(News director Jeff Spalding at Missourinet Sedalia affiliate KDRO (AM 1490) also contributed information to this story)

The largest producer of steel in the U.S. plans to build a steel bar micro mill in west-central Missouri’s Sedalia. North Carolina-based Nucor says the expansion will bring 255 jobs with an average annual salary of $65,000. Production is scheduled to begin in 2019. The project is also expected to create 450 temporary construction jobs.

Photo courtesy of Nucor

Nucor also considered sites in South Carolina, Florida, Nebraska and Kansas as it chose the location for the $250 million investment.

“This rebar micro-mill project is consistent with our long-term strategy for profitable growth and builds on our position as the low-cost producer,” said John Ferriola, Chairman, CEO & President of Nucor. “Strategically positioning this micro-mill in Sedalia will give us a sustained cost advantage over other domestic steel producers supplying rebar from outside the region.”

Nucor is 169th on the 2017 Fortune 500 list, reporting $16.2 billion in revenues in their last fiscal year. The company’s energy-efficient electric arc furnaces turn more than 17 million tons of scrap into new steel every year – making Nucor the largest recycler in all of North America.

Missouri Governor Eric Greitens and Ferriola made the announcement Tuesday during a press conference at the State Fairgrounds in Sedalia. They were joined by Sedalia and Pettis County officials, along with Kansas City Power and Light executives.

Greitens says the 255 Sedalia jobs will have a strong paycheck.

“It’s a job that you can raise a family on, job where you can pay a mortgage, you can buy a truck, you can put aside some money for kids to go to school,” Greitens says.

Executives from Charlotte-based Nucor made the plant announcement at the State Fairgrounds on November 21, 2017 (photo courtesy of State Senator Denny Hoskins)

Ferriola tells reporters Sedalia is a family town.

“Small shops, shopkeepers, family-owned businesses,” Ferriola says. “And I was really happy to see that kind of a town. To me it exemplifies what Nucor is all about.”

Products produced by Nucor include: carbon and alloy steel — in bars, beams, sheet and plate; hollow structural section tubing; electrical conduit; steel piling; steel joists and joist girders; steel deck; fabricated concrete reinforcing steel; cold finished steel; steel fasteners; metal building systems; steel grating; and wire and wire mesh.