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

DATE: FRIDAY, September 8, 1995                   TAG: 9509080085
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: GOOCHLAND                                 LENGTH: Medium

MOTOROLA FIRM ON LAND DECISION

State and local officials had nervously awaited a final decision by the company, which announced its plans in April but in August extended its optionfor 60 days.

``That got a lot of us antsy,'' said Gov. George Allen, whose first big economic development project bombed last year when the Walt Disney Co. abandoned plans to build a theme park in Northern Virginia.

Allen said he had decided ``there would be no celebration'' until the Motorola deal was firm.

Motorola had been considering the West Creek office park site about 20 miles west of Richmond for more than a year.

``The reason we were so deliberate is that it was only the third time we have picked an anchor site,'' said Tommy George, president of the Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector.

The Schaumburg, Ill.-based company's other major sites are in Phoenix and Austin, Texas.

Before settling on the Goochland site, the company considered a 60-acre tract in Roanoke's Centre for Industry and Technology, later rejecting it as too small for expansion. The Roanoke Valley could not provide Motorola with a large enough tract with an ample water supply, development officials have said.

The $3 billion complex will cover ``several million square feet of floor space'' and employ up to 5,000 within 10 years, George said. Construction should begin by the end of the year and production should start in 1998, he said.

George said Motorola needs the facility because of the booming semiconductor industry, which he said doubles in size about every five years. Semiconductors are fingernail-size electronic circuits used in personal computers, pagers, cellular phones and other electronic products.

The Goochland facility will manufacture Motorola's PowerPC microprocessors, which are used in hand-held, desktop and super computers

Allen said the Motorola plant will be one of the most important economic development projects in Virginia's history.

``Fifty years, 100 years from today, this decision by Motorola will be recognized as having a monumental historic impact on the Richmond region and the entire commonwealth of Virginia,'' Allen said.

Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector had sales last year of $6.9 billion. Motorola Inc. posted sales of $22.2 billion.