TABLER STATION, W.Va. — The highly anticipated arrival of Procter & Gamble’s Tabler Station facility is due to break ground Sept. 18 in a ceremonial groundbreaking, with construction expected to begin in October.
During the groundbreaking, which is not open to the public, the company is expected to announce what brands and products will be manufactured at the multi-category facility.
The project will be the largest manufacturing project in the state’s history. The initial build out of the facility is estimated to be around a million square feet and employ around 700 full-time employees, with a total project scope of 4.8 million square feet and 1,100 employees.
The project will represent a capital investment of about $500 million in Berkeley County.
Steve Christian, executive director for the Berkeley County Development Authority, said interest from developers and companies have continuously increased in the Tabler Station area since P&G announced its intent to construct a facility.
“Prospect activity has been steady throughout the summer months with increased interest for properties around the Tabler Station Industrial Park where they will do construction. We expect overall activities will increase as their construction gets underway and they really become visible,” he said.
According to site and development plans submitted to the Berkeley County Planning Department, the plant will be built in two phases, with the majority of construction completed in the first phase.
In addition to the main building, Phase I construction includes 2,197 parking spaces, 700 trailer storage spaces, a wastewater pretreatment facility and a railroad spur yard as well as multiple swales and ponds to manage and treat stormwater runoff. Extensive improvements and additions to the surrounding roadways are also planned to better accommodate traffic generated by the facility.
The total scope of the project will consist of a 4,325,540-square-foot manufacturing plant on 458 acres in the Tabler Station Business Park, located between Interstate 81 and the Winchester and Western Railroad line, equaling more than a mile of I-81 frontage.
The Berkeley County Public Service Water District will be providing a million gallons per day to the project and will be adding infrastructure to the property to handle the capacity. The Berkeley County Public Service Sewer District will provide sanitary sewer service at a maximum volume of 837,000 gallons per day.
This will be P&G’s second new site in the U.S. since 1971 and the first plant in West Virginia.
-Staff writer Samantha Cronk can be reached at 304-263-8931, ext. 132, or twitter.com/scronkJN.
