While the final price tag could actually go higher, the South Carolina Department of Commerce last week confirmed Gastonia, N.C.-based Parkdale Mills will invest $45 million in new equipment and technology at the former Wellstone Mills plant on Wilcox Avenue.

Earlier this year, Parkdale Mills announced it was entering into a lease/purchase agreement with Wellstone Mills to take over operations of the Gaffney plant, as well as three other Wellstone plants in Georgia.

The announcement meant 145 local jobs were being saved, as well as about 450 overall at all four plants.

At the time of the original announcement, a Parkdale Mills official had confirmed the company’s intent to invest as much as $30 million in converting the Gaffney yarn manufacturing plant into a stateof the-art facility, but the Department of Commerce confirmed the actual investment will be much higher.

While the Department of Commerce said the investment would be $45 million, local officials have been working on inducement agreements between Parkdale Mills and local government which indicated the final investment could be as high as $55 million.

Whatever the case, officials see Parkdale’s investment in Gaffney as a win-win for the growing company, for local workers, for Cherokee County, and for South Carolina.

“For our new operations, we were looking for a building that would suit our current needs and allow us room to grow,” Lee Thomas, a Parkdale Mills vice president, said in a prepared release. “We found that flexibility in the former Wellstone building.

“Cherokee County not only offered us an excellent building but also has a positive business climate,” Thomas continued. “We look forward to making our facility operational there in the coming months. We appreciate all the support we have received from state and local officials in making this plan a reality.”

Parkdale Mills is the world’s biggest independent cotton yarn producer.

It operates 24 plants in the United States and has business lines in Mexico, Honduras and the Dominican Republic.