100 jobs, Ply Gem base coming to Cary

A Missouri maker of vinyl siding, windows, doors, fencing and railing plans to move its corporate headquarters to Cary next year.

Ply Gem Industries of Kearney, Mo., said it will create 100 jobs and invest $2.5 million in Wake County over the next four years, Chief Financial Officer Shawn Poe said.

The company already has a manufacturing subsidiary with offices in Cary, a manufacturing facility in Fair Bluff and a warehouse in Fayetteville.

"When we looked at the geographical location of our customer base, as well as our manufacturing facilities, we really selected the Eastern United States," Poe said. "Then working with the city, we found Cary is a very nice city, and the governor's office wanted to work with us."

All of the positions at Ply Gem's new headquarters will be office jobs, Poe said. Most employees will be hired locally, though a small number will transfer from the Missouri operation. The average weekly pay is expected to be $1,241, plus benefits.

Ply Gem will begin looking for office space soon, Poe said. He declined to say how much space the company is seeking. "We will expect to move forward as quickly as possible," he said.

Ply Gem will receive as much as $100,000 from the state in a One North Carolina Fund grant. The company must show it has created the promised investment and jobs to receive the money, said Department of Commerce spokes-woman Deborah Barnes.

"A year has to pass," she said, "then they can come back and make a disbursement request. Some companies wait until the whole thing is done and then apply for a whole lump sum."

In addition, the town of Cary will match that with $100,000 in incentives.

Headquarters' cachet

Headquarters are especially attractive to industry recruiters, because they often generate higher-paying jobs and other benefits in the community -- sponsorships for cultural or sporting events, for instance.

"Those are always good projects, as a rule," said Sandy Jordan, vice president for economic development at the Cary Chamber of Commerce. "Hopefully, a headquarters leads to other opportunities around here."

(Staff writer Jonathan B. Cox contributed to this report.)