8 May 2007
There are consistent rumours that Piper may be planning a move from its Vero Beach base.
The company would certainly appear to be studying some options very hard. The initial rumours seem to centre around Tallahassee, Florida; Albuquerque, New Mexico; Columbia, South Carolina and Oklahoma City, and at the very least it seems possible that the yet-to-be-realised PiperJet may be produced away from Vero Beach.
It’s something which definitely matters to the local community, as the company employs 1,000 people (which may double in the near future) and is estimated to have an economic impact of over $500 million a year. Local officials are meeting this week, according to <a href=’http://www.tcpalm.com/tcp/business/article/0,2541,TCP_998_5518682,00.html’ target=’_blank’>local reports</a>, to try to come up with a package which would tempt Piper to stay at Vero Beach.
