ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 1996 TAG: 9605140033
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
Botetourt County's Board of Supervisors is expected to approve an incentive package today that would clear the way for the third major industry in six weeks to announce it will locate in the county.
The company has not been named but may be Dynax Corp., a Japanese automotive parts manufacturer that first looked at a site in Roanoke County's Valley TechPark, which soon will be occupied by R.R. Donnelley & Sons Co., a Chicago-based printing company. Donnelley is scheduled to begin construction June 1 on the $63 million first phase of its printing and book manufacturing plant.
Roanoke County didn't have space for both Donnelley and Dynax, said Brian Duncan, assistant director for economic development in Roanoke County. Roanoke County Administrator Elmer Hodge urged Dynax to check sites in Botetourt County, Duncan said.
Dynax was eyeing an 8-to 10-acre slice of the parcel that now belongs to Donnelley, Duncan said. Roanoke County gave Donnelley the remaining 90 acres of Valley TechPark.
Dynax's "investment was not as substantial," Duncan said. He said he couldn't remember the number of jobs the 23-year-old Hokkaido, Japan-based company was talking about, but it was fewer than the printer. Donnelley plans ultimately to build a $102 million plant and initially employ 175 and another 137 by 1999.
Duncan would not confirm or deny that Dynax actually chose Botetourt for its new plant.
As is usually the case with new industry, Botetourt County officials declined to comment until after an official announcement. That word is to come at 10 a.m. today in the board of supervisor's meeting room in the Old District Courthouse in Fincastle.
Such announcements are beginning to lose their novelty in Botetourt, where they have come every few weeks of late.
Six weeks ago, the county announced that Pennsylvania-based Meadville Forging Co. would build a $35 million automotive parts plant in Buchanan.
Last Wednesday, word came that York International Corp., a manufacturer of air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment, purchased a shell industrial building in the county's EastPark Commerce Center. York is expected to invest $12 million to $15 million in a air-compressor plant and employ up to 160 workers.
EastPark, about 16 acres of which is still unoccupied, is the probable location of the new industry to be announced today.
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