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

DATE: TUESDAY, December 20, 1994                   TAG: 9412200072
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: STEPHEN FOSTER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FLOYD                                  LENGTH: Medium

SHELL BUILDING'S DONE; NOW FLOYD COUNTY SEEKS TENANT|

Specifications: 30,000 square feet of floor space, 155 parking spaces, a 4.3-acre lot, water and sewer available. Move in as soon as possible. For further information, call Floyd County Administrator Randy Arno.

That's the advertisement emanating from the county's industrial park these days, after the county formally declared its first shell building ready for occupancy Monday afternoon.

Inside the cavernous blue building, with a gravel floor covered with plastic and a space heater in one far corner, the Board of Supervisors' vice chairman, Arno and others heaped thanks upon Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, for his help in getting the building built.

Last year, Boucher was able to get the Farmers Home Administration to designate $500,000 toward the building. County taxpayers are footing the remainder of the $535,000 total bill.

"I think we all owe you our deep sense of gratitude," Arno told Boucher, "and we will be back."

Like many locales, the county has taken a forward-thinking approach to economic development in deciding to construct the building first and advertise for tenants afterward.

"Shell buildings are a proven strategy for economic development," Boucher said. "It works."

Once the building is sold, the money received will be placed in a revolving economic development fund to be used again, and Boucher said he hoped to be back in six to eight months to attend a ground-breaking ceremony like the one held in May for this building.

While no company is ready to move in tomorrow, the county is optimistic. During the building's construction, Arno said three companies came to look; at least two are still considered "prospects." One of those companies looked at sites in Floyd, Pulaski and Montgomery counties - but only sites where buildings would already exist if it decided to locate there.

"That's where a shell building ... puts us ahead of the game," said Roger Lewis, chairman of the Floyd County Industrial Development Authority.

The county has its sights set on a high tech or high employment company. Said Arno: "We want what everybody wants, but we've got a product now."