Posted Friday, June 1, 2018 6:57 pm

ASHLAND, Ky. (KT) – A company that carries the hope and future of northeastern Kentucky on its back, put on a groundbreaking ceremony worthy of its fanfare at the EastPark Industrial Center on Friday.



Braidy Industries, which announced 13 months ago it was building a $1.5 billion aluminum rolling mill, had its ceremonial start of construction with around 1,000 onlookers celebrating alongside Gov. Matt Bevin, elected officials and business leaders who were signaling it as the beginning of an economic revival in the area. The Braidy party continued into the night with a star-studded country concert in downtown Ashland that included Naomi Judd and Tanya Tucker.



“There’s something a little contagious about it,” Bevin said of the Braidy effect. “That’s the beauty of what we have here. What we’re hearing here, the sounds around us, this is what hope sounds like. The feeling that we have, the enthusiasm, the joy in our hearts, this is what hope feels like. What we see around us, the freshly turned dirt, this is what hope looks like. Hope is a powerful, powerful thing. Hope is what changes everything.”



Before Braidy Industries announced its arrival last March that is was going to build an aluminum mill that would bring 550 high-paying, permanent jobs to the region, the economy was in the tank. The groundbreaking came two and a half years after AK Steel laid off more than 600 workers from its Ashland Works plant and CSX cut back on workers. It follows three decades of overall decline in Eestern Kentucky coal jobs, a workforce Braidy intends to tap.



The 1.8 million-square-foot facility will rise from more than 240 acres in the EastPark Industrial Center near Ashland. As scheduled to open in the second quarter of 2020, the mill’s production capacity could reach 300,000 tons of aluminum alloy sheet and plate a year, mainly for the automotive industry. Opportunities for future production expansion exist, as well as plans to supply the aerospace and defense industries. The company is already sold out for its first seven years, said Braidy CEO and Chsairman Craig Bouchard.



Bevin said Braidy will “transform the economic landscape of eastern Kentucky for generations to come. “We are grateful to Braidy Industries for its decision to locate in Kentucky and we look forward to nurturing a strong corporate partnership in the years ahead.”



Bouchard immediately went to work on winning over the community. The company took on “70 worthy causes here” and listened to anyone who knocked on their doors. Youth league all-star teams played in new pants last summer because of Braidy contributions, Bouchard said, and others benefited from their generous donations. “Every dollar comes back 100 times,” he said.



The entire community, from elected officials to residents, took on a different tone after Braidy’s arrival. The crowd that showed up for the groundbreaking gave Bouchard, who was sitting next to his daughter Braidy, the company namesake, on the stage gave him a prolonged ovation when he came to speak.



“The day of partisan politics is long ago yesterday stuff,” he said. “We need every Democrat, every Republican, every conservative, every liberal, every policeman, every fireman, every teacher, every local businessman and every grandfather and grandmother; we need every single kid working on our team. If we can get that, we cannot fail. It’s not possible.”



Bouchard said Braidy Industries would have never located in northeastern Kentucky without Gov. Bevin’s influence.



“I can tell you, without any question, that we are here because of his persistence, his incredible intellect and his warm welcome of us, and his specific nudge that he gave me to take a look at this place,” Bouchard said. “He’s someone we can all learn from about family and he’s also the best governor in the United States.”



Bouchard has said previously that he would have never located the rolling mill here if Kentucky had not become a right-to-work state, which Bevin championed in his first year in office.



Bevin said the strong roots of the Ashland community was the easiest selling point for Braidy Industries.



“That sense of innate pride, that sense of family and that sense of community, that is exactly why Braidy Industries are here,” he said. “You sold Craig Bouchard on this, you sold his team on this. You should take pride in the fact that you are a proud community.”



The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority in April 2017 preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $10 million through the Kentucky Business Investment program. Braidy was approved for incentives based on a $1.3 billion investment and the creation of 550 full-time jobs, figures that have both increased since the initial announcement, according to the company. The performance-based incentive allows a company to keep a portion of its investment over the agreement term through corporate income tax credits and wage assessments by meeting job and investment targets.



Additionally, KEDFA and the Kentucky Economic Development Partnership Board in April 2017 voted to provide $15 million for a direct investment in Braidy by Commonwealth Seed Capital LLC (CSC) and its board of directors. CSC will use returns on the investment to fund future investments in qualifying Kentucky startups, supporting future economic development in the commonwealth, job growth and early stage Kentucky companies.



“My passion is to make Kentucky the absolute epicenter of engineering and manufacturing excellence in America and it will happen,” Bevin said. “It’s already well under way. This is going to be that epicenter and in the heart of it is companies exactly like this. Those people we talk to around the world, they are coming, they will come, they’re going to come here because Braidy Industries put a stake in the ground, and the roots will grow deep and the flowers that will come up are going to be enjoyed by generations.”

Marlana VanHoose from Johnson County, the contemporary Christian singer who has been blind since the early weeks of her life, sang the national anthem and “My Old Kentucky Home” to begin the ceremonies. Between songs she corrected Braidy COO Blaine Holt, the master of ceremonies, over the pronunciation of her name, which he said was Marlena.



“My name is Marlana,” she said.



Holt apologized, saying he hadn’t been in Kentucky long enough yet. Bouchard all but promised he would remedy that after putting down the Braidy footprint on Friday.