Processing Your Payment

Please do not leave this page until complete. This can take a few moments.

January 3, 2012

Kestrel Aircraft eyeing Wisconsin for new mfg. facility

Kestrel Aircraft Co., one of the tenants of Brunswick Landing, is negotiating with officials in a Wisconsin city to locate some manufacturing of its single-engine turboprop plane there.

According to the Duluth News Tribune in Minnesota, Kestrel has been in talks with Superior, Wisc., since mid-July to site a manufacturing plant that could eventually employ up to 600. The city's redevelopment authority is scheduled to hold a public hearing on Jan. 16 to discuss a development agreement with Kestrel that includes a land sale, grants and tax increment financing. Kestrel could also receive state tax credits to build the facility there, according to the paper. Superior Mayor Bruce Hagen said a finalized deal could be announced in the next couple of weeks.

Steve Levesque, executive director of the Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority, said Friday that Kestrel founder Alan Klapmeier has confirmed the company's interest in expanding in Wisconsin, The Times Record reported. In October, Klapmeier said the company was looking to move some manufacturing work it planned to do in Maine to another state because of a lack of expected federal funding for the Brunswick Landing facility. The company had planned to hire 300 people in Brunswick, and currently employs 25. MRRA has been working with the company and state officials to find other funding sources, including a new federal investment program approved for Franklin County.

Sign up for Enews

Comments

Order a PDF