N.J. engineering firm moving to Spartanburg 

Staff Report
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Published Oct. 28, 2014

F3 Engineering, a technical services provider for the Department of Defense and the commercial sector, is relocating from Paterson, N.J., to Spartanburg County. The company is investing $3.9 million and expects to add 53 jobs over three years.

The company is moving to an existing 25,000-square-foot facility at 350 Seminole Drive, according to a news release from the S.C. Department of Commerce. The building is in a historically underutilized business zone, which Economic Futures Group Executive Vice President R. Carter Smith said “was key to them” as a federal contractor.

Smith said the company will hire locally and will also bring some employees from New Jersey. The company said applications are being accepted at www.f3engineering.com.

S.C. Commerce Secretary Bobby Hitt said in a statement announcing F3 Engineering’s relocation that the state’s “aerospace and military sectors continue to attract top-quality suppliers to the state.” he statement said company executives considered many locations and “concluded that Spartanburg was the right choice, offering a convenient location, excellent climate and good quality of life.” The S.C. Coordinating Council for Economic Development approved job development credits, the statement said.

F3 Engineering founder and President Odilo Vazquez said South Carolina is a “business-friendly state, with not only a significant pool of employees, but also a convenient hub of technology and other support industries.” The company, founded in 1999, expanded in 2007 to a larger facility in Paterson, in another historically underutilized business zone.

These zones are designated by the U.S. Small Business Administration under its HUBZone program, which is intended to promote economic development and employment growth in distressed areas.

David Britt, chairman of the Economic Recruitment and Development Committee of Spartanburg County and member of the Economic Futures Group Board, said the “highly technical nature of the jobs they will create, coupled with the attractive wages make this a significant project for the citizens of Spartanburg.”