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

DATE: THURSDAY, May 11, 1995                   TAG: 9505110107
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: BUSINESS   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

BATH COUNTY'S BACOVA TO BUILD IN ALLEGHANY COUNTY, HIRE 100

Bacova, which makes mailboxes, rugs and other items, will hire 100 employees for the new plant at an average hourly wage for production workers of $6.50 and a maximum production wage of $10. It will move 200 other workers from existing plants in Bath County, which will reduce production or close.

Local, state and federal governments will spend $1.89 million to bring Bacova to the Alleghany Highlands region, which has lost jobs to cutbacks by onetime major local employers such as Richmond-based CSX Corp. and Roanoke-based Acadia Corp.

Bacova will consolidate its operations largely in the new plant, by shifting 130 employees there from its main Bath County plant, which will retain a 35-person crew. It also will move 70 people from its Millboro plant, which will shut down until the company finds some use for the property, said President Benjamin Johns Jr.

Bacova's proposed $7.2 million plant in the Alleghany Regional Commerce Center could have a work force of 300 next year and 500 in about five years, company officials said. A groundbreaking is scheduled May 23.

"The support we have received here made this an easy decision," said Chief Executive Officer Pat Haynes.

The 30-year-old Bacova hopes to boost sales from a projected $50 million this year to $100 million within five years.

Bacova isn't expanding in its home county of Bath because the adjacent Alleghany County area offered a larger pool of available workers and is situated next to Interstate 64, Johns said.

Gov. George Allen, who was in Clifton Forge for the announcement, said Alleghany County beat sites in Georgia and Tennessee for the new plant.

Johns said Burlington's extensive financial resources made the expansion easier for Bacova, but his company could have expanded on its own, though at some financial risk.

Despite having the backing of a conglomerate with more than $2 billion in annual sales, Bacova received 50 free acres of industrial-park land, valued at $750,000, on which to build the plant. The land was an incentive from the Alleghany Highlands Economic Development Authority, a tax-supported group based in Covington, said Glynn Loope, its executive director.

The state Department of Transportation is contributing $450,000 for a road and Allen issued $350,000 for other infrastructure from his office's Opportunity Fund, Loope said. Opportunity Fund dollars are a grant to the community and must be matched by local governments.

The state also has promised Bacova worker training worth $240,000 at no charge, while Alleghany County has committed $100,000 to road work, Loope said.

Local, state and federal government agencies have committed an additional $2.2 million toward the establishment of the Alleghany Regional Commerce Center - for a bridge over the Jackson River and water and sewer system improvements. These improvements would have occurred with or without the Bacova project, Loope said.