Garry Safady, managing partner at O&S Holdings, discusses new expansion at Bridge Street Town Centre.

Construction on a new six-story, 130,000 square-foot building is expected to begin early next year. The new office building will mirror the current building that was recently completely rented out by CSC. When CSC completes its consolidations, all of its 400 employees will work at Bridge Street. The new tower represents an investment of some $35 million.

Garry Safady, managing partner of O&S Holdings, said the announcement is great news in light of the current national downturn in the market.

“In today’s market, it is a wonderful experience to be able to announce something so great for this community,” he said. Safady added that he is already taking pre-leasing offers.

In addition to the new tower, plans are under way to create six professional-level tennis courts and an executive putting green for the Westin’s guests as well as those who pay to use the facilities.

Safady also announced that a major department store is being contacted about possibly becoming a tenant. While Safady would not go into details because of confidentiality agreements, he did say it would require 100,000 to 200,000 square feet. Company officials say that a department store at Bridge Street has been one of the most frequently requested type of stores.

Daryl Sargent, vice president for programs at Draper Laboratory, and Don Nalley, chair-elect of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors.

Draper, headquartered in Cambridge, Mass., has played an important role in every human spaceflight program since Apollo, including the Space Shuttle and Space Station, and today is working on the Ares-1 crew launch vehicle and other elements of Project Constellation.

Darryl Sargent, vice president for programs at Draper Laboratory, said opening operations in Huntsville was an important move for the lab because of the work at Redstone Arsenal.

“With the opportunity to work directly with Marshall on the Ares-1, the Laboratory made a strategic decision to open an office in Huntsville. It seems particularly appropriate that we are opening this office just as the nation prepares to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 lunar landing in July,” said Sargent. “We are proud to be part of the community of scientists and engineers that develop our nation’s space systems and provide the technology for our nation’s defense. We are looking forward to contributing our ideas and technologies to the needs of Marshall Space Flight Center, the Army, and MDA here in Huntsville.”

Don Nalley, Chair-elect of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors, welcomed the Draper to the community.

“I am proud to say that Draper Laboratory is enhancing our community’s image as a leading technology area – where innovation, entrepreneurship and technology have met and continue to forge our future. We are defined in many ways by the technology and the genius of those who helped put America into space and man on the moon,” Nalley said. We are so fortunate to have become a research and development hub for technology. And today we officially add to that legacy with the growth of Draper Laboratory.”

Mayor Tommy Battle said Huntsville is a great fit for the lab.

“We are very excited to have you here. This city is made for R&D and made for technology. This city is a great fit for Draper,” Battle said. “And we look forward to helping you grow and become an even bigger part of the community.”

Boeing’s office in Cummings Research Park

"Huntsville is a leader in the aerospace industry, and Boeing is proud of its 47-year partnership with this community, which now includes work on defense, space and commercial programs," said Greg Hyslop, vice president and general manager for Boeing Missile Defense Systems. "Our customers have been locating more of their personnel and operations in this community, so now is the right time for us to center our missile defense business here as well. We want to remain close to our customers and the vital national-security programs Boeing employees support."

In addition, "Boeing already has 3,200 highly skilled employees and numerous program partners in Alabama," said Hyslop. "Bringing our missile defense headquarters to Boeing's Huntsville site demonstrates the importance of those operations to Boeing, both now and in the future."

Boeing is the largest aerospace company in Alabama and one of the state's largest employers. Current company operations in Huntsville include the Ground-based Midcourse Defense program and other missile defense work, such as the Arrow system and the Patriot Advanced Capability-3 seeker, as well as work associated with Ares I, the International Space Station, Future Combat Systems, Avenger, SBInet, and engineering for the 787 and the P-8A Poseidon.

Charlie Kettle, left, the Chamber’s vice chair for economic development, moderates a panel with Madison Mayor Paul Finley, Madison County Commission Chairman Mike Gillespie and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.

Attendees at the Chamber’s Annual Economic Development Summit were presented with the new Economic Growth Report.

Julius Weyman, regional executive for the Birmingham Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, was the featured speaker at the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County’s 2009 Economic Development Summit, presented by Verizon Wireless. Weyman said that while most of Alabama had catching up with the rest of the country in terms of the recession, the Huntsville/Madison County area continued to be a leader.

