EUFAULA — Pur Ice, an ice manufacturing plant, is creating pure excitement for the Eufaula community as city officials hosted a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for the company's home.
The company plans to bring about 50 jobs to the area, which is employment by a single company this community hasn't seen in about 20 years, Mayor Dean Smith said.
"These won't be high-skilled jobs, but they will require the people to work hard and at a fast pace, therefore they will earn good wages,” Smith said.
"They will make about $10 an hour, which is pretty good for around here. This will definitely help our economy overall as those employees will spend their wages on better housing, vehicles, clothing, and on and on.”
Plant Chairman Jim Frazier of Oklahoma City said company executives chose the Eufaula Lake tourism community in large part because of its location.
"They found Eufaula attractive because we are located just off Highway 69 and are very close to Interstate 40, making us demographically good for deliveries,” Smith said. "Some of the management team has relatives here too, and they liked the lake.”
Frazier said in ceremonies at the Eufaula Industrial Park that the company is also planning to market its ice to poultry processing plants in eastern Oklahoma and Arkansas.
Using a process called reverse osmosis, Frazier said, the plant will manufacture the purest form of ice. Because the ice is FDA approved for use in meat packing, it creates a niche for the company as well, he noted.
The plant also will produce ice for both retail and wholesale use.
Construction of the $1.4 million facility will begin soon, Smith said. The company is expected to start operation by May 2008.
The City of Eufaula will pay for the construction with help from a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant and has signed a 20-year lease/purchase option with Pur Ice officials. "We'll just be the landlords,” Smith said. "It will be all theirs after 20 years.”
Smith said that he and Eufaula Economic Development Director Terry Heilig have been working with Pur Ice and the Department of Commerce for several months to bring the company to Eufaula.
Pur Ice is a subsidiary of Orbit Energy, an oil and gas company in Oklahoma City owned by Frazier. The company has hired a management team with more than 50 years of combined ice production experience, including Tom Hotvedt, plant manager, and Michael Humphries, reverse osmosis specialist.
Orbit also will invest $1.9 million in the company, including buying equipment, the company said.
"I just didn't realize all the possibilities there were in the ice business until I started talking to these guys,” Smith said. "They told us that the Oklahoma Department of Transportation buys tons and tons of ice to cool off their concrete on hot summer days. There are lots of contracts out there they can bid on.”
