Procter and Gamble, the consumer products giant, received approval from the West Virginia Economic Development Authority to issue $2 billion in bonds that will be used to construct the company's new $500 million facility near Martinsburg.
The WVEDA board voted Thursday morning to approve the bond issuance for the Cincinnati-based company, which is planning to build a 4.3 million-square-foot facility at the Tabler Station Business Park, along U.S. 81.
The bond issuance is just the latest announcement for the business development project, which has become one of the state's biggest economic announcements in years.
Last September, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and a host of development officials were on hand for the groundbreaking of the project in Martinsburg, and earlier this year, Tomblin held a press conference at the West Virginia Capitol to announce the consumer brands that would be manufactured at the facility, including Head & Shoulders shampoo, Old Spice products and Bounce dryer sheets.
The facility, located on 458 acres of land, is expected to create 700 full-time jobs in the coming years and will begin producing some products as soon as 2017.
In other business, the WVEDA preliminarily approved a $1 million loan for Harpers Ferry Holdings LLC, the company that operates River Riders, a whitewater rafting company in Jefferson County.
That 20-year loan, if fully approved, is expected to increase employment at the rafting company from 211 people this year to 280 people in 2019.
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