An international business is close to relocating its North American operations to Orange County, the North Carolina governor announced on Wednesday.
A release from Gov. Josh Stein’s office shared the French manufacturing company CITEL is planning on relocating its U.S. business to Hillsborough and will invest $12.5 million in the project while creating 57 new jobs in the community. Both Stein and CITEL, which builds industrial surge protecting products, credited talks between the two parties during Stein’s visit to Paris this summer as helping clinch the decision.
“North Carolina is on the rise, and companies like CITEL are taking notice,” the governor said in Wednesday’s release. “With our world-class workforce and collaborative ‘Team North Carolina’ approach to economic development, we’re proud to welcome these new jobs to Orange County and are confident CITEL will find great success here.”
“CITEL could have chosen any location for their U.S. home, but they chose North Carolina,” said N.C. Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley, who traveled with Stein to Paris for the meeting. “Their decision reinforces the strength of our workforce and the partnerships that make our state a top destination for business.”
A photo outside of a CITEL factory in Reims, France. (Photo via Wikimedia.)
The release said CITEL plans to occupy an 82,900-square-foot facility where it will conduct administrative, manufacturing, engineering and sales operations. While the location was not mentioned, it matches the description of the industrial plant at 315 Executive Court that is part of the Meadowlands Business Park – the former site of the STIHL Mid-Atlantic operations before it expanded to a new site in Mebane.
Despite Wednesday’s announcement, the project has not yet been formally finalized. Chair of the Orange County Board of Commissioner Jamezetta Bedford and the county’s economic development department confirmed to Chapelboro a vote by the commissioners to approve an incentives package for CITEL. A public hearing will be held during the board’s Dec. 9 meeting before the commissioners take a vote.
“[It] follows our customary packages like we’ve done with others along Buckhorn [Economic Development District] and even in downtown Chapel Hill, based on new property investments and jobs,” said Bedford, who added that she is hopeful about the project’s progression.
The governor’s office said a $50,000 grant from the state’s One North Carolina Fund – which helps provide financial assistance to local governments for economic investment opportunities – is also among the incentives and will be given to CITEL if it meets certain job creation and investment thresholds.
North Carolina Sen. Graig Meyer (District 23) and Rep. Renée Price (District 50), who represent the Hillsborough community in the state legislature, also added their support and excitement of CITEL’s relocation to the area as part of Wednesday’s announcement.
“This is a big win for Hillsborough,” Meyer said. “CITEL’s decision to relocate from Florida to Hillsborough is a powerful endorsement of our community. These new jobs will strengthen our local economy and create meaningful opportunities for families across Orange County.”
“The arrival of CITEL will generate much more than jobs for the people of Orange County; it will bring opportunity,” said Price. “I am pleased to support and welcome economic development that strengthens the financial stability and social fabric of our community.”
CITEL was founded in 1937 and has grown to provide a variety of traditional and hybrid surge protection technologies. Its product portfolio not only includes traditional and LED lighting, but surge protection pieces for renewable energy setups, telecommunications, data centers and industrial automation. As part of the announcement of its planned Orange County relocation, the French company said it hopes to partner with research institutions in the area to develop a certified surge test laboratory – which would be its first in North America.
“The new Hillsborough headquarters represents CITEL’s most significant U.S. investment to date and reaffirms our long-term commitment to serving the North American market,” said Henri Guichard, the president of CITEL Group. “We are grateful and want to thank everyone we have met from the state of North Carolina for the warm welcome and support that have made us feel truly at home from the very beginning of this project.”
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