Austin’s second-largest employer is considering a plant that would employ 100 to 200 people in Albert Lea, city and company officials confirmed.

Quality Pork Processing, which slaughters hogs for Hormel, is thinking about expanding and is considering off-site fresh pork processing facilities in Albert Lea as well as Clear Lake, Iowa, and Austin, where it leases facilities at Hormel Foods Corporation’s flagship plant.

&uot;We are exploring the possibility,&uot; said Kelly Wadding, president and CEO of Quality Pork Processors, Inc. &uot;The demands that are being put on us and a lack of physical space to meet those demands necessitate that we look at off-site production.&uot;

Wadding emphasized such discussions are &uot;tentative only.&uot;

The city is looking at offering a 10-acre site in the Northaire Industrial Park, north of Minnesota Corrugated Box, according to Pam Bishop, Executive Vice President of Greater Jobs Inc. She said the facility would be about 50,000 square feet.

The facility would be a pork loin processing plant and would employ 100 workers, which would be expandable to 200, according to Albert Lea city manager Paul Sparks.

&uot;We are looking at what their needs are,&uot; Sparks said. He said the city is looking into tax-increment financing for the site. He said the infrastructure is already in place for the building.

Sparks said the city has been speaking with the company for two years, saying when the company was ready that Albert Lea would like to be considered.

&uot;We’ve had very good communications with the company,&uot; Bishop said. &uot;With our proximity to Austin we feel our possibilities are very good.&uot;

The city and Greater Jobs will come up with a package to be proposed to the city council in the near future.

Currently, QPP employs 1,100 production workers in Austin and 1,240 employees overall. It is second only to Hormel Foods Corporation as the largest employer in Austin. Both Hormel Foods and QPP are among the largest employers in the southern Minnesota and northern Iowa region of the Upper Midwest.

Already, QPP has expanded and modernized its facilities in Austin next door to the Hormel plant. According to Wadding, expanding at the Austin site is only a &uot;possibility,&uot; because of the lack of existing space.

Wadding stressed, &uot;This is all very tentative. We’re just thinking about it and exploring our options at this time.&uot; Wadding also said there is no timetable for making a decision about whether to expand.