Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 30, 1993 TAG: 9305300055
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. LENGTH: Long
\ In 1989, economic developers in this city bought an option on 115 acres near Interstate 40 in hopes of attracting a $1 billion computer chip consortium.
That deal fell through, but the leaders of Winston-Salem Business Inc. decided to buy the land outright for $750,000 and prepare it for development even though they had no industrial prospects.
"It's one of the best decisions we've ever made," said James Lockery Jr., director of economic development for the organization, whose sole purpose is to bring industry to Winston-Salem.
Today, the park - known as Centre 311 - is nearly full and starting to expand.
It is home to The Cluett Corp., a manufacturer of silk flowers that has about 100 workers, and Lee Jeans, which has nearly 600 workers in its washing and finishing plant.
In March, Siecor Corp. announced it would open a $30 million, 200,000- square-foot factory in Centre 311 that will make fiber-optic cable. The factory will employ 200 people by June 1994 and about 500 when it expands in a couple of years.
The good news for Winston-Salem meant anguish for New River Valley officials in Virginia.
Don Moore, executive director of economic development for Montgomery County, had been elated that his county was among Siecor's final four sites, but he was devastated when the project went to Winston-Salem.
Now that the deal is dead, Montgomery County's Board of Supervisors faces the same issue Winston-Salem dealt with in 1989: Should it purchase the land it proposed for Siecor and develop an industrial site, or should it wait and risk losing one of the few sites suitable for industrial development?
Economic developers say it's imperative that the Board of Supervisors think about the county's economic future and come up with the money to buy and develop the 155-acre Falling Branch site just off Interstate 81.
The economic development commission recently completed a community improvement plan aimed at attracting business to Montgomery County. One of its priorities is developing new industrial sites.
But without the board's support and money, the commission's hands are tied as to how much it can do.
"Our leadership has to realize that this is a competitive world," said Jack Lewis, chairman of the Montgomery Regional Economic Development Commission.
Several supervisors agreed that the site would be great for industrial development, but said the tough part would be finding the money to buy and prepare it.
The Board of Supervisors and the county's Economic Development Commission worked well together on the Siecor project, but their relationship has been strained in the past.
In a budget work session earlier this year, a couple of supervisors questioned the commission's effectiveness in its goal of creating jobs.
There also was tension last year when the commission developed a new county logo designed to promote economic development that it thought would be adopted by all county departments. The supervisors adopted a resolution endorsing the new logo last spring, but reversed itself a week later. They decided to continue using the county seal in departments other than economic development.
Members of the economic development commission said they were trying to move away from the historical aspects of the county seal and promote Montgomery County as a progressive community. The slogan on the new logo reads, "Montgomery County, Virginia - Naturally Good for Business."
"A new company moving to the area doesn't give diddly about the county seal," Howard Price, a former member of the economic development commission, said earlier this year. "I was dismayed by the attitude of the board."
\ For Robert Leak Jr., president of Winston-Salem Business Inc., the decision to buy the property near I-40 was simple. His philosophy: "If you own the land, you can control the land. If you are just marketing it with an option to buy, then the owners can change their minds."
No one knows that better than Franklyn Moreno, director of the New River Valley Economic Development Alliance.
More than once, Moreno said, he's been put in an awkward situation when a landowner has jacked up the price of a potential industrial site after realizing a company wanted to build there.
There are now no publicly owned sites ready for industrial development in Montgomery County. The Christiansburg Industrial Park is full and the small amount of land available in Blacksburg's industrial park isn't ready for development.
Montgomery County's option to buy the Falling Branch site expires in July, so the board doesn't have long to make a decision.
"This is a very critical juncture for us," Moore said. "It's a piece of the puzzle that has to be put in place or everything else we've worked for is gone."
In early 1991, the county received a $25,000 Rural Economic Development Grant from the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development for environmental analyses and soil borings. That money will be wasted if Montgomery County fails to purchase the site, Lewis said.
"It's like building a highway and stopping a couple of miles short of your destination," he said.
It will cost $2.5 million to $3 million to buy the Falling Branch site and prepare it for development, Moore estimates. About $850,000 would go toward buying the land, and the rest of the money would pay for water and sewer and minor improvements to the site's access road.
"We absolutely have to move forward," Lewis said. "We can't wait around five years because I don't know if there will be any land available."
