksonville, Florida and Schiedel of Vienna, Austria, the combined company, Earthcore Industries L.L.C., will manufacture and distribute Isokern masonry fireplace and chimney systems for the U.S. market, employing up to 30 people over the next 30 months.
Previously manufactured in Denmark for over 50 years and sold in the U.S. since 1987, this venture marks the first time Isokern has established a manufacturing presence in the United States. Isokern fireplaces are sold through 10 offices and 150 dealers across the U.S. and can be used for various interior and exterior applications.
“We had very specific needs and looked at a number of potential locations,” says Earthcore Industries L.L.C. President and CEO Carl Spadaro, “Port and rail access, strategic Mid-Atlantic location, and a resourceful, highly trained workforce; it all came together in Chesapeake.”
The company also evaluated sites in Suffolk, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; Jacksonville, Florida; and Savannah, Georgia.
Construction on the new facility is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter of this year. The average salary with benefits at the plant will be approximately $40,000 annually.
The Chesapeake Economic Development Department was assisted by the Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance, Virginia’s European Office for Direct
Investment, and the team of Clay Culbreth and Stephanie Sanker with GVA Advantis.
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