Aerospace fastener manufacturer Morton Manufacturing is moving to Lancaster from the Santa Clarita Valley, bringing 300 jobs to the city and stimulating the Antelope Valley economy, while dealing a blow to Santa Clarita. The company, which currently occupies a 45,000-square-foot facility in Santa Clarita, last Thursday announced plans to move to the Lancaster Business Park, where it will build a new, 86,000-square-foot factory on a 10-acre site. Morton’s 200 workers will relocate to the facility and the company will add 100 new positions after the move. City and county officials in the Antelope Valley are cheering the win, while Santa Clarita economic development officials are disappointed to lose the company, which has been a key aerospace employer in the community for more than 40 years. Founded in 1967, Morton is one of the leading suppliers of nickel-alloy bolts for gas-turbine aircraft, as well as certain gas-turbine engines, for industrial use worldwide. Morton Chairman and CEO Yolanda Morton said the company was forced to change locations as the production capacity in Santa Clarita could not keep up with the demand in orders coming from such customers as Pratt & Whitney, General Electric and Rolls Royce. With 40 percent of the staff already living in the Antelope Valley, moving north — where there is available land to build a much larger facility — made sense. “It helps the business with more space to buy more equipment and hire more people,” Morton said. The company will be hiring machinists, as well as workers for the inspection lab and production. Morton is on track to bring in $40 million in sales this year, the executive said. With the expanded factory, sales are expected to rise at least 25 percent to $50 million, although 30 percent is the goal, she added. New location Morton’s decision to relocate is a significant loss for the City of Santa Clarita — both in terms of jobs and industry, city officials said. “They have been here for years and have over 150 employees,” said Economic Development Manager Jason Crawford. “They are in aerospace, a main industry for us, so to lose them is very disappointing.” The city had been working for almost a year to find Morton a larger building — a task made difficult by the lack of manufacturing space in the city, Crawford said. The industrial space vacancy rate hovers between 1 percent and 2 percent. Not even the tax credit benefits of being located in an enterprise zone, a perk not offered in Lancaster, was enough of an incentive, he added. “If they aren’t able to find the space they need to expand, there are not a whole lot of options,” Crawford said. Lancaster developer Frank Visco will construct Morton’s new building. Visco is responsible for other buildings in the Lancaster Business Park, including the Bank of America call center. Morton will move into its new home by mid-2013. Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said Morton Manufacturing represents “the type of business that we want — ones that excel at what they are doing.” For decades, aerospace has been the backbone of manufacturing in Lancaster, although economic development activity in recent years primarily has occurred in the revitalized downtown area along Lancaster Boulevard, and in the alternative energy market with multiple solar power projects. The city’s largest manufacturing firm to date is Lance Camper, a truck and travel camper manufacturer that has a 110,000-square-foot facility in the Lancaster Business Park. The city has tried to build a diversified business base, especially as a means to offset changing business patterns in the aerospace industry, said Vern Lawson, the city’s economic development director. With the aerospace industry come boom and bust cycles where employment is tied to commercial and military aircraft orders. Morton’s business model of supplying to multiple aircraft makers make the company less susceptible to the ups and downs of the industry. “Even though they are aerospace-related their future is not tied to a single contract,” Lawson said. Morton’s move is seen as a long-term investment for the city. At the business park, the city plans to subdivide a 21-acre parcel into five lots and provide water and sewer connections to the property. Morton will use one lot and the other four will become Phase IV of the business park in anticipation of other companies moving to the city, officials said.