ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, May 9, 1996 TAG: 9605090058
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BEDFORD
SOURCE: By RICHARD FOSTER STAFF WRITER
A Bedford County company that designs and manufactures components for wireless communication devices has agreed to buy a 60,000-square-foot shell building at the county's industrial park in Forest this week.
Grayson Electronics Co., a subsidiary of the Allen Telecom Group of Cleveland, will buy the building and 6 acres for $740,000. Sellers are the Bedford County Industrial Development Corp. and the Lynchburg Area Development Corp., both private nonprofit economic-development corporations, and the Bedford County Industrial Authority.
The company also has an option to buy 13 more acres for $85,000 by the beginning of next year. The entire package would cost Grayson $825,000 - $150,000 less than the county's original asking price.
Grayson currently is in the Greenstone Industrial Park in Forest. According to its president, Terry Garner, the move will provide expansion, meaning about 30 new jobs this year.
Bedford County's Department of Economic Development and the Region 2000 economic development partnership in Lynchburg have been marketing the 18-month-old shell building in the county's Lake Vista Corporate Centre since last fall.
County Administrator Bill Rolfe wouldn't divulge how much money went into the shell building since no taxpayer funds were used to build it, but he did say that the nonprofit corporations made a profit on the sale. That money will be used for future economic development projects, such as adding a sewer line to the industrial site, Rolfe said.
Based on a percentage of the amount put into the project, the Bedford corporation stands to receive $165,800 from the sale, the Lynchburg corporation will get $445,500, and the Bedford authority, which purchased the land for the building, will receive $123,000.
The shell building will be occupied by Grayson and its sister company, Allen Telecom Systems. The companies, which employ about 150 people, design switching systems and other components used in base stations for cellular telephones and personal communication devices such as pagers.
By the end of the year, Grayson plans to add a second floor to the shell building to house its design engineers. Manufacturing will be on the ground floor.
Construction of a state-funded $315,000 access road in the industrial park should be completed at about the same time, according to Rolfe.
The county still has 100 acres of land to develop in the park.
Landmark News Service contributed to this story.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB