Schletter Celebrates140KSF Facility Grand Opening; DataChambers Breaks Ground on 50KSF Data Center

By Eliza Theiss, Associate Editor

Grand Opening of Schletter’s North American headquarters in Shleby, NC

Schletter Inc., a global manufacturer of photovoltaic mounting systems has celebrated the grand opening of its new North American headquarters and manufacturing site in Shelby, N.C. The expansion, announced in mid-2012, has increased Schletter’s original structure with about 100,000 square feet to a total of 140,000 square feet of highly-automated manufacturing space and administrative offices. As previously reported on this page, the upgraded Shelby facility necessitated a $27 million investment to realize. However, according to a news release, the highly automated and energy efficient character of its production systems allows the company to push prices down.

The facility currently employs 100 with a further 70 new positions expected to be created and be filled by the end of the year. The expanded Shelby location, which started production in the summer, has given Schletter the largest manufacturing capability for solar mounting systems in North America. Its previous HQ, located in Tucson, Ariz. will continue to operate as the West Coast hub of operations, while the Ontario facility will serve the Canadian market. The company has plans to open a new Texas office in 2014.

Charlotte Regional Datacenter at North Carolina Research Campus in Kannapolis, NC

In other green tech news, Raleigh-based DataChambers LLC has broken ground on a 50,000-square-foot third-party data center in Kannapolis, N.C. Set to open in the third quarter of 2014 in the North Carolina Research Campus (NCRC), DataChambers’ third location is expected to provide services to existing and future residents of the research campus and will employ between 20 and 30 IT professionals.

As previously reported on this page, the data center will be LEED-certified for energy efficient operation. Parties involved in the design and development of the facility are all Metrolina-based. Land Design is handling land planning and civil engineering, Creech &Associates is designing the data center, while McCracken& Lopez, PA is providing mechanical, electrical and fire protection designs. The data center is being developed in partnership with Castle& Cooke, Inc. and David H. Murdock, founder, chairman and CEO of Castle & Cooke and Dole Food Company. Castle & Cooke is the company behind the development of the 350-acre N.C. Research Campus, a future hub of biotech, nutrition and health research.

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Images courtesy Schletter and North Carolina Research Campus