NEWPORT, Vt. (AP) – Newport City Council has approved a request for a million-dollar state grant to transform a former factory into an all-terrain electric vehicle hub.

Northeast Kingdom Development Corp. would use the Vermont Community Development Grant and bank loans on a $ 2.45 million project to buy the old Bogner factory, renovate it, and lease it to local company Track Inc., which sells snow groomers and snow groomers. Vehicles, reports the Caledonian Record.

Mike Desmarais, owner and CEO of Track Inc., told city council on Monday that the plant would allow Track Inc. and other companies to create up to 150 jobs in the development, manufacture and maintenance of intelligent off-road electric vehicles and batteries. diesel vehicles.

Desmarais said he hopes to attract three Quebec companies related to electric vehicles to the site.

Two developers had offered to convert the site into a biotech factory that never happened. Ariel Quiros, a Miami businessman and former owner of the Jay Peak ski area, pleaded guilty in August to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, money laundering and withholding important information about the resort. failure of the construction plan using tens of millions of dollars from foreign investors. ‘ money. Former Jay Peak chairman Bill Stenger has pleaded not guilty.