BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A little more than a month after starting work on the steel structure, the future home of SolarCity in Buffalo is about 30 percent complete.
"We're hopeful that we'll continue to stay on track, particularly as the weather gets better here over the next few months," said SolarCity VP of Communications Jonathan Bass.
The physical building isn't the only sign of progress for SolarCity. On Friday, the company listed six Buffalo-based jobs on its website, including Human Resources Director and a Recruiting Coordinator.
"In the first phase, we'll be putting together the local recruiting team, the local human resources team and then that team will then lead the recruiting effort, hiring effort for the rest of the positions," Bass said.
Buffalo State economist Fred Floss said there are reasons to be encouraged by the jobs the company listed.
"They're bringing the job search to Western New York and that means they're probably going to be looking for people in Western New York to fill the jobs they're going to create," Floss said.
Among the other job postings, SolarCity is looking for staff engineers with Ph. D. qualifications. They're the kinds of high-profile, high-paying jobs local leaders said the company could bring to the area.
"UB and Buffalo State both have engineering and engineering technology programs," Floss said. "ECC is developing strong engineering programs so that really should be able to supply the jobs that they need."
When fully staffed, SolarCity plans to have more than 1,000 people working at the facility. Whether it will be at full staff when they plan to start manufacturing in early 2016 is unclear.
"It's hard to say," Bass said. "It just depends on how well the recruiting and hiring effort goes over the next year."