General Cable’s $18 million expansion for Marion has been paused, according to the company.
Lisa Fell, of Global Corporate Communications for General Cable, said the expansion has been delayed but not discontinued.
“We have paused construction on the Marion project for 2017,” she said. “This project is still important and we intend to deliver it.”
Tim Eckerle, executive director of the Grant County Economic Growth Council, said General Cable had two other projects ongoing in addition to the Marion project, adding that the Marion expansion is a complex project and became a challenge with the company’s other projects.
“They were stretching their corporate resources,” he said.
Charlie Schicht, external communications manager for General Cable, confirmed Eckerle’s statement.
“We have several projects underway across the company,” he said. “With that, we have re-sequenced the priority of this build out and have chosen to pause the project at this time due to timing and resources.”
Schicht said there is no timeline for completion as of now.
It’s too early to tell. We continue to monitor the environment each quarter,” he said.
General Cable purchased property at 422 E. Fourth St., with plans to build a new facility for $335,000 earlier this year. The expansion also includes installing a new rail spur next on the railroad tracks east of McClure Street.
The city has been working with General Cable. The company was granted a tax abatement and Marion Utilities has planned to build a new stormwater sewer line along Fourth Street due in part to the expansion.
“They’re still working with us to use our streets,” Marion Mayor Jess Alumbaugh said. “It’s a work in progress.”
General Cable can earn up to $230,000 in tax credits from the Indiana Economic Development Corp.(IEDC) when they start hiring Hooisers. The expansion is supposed to create up to 30 new jobs at $25 an hour. The IEDC also awarded the Growth Council with up to $120,000 in infrastructure assistance that is supposed to go towards the rail spur, Eckerle said in February.
The company has also dealt with challenges in recent months. In December, officials at the corporate level agreed to pay the federal government $82.3 million in fines to resolve resolve investigations into accounting practices and potential violations of a law that prohibits the payment of bribes to foreign officials, according to the Cincinnati Enquirer.