Grumman Corp.'s planned expansion here is evidence that oil-dependent Houston is trying to get more involved in aircraft and aerospace industries, according to a local development official. Grumman officials said Tuesday the company's Southwest Regional Development and Production Center will be built on a 66-acre parcel of land, and will include an office building and several other structures. The project will mean 1,000 new jobs in the next year and an initial investment of $10 million over two years. ``Grumman feels betting a large part of our company future on Houston is a good bet,'' J.J. Bussolini, Grumman vice president for business operations, said at a news conference. Lee Hogan, president of the Houston Economic Development Council, said Tuesday's announcement illustrated Houston's efforts to get involved in aircraft and aerospace industries. ``We are now as interested in that as the price of oil,'' he said. Bussolini said Grumman was convinced to select Houston with incentives to locate at Ellington Field, a strong work ethic shown by employees at its existing Houston operations, an excellent pool of potential employees and cost savings for construction and operations of new facilities compared with other parts of the country. Grumman, an aircraft and aerospace company with annual sales of more than $3.5 billion, now employs about 500 people in Houston and 33,000 people worldwide. Grumman said work in Houston will include civil space programs, manufacturing and development on Air Force missile programs and engineering support for Grumman programs throughout the country. None of the new Houston jobs would be the result of transfers from other Grumman facilities, Bussolini said. Company officials said Houston's job count could grow to 2,000 or more, depending on the outcome of several NASA and Defense Department programs. The Bethpage, N.Y.-based company selected Houston from among other potential sites in Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. The new center will be built on land Grumman leased last year from the city at Ellington Field, a former Air Force base now owned by the city. The land originally was earmarked for Grumman's civil space unit for NASA space station work, but NASA selected rival bidder McDonnell Douglas Corp. for the job. The new project culminates efforts by officials of the Houston Economic Development Council. ``The loss of the space station contract was a serious setback to our corporate plan,'' Bussolini said, but added that Houston officials kept encouraging the company to add to its presence in the city.
