ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606170064
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON
Virginia's coalfield communities continued their climb out of economic stagnation Friday, with word that aluminum products heavyweight Reynolds Metals Co. will build wheels in Russell County.
Richmond-based Reynolds said it will construct a $34 million factory and hire 125 people initially.
Smarting from a huge drop in mining payrolls in the early 1980s, the region set lures for the telecommunication industry and makers of automotive parts and forest products. Reynolds is the latest company to take the bait.
Crews will break dirt in several weeks on a 55,000-square-foot facility in Cumberland Plateau Regional Industrial Park near Lebanon. Production is scheduled to start early next year.
Reynolds spokesman Joseph Vagi declined to say how much the new jobs will pay. He also refused to say whether the company was promised development incentives, which are taxpayer-funded subsidies often provided in Virginia to reduce a company's cost to expand or open a new plant.
"That's sort of considered private information," Vagi said.
A press release from Gov. George Allen's office said state worker-training experts will help Reynolds develop an employee training plan.
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