RTI puts local investment at $120 million
Dawne Hickton said the $20 million increase in the plants' projected cost is due to new equipment that will be added.
The plants, she said, will be on budget but not necessarily on time due to the global economic slowdown. The 2012 opening is about 18 months later than originally planned.
Two of RTI's buildings are completed at the Patriot Centre and the third will be finished by the end of the year, according to a release from the office of Gov. Bob McDonnell.
RTI has a few management employees in place at the plants in the Patriot Centre at Beaver Creek industrial park, and it expects to begin hiring about half its projected 150-person staff in 2011, she said.
Hiring will be done through the Virginia Employment Commission, Hickton added.
She toured the Patriot Centre facilities with McDonnell and Allan McArtor, chairman of Airbus Americas Inc., which will purchase titanium from the Martinsville plant for its entire commercial aircraft fleet as well as the EADS C-45 refueling tanker.
"Without Airbus, we wouldn't be in Martinsville," Hickton said.
McArtor, who is based in Reston, said Airbus is "proud to be a customer and partner" of RTI. "I look forward to coming back often," he added.
The governor said the RTI facilities are part of Virginia becoming a major international center for the aerospace industry. They also likely will be a "beacon" for further development and job creation in the area, he said.
He added that he hopes to have additional business announcements in the region within the next 60 days, but he would not elaborate on those prospects.