Piper Aircraft Reported Staying in Vero Beach

The Palm Beach Post is reporting that Piper Aircraft will be staying put in Vero Beach Florida.

After almost a year of sometimes agonizing negotiations with the plane maker, Indian River County officials plan to vote this month on a $12 million incentive package that appears enticing enough to keep Piper local. The deal probably will be sealed at a commission meeting Jan. 15, Commission Chairman Gary Wheeler said last week, adding that the outlook was “very, very positive.”

“They were looking, I believe, at tremendous expense for relocating, retraining, moving people,” Wheeler said.

In the end, that’s what gave Vero Beach the edge over the two other cities Piper was considering: Oklahoma City and Albuquerque, N.M.

“They’ve been here 50 years. They’ve got 1,100 trained employees that do their job well,” Wheeler said.

Not only will the city get to keep the existing 1,100 jobs at Piper – it also will gain 500 more after the company builds its new PiperJet plant in the city. Both prospects were in limbo during most of 2007.

“Everything’s ironed out and ready for approval for the county commission,” Wheeler said.

Piper officials, however, are keeping mum. Company spokesman Steve Johnston reiterated that Piper was still weighing its offers.