Epic Piping to Build Fabrication Plant, HQ for $45M

By Adrian Maties, Associate Editor

Governor Bobby Jindal announced that Epic Piping will invest $45.3 million in Livingston Parish to establish an advanced a pipe fabrication facility and corporate headquarters. The governor called the project an important economic development win for the region, as did other local officials.

Plans call for the construction of a 200,000-square-foot facility, with future expansion to 300,000 square feet, on a 70-acre site located immediately southwest of the Interstate 12 interchange at La. Highway 63. It will be air-conditioned and will feature advanced robotic equipment, which will help optimize pipe fabrication for a host of industries. Epic’s headquarters will occupy 20,000 square feet of the new facility.

Kent Shepherd, president of Epic Piping, said in a news release that his company is the fastest-growing piping fabricator in the world. He added that the state-of-the-art, manufacturing facility ”will be the first of its kind built anywhere.”

BRAC, Livingston Economic Development Council (LEDC) and Louisiana Economic Development (LED) worked together to secure the project. The state offered Epic an incentive package that includes a performance-based $1.8 million Economic Development Award Program grant, and the company is also expected to use the LED FastStart and the Quality Jobs and industrial Tax Exemption programs.

Construction on the new facility is expected to start in the second quarter of 2015, with completion scheduled for the second quarter of 2016. The $45.3 million project will create 560 new direct jobs with an average annual salary of $56,600, 385 construction jobs, as well as an additional 732 new indirect jobs, according to the LED. Epic also said it will establish 60,000 square feet of auxiliary fabrication space in Baton Rouge.