Development Authority Approves MOU for ASI Expansion

The Stephens County Development Authority approves a memorandum of understanding with ASI to formalize their arrangement for expansion at their meeting Wednesday.

Executive Director Tim Martin described some details of the expansion.

“150,000 square feet, 14,000 feet of which is the office space that sits on that 24.54 acre tract right there on Clary Connector in that curve,” said Martin. “50 jobs have been pledged, though if the past is prologue to the future, which it usually is, they always over produce, under promise. So we have every confidence that they’ll continue to grow and be a wonderful corporate citizen.”

According to development authority legal counsel Janney Sanders, the MOU sets up the agreement for this expansion. It also combines the bond from the 2014 expansion with the current bond.

“The way this is being structured, we’ve been working with bond counsel to take the bond that we did in 2014 for that expansion and it’s going to be combined,” said Sanders. “What the MOU document says is that’s going to take place. We’ll do a bond validation that will validate a larger bond, but it;s t

ASI Southeast Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Doug Hitchon said the company invests here for good reason.

“I just appreciate as always doing business here with you guys in the county,” said Hitchon. “It’s one of the reasons we continue to invest here.”

This expansion was announced earlier this year and when complete, will manufacture plastic and metal, custom fabrication and commercial bathroom stalls and fixtures.

This will be the fourth major expansion by ASI Southeast over the last 12 years and brings the company’s total investment in Stephens County to more than $50 million.

Over that time, ASI Southeast has seen its employee base grow from 145 to more than 400 in the last 10 years.

Construction on the expansion is almost complete.