JeffCo Approves ACIPCO Birmingham Expansion, Nearly $800M Investment
Jefferson County OKs incentives for ACIPCO’s North Birmingham project, boosting jobs, cutting emissions, and strengthening local manufacturing
The Jefferson County Commission has approved a key incentive package to support a major long-term expansion by the American Cast Iron Pipe Company (ACIPCO) that is expected to drive jobs and modern manufacturing growth in North Birmingham.
The Commission voted to provide a $320,000 incentive as part of ACIPCO’s nearly $800 million industrial expansion, one of the largest economic projects in the county outside of Smucker’s recent $1.1 billion investment in McCalla. The incentive ties to an expected creation of about 80 new full-time jobs with average earnings around $114,000 per year.
ACIPCO’s plan, branded “AMERICAN for Life 2030,” centers on modernizing its century-old North Birmingham facility. The overhaul includes replacing older coke-fired furnaces with greener electric induction furnaces, adding new casting machines, and building a new lining and coating plant. The project would also include a new employee center with modern amenities for staff.
“We’ve been at the same place on the north side of Birmingham … we want to stay in Birmingham and reinvest in Birmingham,” said John Hagelskamp, Senior Vice President of Sales at ACIPCO. “We’ve embarked on four projects that are just under $800 million in value with inflation … We will reduce emissions by changing our coke-fired cupola to electric furnaces.”
Jefferson County’s Economic Development Advisor Jeff Traywick told Commissioners that ACIPCO’s investment ranks just behind J.M. Smucker Co.’s McCalla plant as one of the County’s largest industrial commitments. The incentive will help secure jobs and wider tax revenues over the life of the project.
“We expect that the value of that (incentive) would be about $320,000 based on the 80 jobs and the $114,000 (annual) wages,” Traywick said. “Over the life of the project, we estimate that this will generate about $11.4 million in general fund revenue to the county and about $25 million to the schools.”
In addition to modern manufacturing upgrades, the shift to electric furnaces is projected to cut emissions from ACIPCO’s operations by more than 90%, a major environmental benefit for surrounding neighborhoods.
ACIPCO has been part of Birmingham’s industrial fabric since 1905, producing ductile iron and steel pipe products. Hagelskamp stressed the expansion’s multi-year timeline and its potential to help the company retain and attract skilled workers.
