GE Appliances completes $125 million Decatur expansion
GE Appliances has completed a $125 million expansion of its Decatur refrigerator plant, which added 255 jobs there. The facility now employs 1,300 people following the expansion, first announced in June 2018. The Decatur plant is the largest employer at a single location in Morgan County. GE Appliances transacts approximately $58 million in business with suppliers across Alabama, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce. – AL.com
Birmingham Promise program gets $3 million donation
The Birmingham Promise program got a big boost Tuesday. Three companies are combining to contribute $3 million to help Birmingham high school graduates get to college. The Birmingham Promise started out helping to expose students to various jobs, and now it wants to help those students get to college and hopefully return to the Magic City to work. The donations Tuesday from Alabama Power Company Foundation, Altec Styslinger Foundation and Regions Bank will help cover the cost of providing tuition to city school graduates this year. – WBRC
Clift Farm starts work on upscale apartment complex
The inventory of upscale apartments in Madison is on the rise with the announcement Tuesday of construction beginning on a complex at the Clift Farm development. That comes a day after another apartment complex was announced in the same area along Balch Road. SWH Partners and Watercress Partners have broken ground on Henry House at Clift Farm, a 273-unit apartment community located on the Balch Road gateway to Madison County’s Clift Farm development along U.S. 72 in Madison. – AL.com
Sanders Trust in $24 million Arkansas hospital project
Birmingham’s the Sanders Trust will finance, construct and own a new $24 million inpatient rehabilitation hospital in Arkansas. Workers broke ground recently on the project. Mercy Hospital Fort Smith, part of the Mercy Health System in St. Louis, and Kindred Healthcare, entered into a joint venture to operate the hospital upon completion. Mercy/Kindred selected The Sanders Trust as the developer. – AL.com
Alabama’s grocery tax burden must end, Alabama Arise says
A group that has long advocated changes to the state’s sales tax on groceries said Tuesday it would continue to fight to repeal the fee. Robyn Hyden, executive director of Alabama Arise, which for the state’s working classes, called the tax “one of the most immoral and unacceptable features of our tax system.” “It’s a tax on survival,” she said at a press conference on Tuesday afternoon. “Buying food is not a choice.” – Montgomery Advertiser
Apple CEO Tim Cook to make announcement in Birmingham
Apple CEO Tim Cook is coming to the Magic City on Thursday. Cook will join TechAlabama and Mayor Randall Woodfin for a news conference announcing a new Birmingham education initiative. The news conference is closed to the public. – WBRC
Carl Gunter is the new chairman of the board of Manufacture Alabama
Manufacture Alabama on Tuesday announced that its board of directors has elected Carl Gunter as the new board chair. Gunter is the mill manager of International Paper in Prattville. Carl will serve a two-year term effective Feb. 4, 2020. He succeeds David Hendrixson, who is the executive vice president and plant manager of Daikin, America in Decatur. Hendrixson will continue to serve on the board of directors. – AL Political Reporter
