Italian automaker SPAL building electric vehicle fan factory in Ankeny

An Italian auto parts manufacturer with a distribution center and offices in Ankeny will invest $35 million to build a new U.S. headquarters and manufacturing facility there, more than doubling its workforce.

Headquartered in Correggio, Italy, SPAL Automotive designs and manufactures high-performance fans, centrifugal blowers and fluid pumps for cars, buses and off-road vehicles, construction equipment, tractors and motorsports vehicles, as well as for industrial uses. Its subsidiary SPAL USA, formerly located in Des Moines, moved in 2004 to Ankeny's Metro North Business Park, opening the 40,000-square-foot distribution center at 1731 S.E. Oralabor Road.

On Monday the Ankeny City Council approved a plan for SPAL USA to build its U.S. headquarters and manufacturing facility in the city, where the company currently employs 26 people, according to the Des Moines Business Record, which was the first to report the agreement. The project is expected to create at least 39 new jobs under the agreement with the council.

SPAL USA will produce cooling fans for electric vehicles made by a "major U.S. auto manufacturer," a news release from the company said.

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The company currently exports products manufactured in Italy to Ankeny. The new facility will be on 25 acres at the northeast corner of Southeast 77th Street and Southeast Convenience Boulevard in the Crosswinds Business Park, just east of Interstate 35 and near where Kreg Tool opened its new headquarters last spring, moving from Huxley. SPAL's 215,000-square-foot facility will be designed to allow expansion to 360,000 square feet.

Construction is expected to begin this year and be complete in 2025, according to the company. Ankeny Economic Development Director Derek Lord said SPAL USA had been considered expanding in Ankeny for at least eight years.

"We are fortunate and excited that they have chosen to invest and grow in Ankeny," Lord said.

Many of SPAL's clients are in the eastern U.S. and the company strongly considered alternatives to Ankeny, Lord said. In the end, its Ankeny employees contributed to its decision to stay put, Lord said.

"All those things including our location, very competitive tax rate, business-friendly environment and support of City Council all go into the decisions that these companies make to stay and reinvest," Lord said.

SPAL USA began as an offshoot of Iowa Export, a Ruan Companies distributing business, in 1986. SPAL bought back distribution rights from Ruan when it expanded its American operations.

Under the plan for the new headquarters and factory, SPAL USA could get $1.2 million in tax increment financing over five years, according to the agreement with the Ankeny. After the project's incentives are paid, the project is expected to generate new tax revenues of $720,000 per year.

"Anytime a company is faced with the decision, whether it's to renew a lease, build a new facility they've outgrown where they are and they need to expand, we look at these decisions as confirmation that what we're doing as a community and the climate we've created for business growth is working," Lord said.

Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, [email protected] or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.