Published On: 08.07.24 | 

By: Dawn Azok

Investment firm launching aerospace hub in northwest Alabama

AE Industrial Partners is moving forward with plans to transform a Colbert County industrial facility into AE Shoals Manufacturing & Technology Center, an aerospace manufacturing hub. (contributed)

A new hub of aerospace manufacturing is on the horizon in rural Alabama.

AE Industrial Partners is moving forward with its plans to transform a vast industrial facility in Colbert County into a high-tech center of innovation for aerospace and defense companies.

The Boca Raton, Florida-based private equity firm, which specializes in national security, aerospace and industrial services, announced its acquisition of the site from the Retirement Systems of Alabama earlier this year.

It covers 638 acres, including 2.27 million square feet of industrial space, in Cherokee. Previous tenants were National Steel Car, Navistar and Freight Car America.

Last month, AE Industrial Partners announced a new head of the facility, and he’s no stranger to Alabama and its aerospace legacy.

John Ofenloch is the new president of AE Shoals Manufacturing & Technology Center. (contributed)

John Ofenloch, the new president of AE Shoals Manufacturing & Technology Center, remembers watching his father work on the Apollo missions and space-related initiatives.

“I grew up in Huntsville, Alabama, and so I feel a sense of pride and responsibility in this new position,” he said. “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to get involved in the community and establish northwestern Alabama as an aerospace manufacturing corridor.”

Ofenloch has more than 30 years of leadership experience in industries including telecommunications, technology and integrated manufacturing. Most recently, he was a Portfolio CEO and operating partner at Satori Capital, and he has degrees from Auburn University and Southern Methodist University.

“With a focus on national defense and aerospace, our goal is to bring high-quality manufacturing jobs to the Shoals. We aim to attract long-term tenants where we can have a multigenerational impact on the people in our community,” he said.

Ofenloch said the region has much to offer those tenants.

“The Shoals’ strengths and resources start with the people, and we have seen amazing support from the community, including the Shoals Economic Development Authority, the Shoals Chamber of Commerce and the Northwest Shoals Community College,” he said. “Additionally, the AE Shoals facility has unique proximity and access to Mississippi and Tennessee via rail, road and the Tennessee River.”

Investment firm AE Industrial Partners has acquired a building in Colbert County as a future aerospace center of excellence. The building was sold by the Retirement Systems of Alabama. (Shoals EDA)

Rural impact

Chris Emerson, senior partner at AE Industrial, said the company is thankful for its partners at the RSA as well as the Poarch Band of Creek Indians, a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans with reservation lands in south Alabama, that will provide joint capabilities and bring innovative solutions to federal customers.

“We are excited to leverage John’s decades of experience and regional expertise to accelerate our growth as we prepare to welcome our first tenants in the coming months,” Emerson said.

Rural Alabama plays a key role in the state’s aerospace industry.

Rural counties surrounding the U.S. Army Aviation headquarters at Fort Novosel in southeastern Alabama are home to helicopter companies and other aviation-related firms.

Elsewhere, there is a pioneering remote air traffic control center at Selma’s Craig Field in Dallas County, which also attracted a new Resicum aviation training academy. In addition, Lockheed Martin has significant missile production operations in Pike County and a “digital” factory in Lawrence County focusing on hypersonics technologies.

Brenda Tuck, Rural Development manager for the Alabama Department of Commerce, said the AE Shoals center will be a catalyst for job growth throughout the region.

“The companies that locate in this state-of-the-art facility will bring fresh innovation and advanced technology,” Tuck said. “They will have a major impact throughout the global aerospace industry, and rural Alabama is at the center of that strategy.”

This story originally appeared on the Alabama Department of Commerce’s Made in Alabama website.