GOOD NEWS! TRANSKRIT IS TO BRING HEADQUARTERS, TOO

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 2, 1993                   TAG: 9303020271
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
GOOD NEWS! TRANSKRIT IS TO BRING HEADQUARTERS, TOO
Transkrit Corp., a Brewster, N.Y., manufacturer of business forms that previously announced plans to build a factory in Roanoke, on Monday said it will move its corporate headquarters here as well.
The move brings 100 staff jobs here, in addition to 70 manufacturing jobs already promised for the new printing plant.
All 100 employees now in Brewster, N.Y. - in administration, marketing, customer service, human resources, finance, sales, art and information systems - have been offered transfers to Roanoke, the company said.
If they do not move, their jobs will be filled by people hired here, according to Jack Resneck, the company's president. Although he did not have an estimate of the number of workers likely to accept the transfer, he said he expects the company will "have a combination" of hires and transfers.
City and economic development officials hailed the move as welcome news after recent announcements of more than 3,000 layoffs by Roanoke Valley companies.
Transkrit said it plans to begin construction by June on a 90,000-square-foot building for both manufacturing and office space in the Centre for Industry and Technology. The work is to be completed within six months, according to Jay Turner, chairman of J.M. Turner and Co., the contractor.
This move "will do a lot more for Roanoke. We are looking for this kind of people who will be active in the community," said Brian Wishneff, Roanoke's director of economic development.
Cathleen Magennis, state secretary of economic development, said Transkrit will be an asset - and not just for the jobs it will create, but for the enthusiasm and commitment it has inspired in the community.
Transkrit has 900 employees at six factories and sales offices. The company announced in January it had selected Roanoke for a factory location over 25 other sites.
Its building will be larger than the present structure of Vitramon Corp., BellSouth Communication Systems and Quibell Corp., but smaller than the Orvis distribution and catalog center, all Transkrit's new neighbors in the Centre for Industry and Technology.
The first tip on Transkrit's search for a plant site came from a Roanoke man who heard of the impending move at a convention in Florida.
Norman Lagueux, son-in-law of Councilwoman Elizabeth Bowles and an employee of Dominion Forms Service, a Roanoke Valley distributor of business forms, learned that Transkrit was considering a move to Charlotte or another city in North Carolina. He suggested the company consider Roanoke.
When Lagueux returned home, he told his mother-in-law about Transkrit. She called City Manager Bob Herbert and city economic development officials began a campaign to persuade the company to move to Roanoke.
Mayor David Bowers said Wishneff and other officials did a good sales job. "They rolled out the red carpet for them," Bowers said. "We hit the jackpot."
Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick Jr., who heads the city's Economic Development Commission, said Transkrit's move will create 350 to 400 jobs because of the multiplier effect. Economic developers say that each manufacturing job generates an additional job in the community as a spinoff.
Staff writer Joel Turner contributed to this story.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB