One of the nation’s leading specialty aluminum products manufacturers will open a plant in Adairsville. Vista Metals has acquired the old Foley Products Concrete plant at 800 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in Adairsville.

“We’re in the process of getting gas service out there to the industry,” said Adairsville’s interim city manager William McCain. “They (Vista) are in the process of modernizing that building.”

Earlier this year, Bartow County Commissioner Clarence Brown approved the project’s use of Recovery Zone funds for the acquisition, rehabilitation and equipping of an existing 57,000 square-foot building to be used for aluminum smelting, manufacturing and distribution.

Brown said the company is making a $25 million investment in the community. The project could generate as many as 60 new jobs.

Vista was founded in 1968 in Fontana, Calif. The firm processes recycled aluminum scrap metal in addition to using primary aluminum in the production of a wide range of aluminum alloy products. Its products are used in a variety of applications from the aerospace industry to the building and construction trades.

Vista has a history of environmental sensitivity and is recognized for its use of low nitrogen oxide furnaces in its production processes. All of its production is computer controlled.

The Bartow County building inspection office has issued a couple of permits for the projects, including one for a facility where the melting furnace will be located. That project was valued at $1.4 million. A second, storage type building was valued at $148,000.

Calls to Vista Metals have not been returned.