The Arkansas Economic Development Commission expects to make a pitch next month to the state Legislature to help land a megaproject that could bring 500 jobs.
Grant Tennille, the commission's executive director, declined Thursday to name the company.
"There will be another Amendment 82 project to go before the Legislature in this session, very likely in the February time frame," Tennille said Thursday after an Arkansas Economic Development Commission meeting.
Amendment 82 was approved in 2004 shortly after the state lost its bid to bring a $750 million Toyota truck plant to Marion in eastern Arkansas. San Antonio got the plant.
The measure allows the state to issue bonds for funding of infrastructure and other needs, such as land acquisition, site preparation and employee training.
The first Amendment 82 project was Big River Steel LLC, a $1.3 billion steel mill being built near Osceola. Tennille and a string of supporters lobbied the Legislature in 2013, finally persuading legislators to provide $125 million in support for the project. Big River will hire about 500 workers at an average annual salary that could reach $75,000 when bonuses are included.
The new megaproject will be in south central Arkansas, said Tennille, who will be out of a job when Gov.-elect Asa Hutchinson hires a new executive director of the commission.
"It involves a company that has long had operations near Camden, that is in line for a significant military contract," Tennille said.
The company's investment will be less than the $1.3 billion made by Big River, but the company will hire about 500 workers, the same number of employees Big River plans to hire.
"It will be very skilled work, very high-paying jobs," Tennille said.
For at least three years, Bethesda, Md.-based Lockheed Martin has been competing for a Department of Defense contract to produce the Joint Light Tactical Vehicle for the U.S. Army and the Marine Corps, better known as the replacement for the military's Humvee vehicles. Lockheed has said it plans to make the vehicle in East Camden if it wins the contract.
A contract has not been awarded, Craig Vanbebber, a spokesman for Lockheed Martin., said Thursday. He said the request for proposals on the project are due to the government Feb. 10.
"They will spend a number of months evaluating mounds and mounds of data," Vanbebber said. "They'll evaluate performance data from the individual vehicles in the competition, cost data and production information."
A decision is expected to be made this summer, Vanbebber said.
The military named three finalists for the contract in 2012 -- Lockheed; Oshkosh Corp.; and AM General, builder of the Humvee.
Lockheed already has about 700 employees at its plant in East Camden's Highland Industrial Park.
Camden officials were aware that Lockheed is competing for the tactical vehicle contract.
If Lockheed gets the contract, it would have a tremendous effect on Camden and south Arkansas, said Beth Osteen, executive director of the Camden Area Chamber of Commerce.
"South Arkansas in general, we need whatever jobs we can get," Osteen said. "And we have been so fortunate to have all these companies in the industrial park that have sustained us since International Paper shut down [in Camden in 2000]."
If Lockheed gets the contract, "it would increase our tax base because people would have more money to spend," said Marie Trisollini, newly elected mayor of Camden.
Business on 01/09/2015