Most of the county's terrain is hilly and unsuitable for development, said Tom Johnson, an agricultural economics professor at Virginia Tech and a member of the Montgomery Regional Economic Development Commission.
Many suitable sites are being used for residential developments, he said.
"We need to re-examine our priorities on how land is used in this county," Moore said.
Ira Long, chairman of the Board of Supervisors, declined to discuss the Falling Branch site, but several other supervisors agreed that the property is a great site for industry.
The problem, they say, is finding the money to complete the industrial park.
"It's a good idea," Supervisor Larry Linkous said. "It's just a matter of economics for the county."
Linkous said the county needs to see how much financial help is available from state and federal agencies.
That's a Catch-22 because many grants that could be used to help pay for water and sewer lines and road improvements can only be applied for after the county owns the land or after an industry commits to build on the site, Moore said.
"If we don't invest now, the situation is only going to get worse," Johnson said. "It's all about building that nest egg."
Henry Jablonski, a member of the Board of Supervisors and the economic development commission, said he believes the board realizes the importance of the Falling Branch site.
"There is a great deal of interest in the site," he said. "The board realizes there is a problem with topography in the county."
\ It's still not exactly clear why Siecor picked Winston-Salem over Montgomery County or the other two finalists, High Point, N.C., and Greensboro, N.C.
One thing does seem certain, though: Montgomery County would have had a better chance at landing Siecor if the Falling Branch site - like Centre 311 - had been publicly owned and ready for development.
Last fall, Siecor hired Donald Moss, president of Moss-Marlow Building Co. in Hickory, N.C., to evaluate sites in Virginia and North Carolina based on visibility, access, sewer and water and grading.
In September, Moss and a team from Siecor visited the Falling Branch site that Montgomery County has optioned from Dale Teel.
In an interview this month, Moss said he was impressed with the effort Montgomery County made to accommodate Siecor. However, he said the Falling Branch site was at a disadvantage because it wasn't immediately ready for development.
Right now, the site is a big field. There is no water or sewer and the gravel access road is narrow.
"I realize the people in Montgomery County said they would get these things done, but they weren't done then," Moss said.
The Montgomery County site was also hurt because considerable grading needs to be done before construction can start. Because of that, the site didn't suit Siecor's rapid schedule. The company was to begin construction of its 200,000-square-feet facility this month in Winston-Salem.
Moss said the Falling Branch site was also hurt because its access is limited, even though the site is visible from Interstate 81. Visitors to the site must take Exit 118 and then travel U.S. 460 several miles before turning onto Falling Branch Road.
The key, Moss said, is figuring out how much a community is willing to spend to attract an industry.
\ Montgomery County and state officials didn't cut corners in trying to bring Siecor to the New River Valley.
The county and state teamed up to offer Siecor an incentive package worth about $1.5 million - the most aggressive package the county has ever offered an industry, Lewis said.
The county promised Siecor up to 118 acres of free land - worth $708,000 - as well as some site preparation, access roads and the extension of water and sewer lines.
Many of the site improvements would have been financed through a $588,000 grant from the Governor's Opportunity Fund that was approved by Gov. Douglas Wilder. The state also agreed to provide more than $100,000 in on-the-job training.
The package was worth as much, if not more, than Winston-Salem's. Winston Salem Business promised Siecor 60 acres, $200,000 to build a culvert over a creek, $500,000 worth of grading and $100,000 in on-the-job training.
In the end, it appears a power line that splits the Falling Branch site may have tripped up Montgomery County officials trying to recruit Siecor.
After a January board meeting, Siecor officials decided they wanted a site big enough to accommodate two 400,000-square-foot factories so the company could expand.
The 115-acre Falling Branch site was large enough, but there was no way to situate two buildings on the property without building under the power line.
That was something Siecor officials didn't want to do, Moore said.
After Montgomery County was eliminated from consideration, economic officials from Roanoke contacted Siecor about moving into the former Gardner-Denver facility.
"We got absolutely no interest at all," said Phillip Sparks, acting chief of economic development for Roanoke.
Even though they lost the project, Moore and his staff want to use the experience to help them reel in the next big fish that comes along.
"Right now, prospect activity is the slowest it's been in a while," he said. "But that can change overnight, and we have to be ready."
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