West Jordan » With KraftMaid Cabinetry now planning to mothball its plant here on Prosperity Road just two days before Christmas, city officials may want to consider renaming the street -- perhaps to Hard Luck Boulevard.

KraftMaid, part of the Taylor, Mich.-based Masco Corp., known for its Behr paints and Delta faucets, intends to close the doors of its plant after less than three years in the state. The shutdown will idle between 300 and 500 employees.

"Whether we will be able to reopen the plant again all depends on the economy," said Kathleen Vokes, spokeswoman for Masco's Retail Cabinet Group. "Of course we're hoping the plant will be closed only for a short time."

One KraftMaid employee, Kurt Smithson, said he had been anticipating the layoffs.

"It sucks," said Smithson, who has crafted cabinetry pieces at the plant since April 2007. "I didn't think it would come right before Christmas, but I expected it to come."

Employees, Smithson said, have been uneasy since a round of layoffs six months ago and another cutback before Thanksgiving. And while he appreciates that KraftMaid is offering to pay his salary and health insurance benefits until Feb. 8, he added, "finding another job, with the economy the way it is, is going to be hard."

After KraftMaid announced in 2005 that it had selected West Jordan as the site for its new 840,000 square-foot plant that eventually could employ as many as 1,300 Utahns, a number of supporting businesses quickly moved into the state as well. They included cabinet door maker Woodcraft Industries, component manufacturer Conestoga Wood Specialties and corrugated box and foam-packaging materials provider Third Dimension.

Those companies that combined to employ about 100 people are now trying to gauge the future effects of the shutdown on their bottom lines.

"We just found out yesterday [Wednesday], like everyone else," said Sheila Krogman, spokeswoman for the St. Cloud, Minn.-based Woodcraft whose West Jordan plant now employs about 30 people. "We've started to evaluate the situation and we'll let our employees know first of all if there is going to be any impact."

Fortunately for most in Utah and West Jordan the repercussions on the state and municipal coffers from KraftMaid's decision are expected to be minimal, despite the company having played hard ball in seeking incentives for locating the plant here.

After first dangling the idea of a $100 million plant in West Jordan, KraftMaid in 2004 was offered a $2.25 million grant, at the time one of the largest cash incentives ever offered by the state. Several months later, after threatening to build its facility in another state, Utah economic development officials increased the incentive to $3.2 million in the form of a tax rebate payable over 10 years.

To date, however, KraftMaid has received just under $15,000 from the state as part of that incentive offer, said Jason Perry, executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

"This has been an industry hard hit by the nation's economic crisis," he said, indicating he is confident that KraftMaid will reopen when the market rebounds.

West Jordan spokeswoman Kim Wells said city officials are "bummed" over the looming closure. "It's not good news for our residents, the people who have jobs there."

West Jordan awarded KraftMaid an $11 million incentive to build the 840,000-square-foot facility on undeveloped land.

The city's bond for that amount is "not at risk," Wells said, pointing out KraftMaid will continue to make property-tax payments, about $1.25 million a year, that will cover the city's debt payments.

The only economic impact to the city will be the loss of jobs, said Community Development Director Tom Burdett.

"It's a good company," Burdett said. "We hope that it starts back up as soon as the economy recovers."

Reporter Lesley Mitchell contributed to this story.