IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
At least this week, Moreno Valley is about more than warehouse-distribution facilities.
City officials announced Tuesday that an agreement had been reached that will bring an automotive manufacturing facility to the city.
Fisker Automotive and Technology Group will lease a new 555,670-square-foot industrial building at 17100 Perris Blvd. in the city’s South Industrial Area, according to a press release.
The Anaheim-based company will reportedly manufacture an electric vehicle, Karma, at the facility
A move-in date has not been released, but the project is expected to create about 150 jobs, said Mike Lee, Moreno Valley’s community and economic development director.
“They won’t just be jobs, they’ll be well-paying jobs,” Lee said. “It’s a huge event for the city. It shows Moreno Valley is a good place to do business.”
Moreno Valley officials, representatives from the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development [GO-Biz] and First Industrial Trust, the building’s owner, spent several months working out the agreement with Fisker Automotive.
The March Joint Powers Authority, South Coast Air Quality Management District and Riverside County Workforce Development also participated in the negotiations, which were conducted in secrecy.
As an incentive, the city agreed to give the company a discount on its utility rates if it agreed to hire 40 percent of its workforce from within Moreno Valley, Lee said.
The Inland Empire is well-positioned to attract manufacturing jobs, which are coveted because they pay better and generally require more skill, said Jordan Levine, director of economic research with Beacon Economics in Los Angeles.
“You can find a building, or develop one, for a lot less in the Inland Empire,” Levine said. “They have a lot more space in that market.”
