29-03-2025
PROGRESS 2025: Omnis Building Technologies plans opening in late 2025
bluefield — A manufacturer of modular housing is anticipating that its Mercer County factory will open for initial production sometime during the fourth quarter of 2025.
Omnis Building Technologies is looking at having a soft opening between October and December this year, said Mathew Hart, vice president of human resources for Omnis. The plant is located along John Nash Boulevard near the Bluefield Area Transit facility and Exit 1 of Interstate 77.
'The company is excited to begin the hiring process for mechanics, maintenance technicians, electricians and other essential support positions in the next three to four months, with anticipated employee start dates in mid Q3 2025 (July to September),' Hart said. 'These initial positions will assist with the final installation and commissioning of all the production equipment that will be used in producing CIBU panels (Composite Insulated Building Units), a revolutionary building material technology creating the future for affordable and sustainable housing.'
Following the initial hiring phase, Phase 2 will include the hiring of the facility managers and department supervisors, which will likely take place during the later part of the July to September period, Hart said. Managers and supervisors will be instrumental in Phase 3 of the hiring process as they begin to build up the production staff and train employees to begin limited production (soft opening) in Q4 2025.
'We are incredibly grateful to the Bluefield Economic Development Authority, as well as the incredible support and partnership of the West Virginia Economic Development Authority and the Governor's Office,' Hart said. 'We look forward to getting the production facility up and running and realizing the completion of this exciting and revolutionary project.'
In July 2023, Omnis Building Technologies Bluefield, LLC closed on the purchase of land along John Nash Boulevard, which is located near Exit 1 of Interstate 77. Omnis has constructed a 150,000-square-foot manufacturing facility at the site.
Once it opens, the plant will make Composite Insulated Building units that will be used to build residential homes. The plan is to build 3,000 housing units a year in Bluefield. Components constructed at Omnis will be shipped and then assembled on-site to make pre-designed homes, according to the company. Once delivered to their sites, they will be used to build turn-key homes residents can move into easily.
Jonathan Hodson, president of Omnis Building Technologies Bluefield, LLC, said in August 2024 that Omnis had planned to start its Mercer County operations sooner, but complications created by the Covid-19 pandemic caused delays in getting manufacturing equipment and supplies.
Hodson said then that Omnis has had 'an enormous fight' acquiring equipment and materials in the pandemic's aftermath. Everything from steel to concrete and the electrical switching equipment the plant requires was hard to get and delayed in shipping.
Senator Jim Justice, who was then governor, attended the Omnis Building Technologies groundbreaking ceremony in March 2022. The $40 million,150,000-sq.-ft. facility is expected to employ up to 300 people when it is in full production.
'What you have accomplished in Bluefield is unbelievable,' Justice said of the economic development in this area after being 'dealt a bad hand' with the economic turndown related to the decline of the coal industry. 'You dug in and made incredible things happen … Here we are with another incredible announcement in West Virginia.'
Omnis first visited Bluefield in December 2020. The process for bringing a facility to Bluefield started in 2021, Hodson said then, adding that everyone on the state and local levels made it all happen, especially Jim Spencer, Bluefield's former economic development director and head of the Bluefield Economic Development Authority (BEDA).
'They have been non-stop in their efforts to help move this project along,' he said.
Hodson said Spencer and the BEDA provided the 'hard work and vision for Bluefield' to give the needed boost, and Spencer presented Bluefield to Omnis and what the city has to offer.
For three generations, his family has been involved in concrete technologies, Hodson said then, and the company emerged from the idea that a 'home is the backbone of society' and the belief that 'everyone should have the opportunity to have their own home.'
The Omnis homes are energy-efficient, pre-engineered systems made up of Concrete Insulated Building Units (CIBU) that are shipped and then assembled on-site to make pre-designed homes, Hodson said. Once delivered, they are turn-key homes.
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