ABILENE, Texas (KTAB/KRBC) – On Thursday the Development Corporation of Abilene (DCOA) presented three new projects, totaling $76 million in capital investment to the community.
Hendrick Health will be building a new service center that vice president Norm Archibald says will provide more space for workers.
“Especially for all the people that work behind the scenes, there’s hundreds of people,” said Archibald.
The project will bring in $15.4 million of capital investment, creating 74 jobs, with an average salary of $45,000 and retaining 314 jobs.
The second project is with the next lab at Abilene Christian University (ACU). Lab director Rusty Towell says they will host their molten salt nuclear energy lab at the old Taylor Elementary building.
“It will open new doors to our research and new doors for Abilene to be sort of the premier spot in the world for research to happen,” Towell says. “It will be the only location in the world where this research can be done.”
The lab will bring in $29.3 million in capital investment, retain 28 jobs and create 37 new jobs, with an average salary of $62,000.
The third project is with Primal Pet Group. Cofounder Tom Tuttle says they recognized the potential for growth when they bought an Abilene business two years ago.
“We purchased the original Prairie Dog business, and we realized quite quickly that this was a place we wanted to expand,” said Tuttle.
They bring $31.6 million in capital investment, and will retain 119 jobs while creating 139 new jobs with an average salary of $40,000.
Now that the three projects are approved by the City Council, DCOA CEO Misty Mayo can finish negotiating and finalizing the contracts.