“I talk to a lot of groups in a lot of places and I Google the cities before I arrive to get some background. Have you ever Googled Huntsville? It’s fun. I don’t get to see the kinds of positive news that you get here very often. It goes on and on. Huntsville continues to be a bright spot for the state.” He also thanked Bobby Bradley and Tom Stanton, the Huntsville representatives who serve on the board of directors for the Federal Reserve Bank.

The Economic Development Summit is held for the Chamber’s HREGI Investors to announce the latest economic growth report. The 2009 Summit not only featured a keynote address from Julius Weyman of the Fed, but also included a first-ever for the event—a panel discussion with Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Madison Mayor Paul Finley and Madison County Commission Chairman Mike Gillespie.

The panel of civic leaders focused on the role teamwork and cooperation play in economic development as well as the explosion of growth attributed to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) 2005 recommendations set to be completed in the next three years. Continue »

Port of Huntsville The Port of Huntsville’s new 90,000 square-foot, $7 million air cargo facility.

Construction of the 90,000-square-foot facility began in May 2008 and totaled more than $7 million. The facility, which was constructed by Decatur-based Fite Building Company, Inc., features a 5,250-square-foot cold storage area and 20-foot by 70-foot double bay doors. The new development will almost double in size the current 100,000-square-foot Air Cargo South facility where global Swiss freight forwarder, Panalpina, has resided since 1990. Another 100,000-square-foot air cargo building houses several carriers and freight forwarders, including UPS Supply Chain Solutions, UPS, WestWind Inc. and Fed Ex.

According to Rick Tucker, executive director, Port of Huntsville, “Senator Shelby has been a tremendous advocate of the Port of Huntsville for many years and has worked tirelessly to help secure funding that has enabled our operations to continue to grow and work toward our mission of providing quality multi-modal transportation services to a diverse regional customer base and stimulating the economic growth and development of the Tennessee Valley region.” Continue »

The company is the creator and manufacturer of a large inflatable antenna that is easily deployable and far cheaper than conventional static antennas. The company’s product has been used by the military and disaster relief agencies in places such as the mountains of Afghanistan and in New Orleans in the immediate wake of Hurricane Katrina.

During the last five years, GATR has grown from a two-person research effort to a multi-million dollar company, employing some 20 full and part-time employees and bolstering many other local companies with material and technical subcontracts.
Don Nalley, chair-elect of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors said that the company is representative of the businesses in Huntsville/Madison County.

“In a time of national economic downturn, GATR truly represents the best of what our community has to offer – entrepreneurial spirit and the creation of technology that can be traced back to working in the nation’s space program,” said.

Brenda Martin, Director of Multicultural Affairs for the City of Huntsville, congratulated the company on its achievements on behalf of the City of Huntsville.

“GATR Technologies is an excellent example of the kind of company that thrives inNorth Alabama,” Martin, said. “Using an innovative approach to solve a common and persistent problem in military, humanitarian and industry communications, Paul Gierow leveraged a great idea, this community’s talented engineers and technicians, Redstone Arsenal’s contracting resources, local expertise and technical facilities and his own hard work and dedication.”

GATR founder and president Paul Gierow said that the company’s success allows for more humanitarian efforts such as bringing communications capabilities to rural areas. He also described the “secret sauce” of success in Huntsville.

“The secret sauce for being a successful business in Huntsville is not only having the technology, but it is our government customers. It takes the risk of government employees to use your product,” he said.

“Our technology is cool, but we have proven that our technology also works,” said Gierow.

Download the List of 2008 New and Expanding Industries (PDF) »

The Huntsville Metro, which includes Madison and Limestone Counties, saw the state’s greatest population increase in 2008. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the metro grew by 9,323 people or 2.4 percent. The metro area now has 395,645 residents, which makes this metro area the 27th fastest growing area in the nation.

Also, Madison County led the state in new and expanding jobs with 3,464 jobs announced, according to the Alabama Development Office, the State of Alabama’s economic development agency. The State does not include the areas of Huntsville that extend into Limestone County. The number of jobs for Madison County including those jobs is 3,811. The runners-up included Jefferson County and Mobile County with 2,088 and 1,677 new and expanding jobs, respectively.

Randy Morgan, President, Defense Sector, Cobham Analytic Solutions, displays his new Cobham name badge.

Cobham has revenues of $2.2 billion and employs more than 12,500 people worldwide on five continents, with customers in more than 100 countries. In the past, individually branded business units have provided products and services to primarily aerospace and defense customers, many of whom have been unaware of the breadth of capabilities available to them from across Cobham. The unification of all businesses under a single unified brand is designed to make it easier for customers to understand the group and highlight the career opportunities available to current and future employees.

