FAIRHOPE, Alabama—Less than five months after an aerospace engine repair company closed its Fairhope facility, a company with former Fokker AIRINC managers plans to move into the same business space near the city’s airport, offering the possibility of hiring back some of the staff who lost their jobs in October.

Aero-Mark LLC ‘s local management team announced Wednesday at a Fairhope Economic and Industrial Development Board meeting that the California-based company plans to start business at the Fairhope location in January, pending approval of its Federal Aviation Authority repair station license.

“The Fokker folks who lost their jobs will have the first right of refusal,” Mike Jones, the company’s director of sales, said at the meeting.

Chris Solomon, director of operations, and Johnnie Miller, director of human resources, also attended the meeting on behalf of Aero-Mark.

Josh Thornton, vice president of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance, who presented the company’s request for tax abatements Wednesday, said yesterday that the company will start with 10 employees and have 25 in place the first year, growing to 40 the following year and up to about 60 in the next few years.

“The annual salaries would be between $40,000 and $50,000,” he said.

Fokker AIRINC employed over 70 highly skilled employees when it closed its Fairhope facility, according to a prepared statement by Aero-Mark.

“(Aero-Mark) will begin with operations in manufacturing, assembly and repair of military aerospace aircraft systems and parts,” the company stated. “(The business) will benefit from the offloading of manufacturing from other operations within the Aero-Mark group of companies.”

The Fairhope board voted Wednesday to grant the company more than $250,000 in local tax incentives, waiving 10 years of non-school property taxes estimated at $173,664 and a one-time abatement of sales tax on initial construction costs estimated at $82,853.

Brad Caban, former general manager of Fokker AIRINC, is chief operating officer of Aero-Mark and will oversee operations at the 26,000-square-foot facility, according to the company.

“This will give the people who lost their jobs a chance to get them back,” Thornton said. “It will be an important boost to the local economy.”