Faircast, Inc. Awarded $855,000 From Iowa Economic Development Authority
July 24, 2017
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Iowa Economic Development Authority [IEDA] awarded an $855,000 assistance package to Faircast, Inc. on Friday. The award included $600,000 in direct financial assistance as well as $255,000 in Investment Tax Credits, and was granted through the High Quality Jobs program [HQJ].
The High Quality Jobs program provides assistance to companies creating new jobs and investing in equipment or facilities in Iowa. Faircast recently created 89 jobs at its 9th Street foundry and plans to make a capital investment totaling $3.2 million. “This award will help us catch up with maintenance items that have been neglected,” said Roger Vorhies, President of Faircast, Inc. “As we focus on stabilizing the foundry, we also are setting our sights on growing the company back to its previous levels. This assistance will be essential to making that happen.”
Nearly all 221 employees were laid off from the foundry late June after the lender for the previous ownership exercised Article 9 Foreclosure proceedings. Certain assets were subsequently purchased at auction by Faircast, which restarted production on July 6th. The manufacturer produces ductile and gray iron green sand castings for the agricultural, rail, construction and automotive industries. The foundry has been a major Fairfield employer for over 105 years.
“We are proud to support the Faircast, Inc. foundry project in Fairfield,” said Debi Durham, Director of the IEDA. “The board understands the importance of supporting local companies and giving them the tools they need to keep operations in the state. Keeping this foundry in Iowa so that it can continue to provide good jobs is important to Iowa’s economy.”
Faircast worked through Fairfield Economic Development Association [FEDA] on the application process to obtain the award from IEDA. “The Faircast management has been highly responsive,” stated Joshua Laraby, Executive Director for FEDA, “and because of this, FEDA was able to assist Faircast in receiving this $855,000 incentive package.” FEDA’s foundation of facilitating growth in Fairfield is through business and land development initiatives. “We were able to provide assistance with three large ticket items on this project,” said Laraby, “A temporarily unused facility was brought back into productivity with planned improvements, high quality jobs were created and state level incentives were secured. This is good news for Fairfield.”
