By JOHN HOFHEIMER
Leader senior staff writer
About 65 area workers will be out of work by the end of May, when Gate Precast closes the doors of its production plant on Cory Drive in Jacksonville.
The plant, which manufactures precast concrete construction panels, will continue to operate a 12- to 15-person design department in the area, according to Andy Cameron, Gate vice president of operations for Arkansas and Texas, and about 15 more employees are expected to transfer to one of the nine other plants in Texas or in the eastern third of the U.S.
The Jacksonville, Fla.-based Gate Petroleum bought Arkansas Precast’s two plants—the other is in Hillsboro, Texas—and its erection company for an undisclosed amount of money last November from Cameron and two partners.
Arkansas Precast, which was started in 1968 by the late Tom Cory, supplied cast concrete panels mostly within a 300-mile radius, including Memphis, Tulsa and St. Louis areas, and can be seen locally in the Alltel Headquarters, Clinton Library Archive Building and the Acxiom building in downtown Little Rock, according to Cameron, a Cabot resident.
“We put the dome on the Oklahoma State Capitol,” Cameron said. “We clad outside of the Razorback Stadium.”
Memphis was among the main markets for the Jacksonville plant, and business there had “been slow for a while,” said Cameron.
“Gate has higher requirements from some of their facilities,” he said. “They need to see bigger numbers than (Arkansas Precast) needed to see.”
“I will continue on at least through the end of the year,” Cameron said.
“Production will trickle into early June,” he said. “We’ve got to wrap up some things.”
Cameron said a lot of workers with 20 or 30 years experience had been unable or unwilling to accept work at the other facilities. “They were born and raised families here,” he said.
He said employees would receive accrued vacation.
The employees were notified of the closure April 17, he said, and morale was “not good.”
“That was not my best day,” Cameron said.
“We’ve had 40 years of success and support,” he said. “It’s been appreciated.”
Gate will sell the plant and the design center will operate out of office space, probably in the Jacksonville, Sherwood or Cabot area.
Gate Precast Company is the largest producer of architectural precast concrete in the country with eight architectural precast manufacturing facilities and two structural/prestressed manufacturing facilities that operate under the name of Gate Concrete Products Company.
