By Ryan Randazzo and Gary Nelson | The Arizona Republic
Mesa has a potential deal to land a manufacturing company and fill the massive vacancy that Tempe-based First Solar Inc. never fully occupied, but officials can’t disclose who could buy the 1.3 million-square-foot space.
First Solar said in a regulatory filing Wednesday that it is selling its building for about $100 million, and that the deal should close in the next two months.
The 85 or so employees there will move back to First Solar’s Tempe headquarters, joining nearly 200 in that building, spokesman Steve Krum said.
First Solar has agreed to keep the buyer confidential until the deal for the property at Signal Butte and Elliot roads closes. City officials also have signed confidentiality agreements, City Manager Chris Brady said.
First Solar announced the factory in 2011 and soon began construction on the $300 million project, which was to employ 600 workers and eventually expand to as many as 5,000. But by the time the project was finished last year, the company was closing some of its factories around the world and scaling back expansion plans.
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