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ASHEVILLE - Buncombe County will build a $5 million training facility to prepare hundreds of workers for a Pratt & Whitney airplane engine parts factory, now under construction in the Bent Creek area.
The county's Board of Commissioners voted unanimously May 18 to fund the construction despite protests by some members of the public who said the company, a subsidiary of Raytheon, is a war profiteer.
The facility will be financed and paid for through sales tax designated for the capital needs of A-B Tech. The community college will handle the training for the company expected to finish construction on the $650 million 1.2 million square foot plant and start production in earnest by the second half of 2022.