“We are proud of our reputation for technical excellence and the contribution we make to our country’s defense and national security. We look forward to further growth in our customer-focused systems engineering and technical assistance as part of the larger Cobham family,” Tim Heely, president of Cobham Analytic Solutions, said.

Pictured, from left: Huntsville City Councilman Will Culver, Mayor Tommy Battle, Chamber Chair-elect Don Nalley, Garver president/CEO Brock Johnson, and Jerry McCarley, senior project manager/regional office administrator for the Huntsville office of Garver. (Click photo to enlarge.)

Garver offers a full range of engineering and related services such as transportation, general civil, mechanical engineering, surveying, and construction management and observation to its clients, including the City of Huntsville.

Don Nalley, chair-elect of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors thanked the company for choosing to expand in Huntsville.

“We certainly appreciate that you have selected our community to expand your business and we are proud to have you here. Companies like you contribute to the reputation that this community, with the highest concentration of engineers per capita, really is a smart place to live, work and play,” Nalley said.

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle congratulated the company on its expansion.

“This research park is exactly what our forefathers had in mind as a place where companies like you could grow. We are glad to have you in CRP,” Battle said. “Now, keep the contracts coming and keep those jobs coming.”

The company’s president/CEO Brock Johnson attended the opening and remarked about the importance of Huntsville to the company.

“We are grateful for the work that we do for Huntsville,” Johnson said. “You never see a television show dedicated to engineers, but I am proud of the work we do to maintain the infrastructure of this community. I issue a challenge to our staff here to achieve a new level of excellence.”

Pictured, from left: Chamber Chair Irma Tuder, Eddie Littrell, president/CEO CoRe Solutions; Terrie Littrell and Huntsville City Administrator Rex Reynolds. (Click photo to enlarge.)

Irma Tuder, Chair, Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County, officially welcomed the company to its new office.

“Clearly, the presence of our federal government and our related federal contractor community continues to expand in Huntsville/Madison County. As a result of that growth, thanks to products and services provided by CoRe Solutions, contractors can be assured that they are able to meet their clients’ needs,” Tuder said.

Eddie Littrell, president of CoRe, described how the company is different from other human resources companies in the community.

“Most small government contractors can’t afford the services of what large headhunter firms charge. We make those services available to small government contractors,” Littrell said.

City Administrator Rex Reynolds, who spoke on behalf of Mayor Tommy Battle, said even though times are tough, companies continue to grow in Huntsville.

“It is exciting to be in Huntsville despite the tough economic times. We continue to regularly have ribbon cutting such as this and ground breakings,” Reynolds said.

Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Chair Irma Tuder, ManTech International CEO George Pedersen, Brenda Martin of the City of Huntsville and Nexolve President and General Manager Joe Bergantz cut the ribbon on Nexolve’s new facility in Cummings Research Park. (Click photo to enlarge.)

According to Nexolve president and general manager Joe Bergantz, the move to the new facility will make the company more efficient because of its proximity to high bays that the company already owned and more office and lab space.

“Our name may have changed from ManTech SRS to Nexolve, but the people haven’t changed,” Bergantz said. “We are still going to provide high quality service and we look forward to growing in this community with our neighbors in Research Park.”

ManTech International CEO George Pedersen flew in from corporate headquaters to attend the event. In February 2008, Pedersen received a Federal 100 Award from Federal Computer Week. He was chosen for having a significant influence on how the "federal government buys, uses and manages information technology," and "for a risk-taking, vision and pioneering spirit in the federal IT community." Pedersen said how amazed he was with Huntsville’s growth. Continue »

L-R: Jim McCullough, Garry Byrum

The new 50,000 square-foot campus is LEED certified and will have classrooms, breakout rooms, offices and conference rooms and represents a capital investment of $12.3 million.

“This new campus will serve 350 students a day and can be expanded by as much as 25 percent. There will also be new technology for students to use such as simulators,” Jim McCullough, dean of DAU South, said. McCullough said the building will be finished by November.

Garry Byrum, director of operation at DAU South, said the school currently employs 75 and plans to have 115 employees. DAU recently hired 19 employees.

Mayor Tommy Battle helped break ground on the new facility and said the new campus will help in Huntsville’s workforce development efforts.

