QUINCY - The Port of Quincy and Amway closed a 12-acre land deal Friday which includes an option for 15 more acres.

The company plans to build a nutritional product ingredient plant near Quincy.

The ingredients are made for vitamins, energy bars and nutritional supplements in Amway's NUTRILITE brand of products.

Once the $31.8 million facility is complete, about 30 manufacturing and quality assurance jobs will be created.

About 100 temporary construction jobs are expected to result.

Amway plans to process ingredients at the port's Industrial Park 6, according to port commissioner president Curt Morris.

Construction is expected to start later this year on the 48,000 square-foot building.

It should take about a year to build the plant, Morris said.

The plant likely starts production in 2014.

Amway owns Trout Lake Farms south of Ephrata, where blueberry, Echinacea purpurea, Echinacea angustifolia, oregano, peppermint, nettle and other plants are grown for NUTRILITE vitamins and supplements. Trout Lake Farms is the largest certified organic herb farm in North America, according to the company.

The new Quincy plant means Amway's similar Lakeview, Calif. facility will close.

Amway's presence in Ephrata made company officials somewhat familiar with the area, the port's Morris explained.

Port officials worked with Amway for about a year before the land deal closed, even holding a leadership meeting at Crescent Bar, Morris said.

At the meeting, Amway officials met the appropriate local leaders to bring their project to Quincy.

Those involved include the state Department of Commerce, Grant County PUD, Grant County Economic Development Council, Big Bend Community College, the City of Quincy and other groups, such as the fire, hospital and school districts.

Morris believes to start with, Amway's product in Quincy goes back to the Michigan plant.

"We're manufacturing a component piece," Morris commented. "It is put into a bar or whatever they are using those component pieces for. We aren't manufacturing a finished product, we are manufacturing a component piece."

Selecting Quincy helps Amway distributors and customers with new processing technology and faster order delivery, according to Amway.

"Quincy is an ideal location because it allows direct shipment of plant concentrates to our nutritional product manufacturing operations, including facilities in California, China and India," stated Jim Brundidge, Amway's nutritional product operations director. "We are excited to be part of the progressive business climate we've seen in Quincy and have been impressed working with the leaders of the Port of Quincy throughout our site location review process."

The port touts Grant County's affordable hydropower, dark fiber, railroad mainline from Seattle to Chicago, a new rail intermodal terminal and access to Interstate 90 as some of its business attributes.

The port offers foreign trade zone status to companies located within the port district, meaning companies doesn't have to pay a duty rate.

According to the port, its development and promotional work is attracting agricultural, food processing and technology companies.

They include agriculture and food processing companies such as ConAgra Foods, National Frozen Foods, NORPAC, Columbia Colstor, Oneonta, Stemilt, CMI, Jones Produce and data centers Yahoo!, Dell, Intuit, Microsoft, Sabey and Vantage. 

Cold Train is another business operating at the port's intermodal terminal.

The rail service ships cargo from the Port of Quincy to the Port of Chicago.