SOUTH POINT — A $330,000 federal grant is paving the way for the expansion of a Utah-based company to South Point, bringing with it 50 new jobs.

On Monday the county received a Community Development Block Grant that will go toward building infrastructure for Intermountain Electronics, headquartered in Price, Utah. The company, started in 1985, designs and manufactures electrical equipment for mining operations, refineries and utilities.

Through the CBDG funding and a $200,000 grant from the Ohio Department of Transportation, the company is expected to move part of its operation to The Point industrial park in South Point.

“It has all come true,” Bill Dingus, director of the Lawrence Economic Development Corp., said. “It was a CDBG grant in order to get the roadways and all the infrastructure to go into the new building. We have proposed a lease to them and are waiting for them to return the lease.”

When that happens construction on the half-million dollar building is expected to start shortly.

“There will be 50 manufacturing jobs and in turn they will build product and ship it all over the world,” Dingus said.

Eighteen of those jobs must be for low-to-moderate-income workers to meet the terms of the grant.

J&H Erectors of Portsmouth has already won the bid on constructing the 60,000-square foot building, which should take about six months for completion.

The company has been offered a lease-purchase arrangement for the building over a 10-to-15 year period.

“(Then) they will have ownership,” Dingus said. “It is a very good tax incentive. They are coming to The Point because it is the right thing to do.”