By HOI ABC
NORMAL – Rivian Automotive is proposing four building additions to its plant in Normal as the company plans to build electric vehicles there next year.
The Normal Town Council, at its meeting Monday night, is being asked to approve Rivian’s site plan changes that will add 576,000 square feet of space to the former Mitsubishi Motors plant, according to the staff’s report. The factory is currently about 2.6 million square feet, according to our news partner HOI ABC.
The largest addition will be 262,000 square feet on the southeast portion of the plant in west Normal.
The staff’s report said the company plans to add lighting and landscaping. The property will lose 218 parking spaces, leaving 2,068 spaces on the west side of the plant. There remains another 900 parking spaces on the northeast side.
“As the Rivian plant expands, additional employment opportunities will emerge at both the plant and related businesses,” the staff’s report said.
Rivian is seeking permission for the change on the heels of a $2.5 billion investment from accounts advised by the investment firm T. Rowe Price.
The automaker is preparing to produce electric sport utility vehicles and pickup trucks at the factory, and it has a contract with Amazon to make 100,000 electric delivery vans there.
Rivian plans to employ 1,000 people at peak production. The company announced last month it would add about 40 jobs when it opens a customer engagement center at the site.
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