Hornady Manufacturing is committed to expansion and job creation

GRAND ISLAND, Neb. (KSNB) – Hornady Manufacturing Inc. is partnering with the City of Grand Island to expand its western facility and create new jobs.

At the Oct. 22 City Council meeting, the City Council approved a grant application for the Municipal Infrastructure Assistance Program (LB 600), which was passed in the 2024 legislative session.

The current project volume is estimated at $2,235,041.40. With this grant application, the city will request $1,788,033.12. The local match is 25 percent, so the city would have to pay $447,008.28. The council agenda stated that since it was being built to serve Hornady’s CAAP manufacturing facility, the match was being sponsored by the company.

The City intends to use the current fiscal year 2025 grant authority to initiate the project. Costs for FY 2026 and subsequent years will be directly included in capital project budget planning.

The grant will provide funding to extend sewer lines to the former Cornhusker Army Ammunition Depot so Hornady can use the building.

Community Development Director Chad Nabity said the expansion will have a positive impact on the city of Grand Island.

“With this expansion, Hornady plans to create an additional 29 jobs,” Nabity said. “This will have an overall impact on Grand Island’s economy of several million dollars, and that is detailed in this plan.”

Nabity also said the types of jobs Hornady offers will have a long-term positive impact on Grand Island’s economy.

“These are high-paying manufacturing jobs that really support what Grand Island does,” Nabity said. “They are also a base manufacturing business, so their multiplier effect goes beyond, say, retail.”

He also said the expansion was key to creating these jobs and receiving the £600 grant was important in the process.

“In the city of Grand Island, the city sewer line comes out to about 13th Street, which is about two miles east of the ammunition plant,” Nabity said. “The LB 600 grant will allow us to extend that sewer line a full two miles, making it more likely that they will continue to expand there.”

Nabity also said the city of Grand Island and Hornady will be working to begin the expansion in the next couple of years.

“The grant application is due Nov. 1, and hopefully by Jan. 1 we will know if we received the grant,” Nabiti said. “If we get the grant, we will move into the design phase and look at building that sewer line over the next two years.”

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