Nucor Rebar Fabrication will invest more than $20 million and create 25 new jobs as it establishes a new rebar fabrication facility in Davidson County, near where it is already building a mill.
Nucor Rebar Fabrication, an affiliate of Charlotte-based Nucor Corp., is a construction services company that fabricates, installs, and distributes rebar to a variety of infrastructure and building projects.
The new rebar fabrication facility in Lexington will be adjacent to the steel rebar micro mill Nucor is currently building in the city located about 20 miles south of Winston-Salem. The micro mill is now under construction and should be operational in the first half of 2025, according to the company.
“We are excited to be adding a rebar fabrication facility at the site of our new steel mill in Lexington. Nucor has a history of making additional investments in communities where we make steel,” said John Hollatz, executive vice president of Fabricated Construction Products for Nucor, in a release. “With the growth North Carolina and other southeastern states are experiencing, there is a need for additional rebar fabrication in the region to serve infrastructure and nonresidential construction projects.”
While wages will vary by position, the average annual wage for the new positions will be $65,000, exceeding the Davidson County average of $51,201. These new jobs could potentially create an annual payroll impact of more than $ 1.6 million for the region.
A performance-based grant of $50,000 from the One North Carolina Fund awarded to Nucor Rebar Fabrication North Carolina Inc. will help facilitate the company’s expansion in Davidson County. The OneNC Fund provides financial assistance to local governments to help attract economic investment and to create jobs.
Companies receive no money upfront and must meet job creation and capital investment targets to qualify for payment. All OneNC grants require a matching grant from local governments and any award is contingent upon that condition being met.
In April 2022, Nucor, the largest U.S. steel maker, announced plans for a $350 million micro mill in Lexington that will make rebar. It will have about 200 workers, who will receive annual compensation of almost $100,000. That project represented Nucor’s first manufacturing expansion in North Carolina since the 2000 opening of its Hertford County plant.
The micro mill has already hired about half of its workforce, says Katherine Miller, director of corporate communications.
Nucor reported it had 31,600 employees at the end of 2023, including about 900 in North Carolina. Net sales were $34.7 billion and net earnings $4.5 billion, according to the company’s annual report.
