Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 23, 1993 TAG: 9302230264
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: RICK LINDQUIST CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: DUBLIN LENGTH: Medium
DUBLIN TO BUY PART OF FACILITY FOR INDUSTRY
Town Council has unanimously agreed to buy a portion of the former Burlington Industries facilities, located just outside town limits, for use as an industrial park.Dublin will finance the $650,000 purchase through a $700,000 bond issue.
Council's action at a special meeting Monday followed nearly three years of talks between Burlington Industries and the town. The property will be transferred to the Dublin Industrial Development Authority, which was created last year.
The acquisition gives the town both a real and a financial foothold within a section of Pulaski County it would like to annex. Included within the 101 acres, 32 of them fronting Interstate 81, are 10 shell buildings of 10,000 square feet each that make up the former Burlington terminal facilities. The town wants to market the buildings to small manufacturers.
Town Administrator Gary Elander said the six tenants already at the site, including a Burlington Industries warehouse operation, will generate $107,000 in net annual income. He said the town will clear $30,000 a year after paying debt service.
The site also includes some residential property and five house lots in the Staff Village area, which the town plans to sell.
During a public hearing on the bond issue, several community leaders spoke in favor of the plan, citing prospects of new jobs for a county already suffering from 10-percent-plus unemployment.
New River Community College President Ed Barnes told council members that his school "stands ready to cooperate fully with you in this venture."
Magnox Corp. President Hiawatha Niceley called the action "imperative to the well-being of the town of Dublin."
Taylor Cole of the New River Valley Economic Alliance said a lot of industries now are looking for smaller buildings of the type the plant has to offer.
"This fits right in with what's been happening in the market," he said, calling the acquisition "a grand step" in addressing unemployment in the region.
Others, including Jim Stewart, executive director of the Virginia Council for Innovative Technology; Dublin Planning Commission Chairwoman Patsy Akers; and Planning Commission member Dallas Cox, sounded similar drumbeats. "The future lies in the growth of small businesses," Stewart said.