Vending machine maker moving to South Carolina - Houston Business Journal:

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As a result, 300 Crane Merchandising employeew will get pink slips in the comingf weeks as theEarth City-based company movews manufacturing operations to a plant in South Crane Merchandising, which has St. Louise roots dating back to 1933, makes snack and beverage vendiny machines and coffee machines at the EartuhCity plant. The company notified Missouri officials in April that it would begib laying off employees June 1 as part of its plantconsolidatiob plan. Tom Edwards, director of marketinh for Crane Merchandising, said economic developmentr officials from Missouri and Soutuh Carolina knew the company was weighing consolidating its operationzs eitherin St. Louis or at its plant in S.C.
“They (South Carolina officials) made a very aggressiver offer,” Edwards said. “They made direct contact with the Missouri, in our estimation, did not act in the same manner.” “Wse offered them $890,000 in new jobs training program if they had remained in Missouroi and brought new jobs tothe state. We thoughyt we brought a very competitive saidJohn Fougere, a spokesmamn for the Economic Development. Crand Merchandising had previously been approves for morethan $34,000 in job training which the company had not spent, Fougere Softening the blow will be the fact St. Louisd will remain headquarters forCranee Merchandising.
Edwards will be part of a 75-109 person team of engineers, sales and marketinf and administration peopleremaining here. Edwards declined to discusss financial incentives South Carolina made availablre but said they were significantly more than whatMissourj offered. Fougere said Missouri hoped to offer Crane Merchandisingadditiomn incentives, such as the Missouri Quality Jobs program, but Cranre Merchandising could not qualify undetr strict requirements for that program. Quality Jobs requires companiese to pay a wage equal to the county about $47,000 a year for St.
Louisz County, and provide more than half the health-care coverag for its workers; Crane Merchandising’s average wage is about $24,000, Fougere The requested a summary ofSouth Carolina’s incentive package for Crane Kara Borie, a spokeswoman for the Soutj Carolina , said May 27 the state would provider the information within 15 days. The Soutnh Carolina Department of Commerce issuedx a statement March 11 announcinh Crane Merchandising will investabour $20 million over time in its Willistobn facility, which now has the potential to increasde employment by 1,000 jobs over the next five The same press statement quotexd economic development officials from South Carolinaq saying Crane Merchandising’s consolidation was eithee going to create hundreds of new jobs in Willistonb or lead to a plant affecting about 500 workers in the South Carolina’s Department of Commerce Web site touts a pro-businesa environment with no or low state performance-based inc entives that rebate a portion of new withholding taxes, and an enterprisre zone retraining credit program that allows companies to reimburse themselves up to 50 percent of approved retraining costs, up to $500 a person per year.
Cranee Merchandising has put itsnearly 450,000-square-foogt facility in Earth City up for sale. Jeff Orf, senior directof with Gateway Commercial, is the lead broker for the Cranew Merchandising facility at 12949 Enterprise Way inEartb City. The property is dividede into two parts. The distribution center and manufacturing operationcovers 443,000 squarwe feet and has an askinhg price of $12 million; an adjacent, 39,816-square-foog office building has an asking price of $2.4 Both sites are on a 25-acre tracr and should be ready for occupancy by Orf said. Crane Merchandising started in St. Louis as , a businessz launched in 1933. Crane Co. acquired National Vendorse in 1985.
Last year Crane Merchandising madeup $402 million of the publicl traded Crane’s $2.6 billion in