Omaha Steel Castings Co. reported that it has been awarded Small Business Administration (SBA) funding to support its new plant construction effort. Earlier this year, the green sand and no-bake molding foundry outlined a $13.5-million plan to relocate from the city of Omaha to a 20-acre greenfield site in Wahoo, NE, about 26 miles away.
The 106-year-old business plans to invest in new equipment and relocate some of its current operations, which includes a heat-treating and machining, as well as metallurgical testing and NDT laboratories.
The $5.4-million loan wasmade available through the Nebraska Economic Development Corp. (NEDCO). It will be added to $6.5 million in financing already committed to the new-plant project by Omaha State Bank.
Omaha Steel Castings Co. expressed gratitude to Omaha State Bank, the SBA, and NEDCO for their part in the financing effort. “It’s a big concern that’s off the table,” Omaha Steel Castings president Phil Teggart told the Omaha World-Herald. “Now, our job is to get the thing built and get it up and running.”
“The SBA is honored to have played a role, through our 504 loan program, in a project that retains jobs in this rural area and creates new jobs going forward,” statedPatricia Brown-Dixon, SBA regional administrator. “This is the largest SBA loan approval in our four-state region, and the second-largest in the country. It goes to a manufacturing company creating ‘Made In America’products, which also feeds the supply chain for exports. It reflects the confidence that the Omaha Steel Castings team, their lenders and the community have in our nation’s and Nebraska’s economic recovery.”
“This is a very exciting project, not only for Omaha Steel Castings and Wahoo, but also for Omaha State Bank,” according to Charlie Boone, the bank’s senior vice president. “Over the past 24 years, one of our strengths has been finding solutions for our customers and partnering with them to achieve their goals. The collaborative relationship we have built with Phil and his team is very rewarding and it made this expansion possible.”
Together, theSBAand bank loansrepresent90% of the project’scost. NEDCO executive senior vice president Ted Rowan stated:“NEDCO and the SBA 504 loan program makes it possible for businesses like Omaha Steel Castings to move to new facilities and finance equipment under very favorable conditions for the benefit of the business, their bank, the community they live in and the State of Nebraska.”
Omaha Steel Castings indicated that the first building for the new plant complex will be under roof by December, if construction goes according to schedule. Relocation from the current plant to the new site would take place next spring.
Both pants will operate concurrently to ensure there is no interruption in product deliveries, and the foundry would complete the move to Wahoo by the end of 2013.