Portobello America hosted an opening ceremony Tuesday, celebrating the company’s history and its new partnership with Tennessee, Putnam County and Baxter.
“It’s a great moment for us,” Portobello CEO Cezar Gomez Jr. said. “I would like to thank you very much. Without this partnership with the state and the community this wouldn’t be possible. This is for us a dream that’s coming true.”
County Mayor Randy Porter, Baxter Mayor John Martin, and State Senator Paul Bailey among local officials on hand to celebrate the $200 million facility.
“People ask me they say, ‘what in the world is Portobello going to bring to Baxter’, well just wait and see,” Martin said. “Right now we have, we’ve probably built 250 new homes since Portobello started. We have 2,000 new homes approved for our city.”
Portobello has already hired 200 people. The construction is the the largest project ever to occur in Putnam County.
“What really surprised us is just the overwhelming support we received from the Baxter community, Putnam County and the surrounding counties as well,” Portobello America CFO Jacqueline Wisdom said. “What is this large facility being built here, right, how can we work there, we had people coming to us and wanting to work at Portobello.”
Plans to bring Portobello to America started in 2016.
“I love how we talked about that standard of excellence that Portobello has,” Cookeville-Putnam Chamber of Commerce CEO Amy New said “As far as Tennessee, there is always a standard of excellence for recruiting companies. We want to make sure that it’s those high-paying, just wonderful jobs.”
Brazilian entertainer Pedro Andrade hosted the event, which featured officials from Brazil and the United States in attendance. Originally based in Brazil, Portobello America is a factory that manufactures tile. The plant in Baxter is part of their strategy to expand in the United States.
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