TERRE HAUTE — A proposed expansion for
ThyssenKrupp Presta could add at least 70 new jobs by late summer to the company’s manufacturing facility in the
Vigo County Industrial Park, south of Terre Haute.
Marcel Schafer of ThyssenKrupp, a leading manufacturer of steering systems, said Wednesday the company has two new customers and is considering a 60-foot by 425-foot expansion on the west side of its plant and a 125-foot by 240-foot expansion on the north side.
The company would not seek new employees until at least August, Schafer said, which is when new equipment would be installed. Those workers would include skilled trades and manufacturing line workers, he said.
Schafer and Mike Hoopingarner, project manager for American StructurePoint, an engineering/architectural firm, appeared Wednesday before the Vigo County Redevelopment Commission seeking approval for property setbacks on its proposed design.
Hoopingarner said the company plans to release a request for proposals to contractors at least by the middle of March. The company plans a spring construction. Expansion includes more manufacturing and office space.
In addition, the company would purchase a parcel of adjacent property from Futurex Industries for parking, Hoopingarner said.
The Redevelopment Commission approved setbacks for the proposed construction, pending approval from the Vigo County Board of Zoning Appeals, which is scheduled to meet Feb. 8.
Steve Witt, president of the
Terre Haute Economic Development Corp., said the company is still in its approval process, but “this is a good first step.”
In 2010, ThyssenKrupp Presta announced a $17.5 million, 70,000-square-foot expansion that created 80 new jobs and was to bring its total employment to 230 by this year.
The Vigo County plant, established in 2003, was the company’s first steering column assembly plant in the United States.
In other business, the Redevelopment Commission voted to approve a proposal from
NantWorks to locate a new pharmaceutical manufacturing plant on former
Pfizer Inc. in the Vigo County Industrial Park II, creating up to 234 new jobs by 2016.
The company has said it will invest $120 million over the next five years to redevelop the former Pfizer facility on 211 acres. Pending manufacturing process approval from the federal Department of Food and Drug Administration, the plant is expected to be operational in 2016.
The company’s plans were announced last week.