WACO, TX — An international flooring company is breaking ground on a new manufacturing facility in Waco on Thursday, June 3, 2021.
The company is promising to change the skyline in the coming year and more importantly, bring more jobs to town.
With every beep of a tractor in reverse and each scoop of dirt, progress is being made at the corner of Texas Central Parkway and Mars Drive. The land is being leveled to make way for a 125,000-square-foot manufacturing plant, with a 128-foot-high tower, making it one of the tallest buildings in Waco.
"You're going to start to see progress," said Uzin Utz marketing director, Josh Neuberger. "Yeah, we're hoping to have over 40 jobs over the next course of 3 to 4 years. We're actually starting to look for some folks right now."
The company is creating new jobs focused on producing flooring products, according to Neuberger.
Pay for flooring production and manufacturing is around $15 an hour. Other positions like plant manager and research and development team members will have higher salaries.
Waco is a city on the rise said Mayor Pro Tem Hector Sabido.
"With average salaries of $51,000 its going to be life changing for our citizens here in Waco," Sabido said. "In other states, in other cities, things might have slowed down but in Waco it was a record year for us."
Waco is the first city in Texas to reach pre-pandemic employment numbers, according to a recent report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
With business investments topping $400,000,000 in 2020 alone, according to Sabido, the addition of new companies like Uzin Utz is fueling the rebound.
"The fog of COVID has kind of lifted a little bit." Neuberger said. "We're really looking forward to 2022, bringing this thing operational, bringing over 1,000 contractors a year to Waco."
This means more money invested into the local economy, each time a contractor stays in town for training.
Construction is expected to be complete in the spring of 2022, when these new job opportunities will begin to bloom. Job seekers can apply online right now at https://us.uzin-utz.com/.
The groundbreaking ceremony will take place at 11:30 a.m. on June 3, 2021, at the corner of Texas Central Parkway and Mars Drive.
