Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 7, 1995 TAG: 9506070061
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
J.Crew has agreed to buy 40 acres in the Lake Vista Corporate Center in the Forest section of Bedford County, Rolfe said. The selling price was reduced from $9,400 per acre to $6,500 as a financial incentive for the company to expand locally.
Rolfe said the county has the right to buy back the land at the reduced price if J.Crew doesn't build its facility within 12 months of signing a contract, which is pending. County leaders expect, however, that the company will begin construction this fall and ultimately will pay sufficient taxes to offset the county's investment.
J.Crew's existing Lynchburg operation employs about 1,000 people who receive and process orders from customers using its catalogs, said Lee Cobb, Lynchburg's economic development director.
The new center will warehouse merchandise headed to J.Crew's 62 stores, all of which are outside Virginia, the company said. It will consist of nearly four acres of interior space, approximately half the size of the catalog-goods warehouse.
"We're expanding. We have 12 stores scheduled to open sometime within the next 12 months, and we're going to need more distribution space in order to accommodate those stores," said J.Crew spokeswoman Mallory Andrews.
The existing warehouse, which opened in 1986, has been expanded twice, most recently by 80,000 square feet. The mid-Atlantic region is popular with catalog merchants because it is within quick shipping distance of most of the Eastern United States.
What the new J.Crew jobs will pay is not clear. The company has advertised warehouse openings paying an hourly wage of $5.50, Cobb said. He believes its telemarketing jobs in the catalog operation may pay slightly higher wages but said he could not be sure. The company declined to specify its wages.
J.Crew is a 12-year-old, family-owned, private company based in New York. It does not report financial results.
Andrews described the company's men's and women's clothing as "American classic" in style. The lines range from sportswear to suits. J.Crew designs its garments and contracts with manufacturers in the United States and overseas to make them.
It is owned by the Cinader family, with Arthur Cinader Sr. as chairman and his daughter, Emily Woods, as vice chairman.
by CNB