Company confirms East Helena, Butte scouted for possible $200M manufacturing facility

This story has been updated to confirm information about the company's visit to Butte.

East Helena, Butte and Great Falls are in the running for a $200 million manufacturing plant with Washington-based Janicki Industries, the business confirmed.

During the week of Jan. 12, Janicki representatives visited the Montana cities during a larger tour of potential expansion locations. Janicki specializes in design and construction for industries like aerospace, defense, space, marine and architecture.

East Helena

At a Tuesday night City Council meeting, East Helena Mayor Kelly Harris discussed guiding engineering representatives through the area alongside Helena Mayor Emily Dean and East Helena Public Schools Superintendent Dan Rispens.

Although local representatives were hesitant to name the company, Janicki confirmed its interest in a Thursday email.

“As Janicki continues to expand its operations and manage increasing workloads in our Washington and Utah locations, we are actively exploring other expansion opportunities in other states like Montana and Idaho,” Janicki Marketing Manager Erin Hurley said. “We look forward to sharing more once we’ve reviewed all Requests for Information (RFI) responses and completed our feasibility studies,” Hurley said.

If East Helena were to be chosen, it could bring a 100,000-square-foot building dedicated entirely to manufacturing or assembly, said Brian Obert, executive director of Montana Business Assistance Connection. Obert helped connect local officials with the engineering representatives.

That kind of building could be worth even more than $200 million in property value, Obert said, greatly boosting the local tax base. He compared the expected size and impact to Helena's Boeing center.

Big-item investments like a plant make longer-term promises for the Helena area's economy than, say, a call center that can be "packed up and moved," he added.

“We need good jobs, but we also need taxable value,” Obert said.

In August, the company announced the construction of a similar-sized facility at its Hamilton, Washington, campus that it expected to generate 350 jobs, a press release states.

The Helena area is attractive because it shows investment in engineering and is fit for young families, who would be expected to be the majority of the new plant’s employees, Obert said. He pointed to a recently passed $283 million school bond to replace Helena High and Kessler Elementary schools and to upgrade Capital High.

Beyond that, the area has the Helena Regional Airport, Helena College, graduates from Montana State University and a list of career and technical education (CTE) classes, Obert said. He said engineering representatives "loved to hear about that."

Finally, East Helena isn't "desperate," Obert said. The Helena area is looking at a fairly even unemployment rate of 3%, which means it can afford to be picky about who grows here.

Applying for industries that complement already existing companies boosts the Helena area's odds of being selected, he said.

Although East Helena was toured, it isn't guaranteed to get the spot, Obert said. Companies usually go through multiple rounds of eliminating locations before they make a final decision.

However, he feels the Helena area has a fairly good shot.

"I'm optimistic, but there's a lot of good work still to be done," Obert said.

Butte

Kelly Sullivan, executive director of the Butte Local Development Corp., confirmed Monday that Janicki representatives did visit the Mining City recently.

She said she couldn’t provide details at this time but did say, “The visit went very well.”

The Montana Department of Commerce issues requests for information, or RFIs, on behalf of companies interested in locating in Montana and communities respond to the queries.

The Montana Standard's Mike Smith contributed to this report