Albert Lea is being considered by a meat-industry company that wants to build a hog-slaughtering operation and corporate headquarters employing 2,000 workers, according to Mayor Jean Eaton.

&uot;The company representative has asked Albert Lea officials and community leaders to determine how well received such an operation would be in our community,&uot; Eaton wrote in the release.

The consultant said the company would look at building a 120,000-square-foot plant and headquarters. The city does not know the company’s identity, Eaton said.

Of the 2,000 jobs that might be created, 300 would be white-collar, corporate positions, according to Eaton. If the projections are accurate, the employer would be larger than Wilson & Co. was at the height of their slaughtering and processing operation.

There is, at this point, no guarantee the project will go forward, Eaton said.

Eaton called city council members with the news before announcing it publicly, said Council Member Jeff Fjelstad.

An early report from Fjelstad saying the company was looking at a site on Margaretha Avenue was incorrect, Eaton said. The company has not specified a site, she said.