WALKER, LA (AP) — Officials of a fast-food distribution company headquartered in Rosemont, IL, and Gov. Bobby Jindal have broken ground for a $16 million warehouse in Walker.
On Tuesday, Larry Daigle, general manager of The Martin-Brower Co. LLC, said the 142,000-square-foot warehouse at Livingston Industrial Park should be finished by late 2016.
Jindal says the warehouse will provide 160 jobs and that Martin-Brower plans to add 30 more by 2020. The jobs will pay an average of $43,000 a year.
The Livingston Parish site is about 20 miles from Martin-Brower's current warehouse, which opened in 1979 in Port Allen. Officials say the company wanted more space and rail access, and also looked at sites in Mississippi.
"There will be highly sophisticated refrigeration and intermodal components (rail-to-facility-to-road) and expensive equipment not found at your average warehouse," Louisiana Economic Development spokesman Gary Perilloux said in an email.
Louisiana's incentives include a performance-based $1.2 million Economic Development Award Program grant to offset costs of a new road and related infrastructure improvements at the park.
