Universal Leaf North American U.S. Inc. will hold a grand opening celebration Friday at its new 1.2 million square-foot leaf tobacco processing facility on N.C. 58 north of Nashville.

Todd Haymore, assistant vice president of external affairs for Richmond-based Universal Leaf Tobacco Co., said, "More than two years of work on this project is coming to a culmination at 10:30 a.m. Friday, when we will have a grand opening ceremony at our facility. We're quite pleased that Gov. Mike Easley will be delivering the keynote address. Right now, we're expecting more than 700 people to be out there to help us commemorate this event and hear Gov. Easley speak."

Other scheduled speakers include Nash County Board of Commissioners Chairman Claude Mayo; Allen King, chief executive officer and president of Universal Corp. - the holding company for Universal's North American operations in Richmond; and Keith Brewer, president of Universal Leaf North America U.S. Inc.

"There were some invitations sent out to people involved in the project directly, friends of the corporation and our customers. We're just expecting a big crowd out there."

Universal invested $100 million in its Nash County plant and will employ between 1,000 and 1,100 people.

"We started construction on that land (formerly the Isaac Lamm property)," Haymore said. "Here we are two years later opening the plant for business. In the grand scheme of things, it's been a relatively short period of time - but time sure did go by fast."

The Universal facility was built on a 994-acre site on the west side of N.C. 58, north of Boddie Mill Pond Road between Nashville and Castalia. Parking lots, offices and a 1.3 million-square-foot processing plant will cover about 125 to 130 acres of land.