The Shops of Grand River will bring new jobs to the area and to help fill the need of employers and prospective employees a job fair has been scheduled.

According to officials with Daniel Corporation, the developers behind Grand River, a job fair will be held Friday, September 17, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., at the Cahaba Grand Conference Center on Highway 280.

Officials said 38 retailers are already on board for the job fair and that others are expected to participate. These retailers will be hiring for full-time, part-time and seasonal positions.

Doug Neil, vice-president of Daniel Corporation, said there will be an estimated 650 jobs—ranging from managers and assistant managers to sales associates and security personnel—to be filled. He added that the estimated payroll for the The Shops of Grand River to be around $13 million annually.

Leeds Mayor Eric Patterson said the city is fortunate to be landing the jobs associated with Grand River.

“I’m very excited that in this economic climate there is something with this much excitement around it right here in Leeds,” Patterson said. “We also anticipate that this will serve as a catalyst for even more growth, especially at Exit 140. I think the fact that we have Bass Pro Shops, Barber Motorsports, and now Grand River at the same exit Leeds has one of the premiere destination sites in Alabama and the region.”

In addition to announcing the job fair dates, Daniel Corporation also said it was teaming up with the Bruno Event Team in planning the grand opening event for Grand River. The Bruno Event Team plans many of the metro area’s largest events, including the Region’s Charity Classic, part of the Senior PGA Tour, the Magic City Classic, and the Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park. In all, the Bruno Event Team manages over 30 events annually.

“The Bruno Event Team is proud of its partnership with Daniel Corporation on this project,” said Gene Hallman, president and CEO of the Bruno Event Team. “We will treat this like any of our other events.”

The Bruno Event Team will be working in promoting the grand opening of Grand River as well as organizing the logistics of the four-day grand opening event October 28-31. Part of the promotion of the opening weekend, according to Hallman, will be a festive day on Sunday, October 31, in celebration of Halloween.

The opening weekend will is shared with other regional tourist attractions, such as a major NASCAR event at Talladega and the Magic City Classic, the most popular historical black university football game in the nation.

“We are looking forward to introducing The Shops of Grand River to the community,” Neil said. “We anticipate a very, very busy holiday shopping season.”

For those involved in the development of Grand River, the opening of the fashion outlet center is the culmination of a vision and years of planning.

“Three years ago, we envisioned a development that would bring retail, recreation, residential, office, and commercial space to the eastern area, briding the gap between I-459 and the growht of Highway 280. A part of that vision is about to come to fruition,” Neil said.

The Shops of Grand River is expected to provide an economic boon to the region and is expected to generate more than $460 million in incremental revenues for state, county, and local governments over the next 30 years. The project is considered the first phase of the larger Grand River vision, which provides for a 6,500-acre master-planned mixed-use community with a diverse mix of retail, residential, office, commercial, green spaces and parks.

Neil said the Shops of Grand River could bring about $32 million to the Leeds City School System over the next 30 years.

Daniel, along with USS Real Estate, has invested over $127 million into Grand River with the outlet center.

The shops are expected to  add to the number of visitors stopping at Exit 140 off of I-20. An estimated 1 million people already visit the intersection to shop at Bass Pro Shops and to attend events at Barber Motorsports Park.

“We believe the partnership with (the Bruno Event Team)— with their logistic and planning management— will help ensure that visitors will have an experience that will make them want to come back,” Neil said.