By Tracy Overstreet
tracy.overstreet@theindependent.com

The applications will be reviewed Tuesday morning by Grand Island's Citizens Review Committee.

Hastings Foods wants $100,000 to expand its Hastings-based meat-processing company to Grand Island. It proposes to create at least 50 jobs within three years with an average wage of $13.25 an hour.

A new building is already under construction at 3321 Island Circle, just west of Webb Road and north of Builders Warehouse.

Hastings Foods has a 10-year lease on the building and plans to open business there on April 1, according to the LB840 contract.

Hastings Food does custom meat processing, including "portion slicing, dicing and marinating of pork products," the contract states.

Fresh and frozen products will be prepared.

The primary market is Japan, the contract states.

"To make their Grand Island plant operational, (Hastings Foods) will install equipment that will be able to skin, trim, slice, dice, mix, blend and vacuum tumble pork products," the LB840 contract states. "They will install vacuum-packaging equipment, as well as X-ray and metal-detection equipment to ensure product quality."

Equipment costs are estimated to be between $250,000 and $350,000 with an additional $150,000 of start-up costs.

Hastings Foods General Manager Gary Deal asked that the equivalent of $2,000 per new employee be granted to help the business start up.

Nova Tech, located at the airport's industrial park at 1982 E. Citation Way, is seeking $160,000 in LB840 funds.

Nova Tech President Gloria Thesenvitz said that equates to $2,000 for each of 30 new jobs plus $100,000 to assist with the infrastructure costs of an approximate $7 million new manufacturing/corporate headquarters.

Nova Tech has 20 employees now and would grow to 50 employees under the expansion. The average hourly wage for the new jobs would be $16.28.

"Nova Tech began as an animal blood collection and sterile serum facility and has evolved into an FDA-registered drug manufacturing facility and (is) further expanding into aseptic fill of large-volume and small-volume sterile injectables," the LB840 contracted states.

Those injectables are fluids, minerals and vitamin products custom manufactured for Animal Health Distributors, according to the funding application.

Nova Tech's expansion is expected to take between 12 to 18 months to complete.

Both applications have the support of the Grand Island Area Economic Development Corp. and will be reviewed during an 8:30 a.m. Tuesday meeting of the Citizens Review Committee.

The committee's recommendation will be forwarded to the Grand Island City Council for final action.