“This is going to be a great asset for Huntsville and Redstone Arsenal. This organization is going to help us fill jobs,” Battle said.

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle and Chamber Chair Irma Tuder join the staff from Sentar in cutting the ribbon on its new facility in CRP. (Click photo to enlarge.)

The new facility provides more than 10,500 square feet of research and development facilities, multiple conference rooms, a state-of-the-art computer network defense lab and offices with room to grow. Sentar currently employs 40 people and expects to add 10 more by the end of the year.

Sentar’s latest business venture has been cyber security. Its work in this field recently helped the company win a contract from Sparta Inc. to support development of the National Cyber Range for the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA).

DARPA has been assigned to create the National Cyber Range, a test bed consisting of computers and computer systems on which cyber scenarios may be evaluated to assess the security of information and automated control systems.

According Peter Kiss, the company’s founder and CEO, the contract win will have a profound impact on the company and leverage it to gain exposure nationally.

"This allows us to participate in a high-visibility program on a national level," Kiss said. "We're on a great team with industry and academia, which increases our exposure in the whole cyber security world. It really is a big deal for us."

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle attended the ribbon cutting and complimented the company on its achievement. “When we were in New York recently [to present information to S&P and Moody’s], everyone said how great it was to hear a good story for a change. You are a part of the economic growth of this community.”

Don Nalley and Nilmini Thompson

SPS is a woman-owned, (8a) certified small disadvantaged business that delivers program management and logistics support to the military on a worldwide scale. In addition to its office in Huntsville, the company has a presence in Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar and Afghanistan.

Don Nalley, Chair-elect of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors, has worked with SPS in the past and congratulated the company on its success.

“In a time of national economic downturn, SPS represents the best of what our community has to offer—superior delivery of products and support for our nation’s soldiers all over the world,” Nalley said. “We certainly appreciate that you have selected our community to expand your business and we are proud to have you here.”

SPS president and CEO Nilmini Thompson has been with the company since 2005 and has been a major factor in the company’s growth. Thompson applauded the community’s economy and said she looks forward to growing the company.

“Huntsville has one the most progressive economic outlooks in the Southeast region of the United States. SPS is proud to have relocated here and we look forward to a future of prosperous business growth,” Thompson said.

Irma Tuder, Chair of the Board of Directors for the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County and Madison Mayor Paul Finley join David Raby, president/CEO of STI, in cutting the ribbon for STI’s new facility in Madison. (Click photo to enlarge)

The company also offers expert training in circuit board assembly. More than 1,000 electronics instructors, engineers and technicians come to the company every year from around the nation and from countries such as Hong Kong, Turkey, Brazil and China. In addition to teaching and developing technology, STI is a worldwide distributor of parts for electronics boards with clients in all 50 states and more than 45 foreign countries.

“I’m thrilled with the capabilities the new facility provides for STI Electronics and our customers. I’m looking forward to continuing to grow our business in Madison and around the world,” said David Raby, president of STI.

Irma Tuder, Chair of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County said that innovative companies such as STI are major part of Madison County’s success.

“This community has been the state’s leader in new and expanding jobs announced in 15 of the past 18 years thanks to innovative companies such as STI Electronics,” Tuder said.

STI was ranked in Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest growing private businesses three times (two years in the top 500) and is a past winner of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County’s Small Business of the Year.

(pictured from left to right) Deputy Mayor Rex Reynolds, Walter and Terrie Bridges, Chamber vice chair for economic development Charlie Kettle and City Councilman Will Culver (Click photo to enlarge)

Charlie Kettle, vice chair of economic development of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors said, “It is very appropriate that Southern Digital has located into the nation’s second largest research and technology park. After all, under the leadership of Walter and Terri Bridges, SDPI has become one of the premier high technology communications providers in the community.”

In addition to the opening of the new facility, the event also marked the company’s 15th year of business as well as the owners’, Walter and Terri Bridges, 15th wedding anniversary. Continue »

Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle joins Lisa Thomason in cutting the ribbon on New Horizon Computer Leaning Centers’ new facility in Huntsville. (click photo to enlarge)

Charlie Kettle, vice chair of economic development of the Chamber of Commerce of Huntsville/Madison County Board of Directors said the Huntsville/Madison County community has a great need for trained IT workers. “Living in a high technology community, we have a greater need for business and IT training than ever before, and today we are proud to celebrate with New Horizons and help the company grow its business,” Kettle said. Continue »