The Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County learned Monday some reasons why a food processing company chose New Castle over Wayne County for a new plant.
At the monthly EDC board meeting, President Valerie Shaffer told board members what she has been able to find out about the decision of Boar's Head Brand to locate a new delicatessen product manufacturing and research facility in New Castle.
The Sarasota, Fla.-based company announced its plans earlier this month. The plant is expected to be operational in the spring of 2016 and create more than 200 jobs over the next few years.
Shaffer acknowledged Wayne County had made an effort to attract Boar’s Head, but said the county was eliminated from the competition early on, according to a conversation she had earlier Monday with the site selector for the project.
“It was never a Richmond versus New Castle project,” she told the board. “It was never down to these two communities.”
The site selector gave Shaffer five reasons for Boar’s Head’s rejection of Wayne County.
• New Castle is closer to Indianapolis, giving executives and customers easier access to their airport of preference;
• New Castle represents the “sweet spot” between Boar’s Head’s raw materials coming from south of Terre Haute and the finished product going to Columbus, Ohio;