Tiffany & Co. on Tuesday opened its Lexington manufacturing plant, which will produce Tiffany's classic six-prong engagement ring and several other fine jewelry pieces.

The 25,000-square-foot plant is in an understated building on four acres in Blue Grass Business Park on Innovation Drive near Georgetown Road in northern Fayette County.

Mayor Jim Gray's welcome was anything but understated as he greeted Tiffany officials, calling the opening "a super-duper day."

The Lexington facility is Tiffany's first manufacturing plant outside the Northeast. It will employ 125 people.

The city's quality of life was one of the main reasons the company — known around the world for high-quality jewelry in iconic blue boxes — chose Lexington for its expansion, said Tiffany chief executive Michael Ko walski.

The company was presented with a choice of 50 locations by a Memphis site-selection firm. Once the company decided that the manufacturing would be kept in the United States, the list was quickly reduced to five locations, said John Petterson, senior vice president of operations and manufacturing.

Read the complete story at kentucky.com