The state’s Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD) announced it will loan Alstom $3 million and grant it $500,000 more to assist with machinery and equipment for the power and rail infrastructure maker’s expansion in Bloomfield and renovations to its Windsor facility.
Alstom, which is based in France and calls its Windsor location it’s U.S. power generation headquarters, is planning a $25 million renovation of that facility and also plans to build an R&D site in Bloomfield with offices, a warehouse and a laboratory, according to Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s office. The new facility is slated for completion in 2014.
The project includes energy and environmental improvements to the site a promise to retain 1,082 jobs.
It’s not the first loan Alstom has received from Connecticut. In 2010, the company took a $3 million loan state to lease its Windsor headquarters and a second facility in that town.
“In 2010, DECD worked with Alstom on an expansion project that was very successful. The company exceeded its job goals and it has been growing ever since,” DECD Commissioner Catherine Smith said in a statement today.
Three years ago, officials said the loan would help keep Alstom in Connecticut.
They had similar comments today about the new R&D facility.
“Alstom considered relocating the research and development operation outside of Connecticut but, with state investment, will instead renovate existing infrastructure and implement upgrades and other improvements,” Malloy’s office said in today’s announcement, which comes on the heels of several similar deal announcements this week leading up to the state bond commission’s meeting Friday to approve the loans and grants.
A spokesman for DECD said if Alstom retains 1,082 employees for one year, it may be eligible for a loan principle forgiveness credit of up to $2 million.
If the company create 30 positions and maintains them for a year, it will receive an additional $1 million in loan forgiveness on the principle.
