ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100057
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KATHY LOAN STAFF WRITER
One of the main reasons Montgomery County lost a book-printing company to a Roanoke County industrial park last year was that Roanoke had a developed site with a building pad ready to go.
Now with millions on the way to help Montgomery County ready Falling Branch Industrial Park, economic development leaders hope tenants will be clamoring to move into the park by this time next year.
On Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Rick Boucher, D-Abingdon, announced $4.58 million in federal loans and loan guarantees that will pay for the park's purchase and for preparing sites for new plants. The money also will be used to construct an access road, to grade the site and cover other site development costs.
Boucher joined county and Christiansburg officials under a tent on the industrial park property to announce the funding.
Christiansburg has agreed to provide water and sewer to the industrial park.
The Rural Development Agency of the Department of Agriculture is lending the county's Industrial Development Authority $1 million and will guarantee the remaining dollars in loans from the National Bank of Blacksburg and the First National Bank of Christiansburg.
Falling Branch, which has 165 acres and is near Interstate 81, will have 12 sites ranging from five acres to 20 acres in size.
Henry Jablonski, chairman of the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors, said state marketing experts have repeatedly said that the industrial park "has the potential of becoming a premier site for new business once site development has been completed."
A study by the Montgomery Regional Economic Development Commission showed the park, when fully occupied, could provide as many as 1,250 jobs and 1,000 more indirect jobs in the valley.
"In addition to creating additional jobs for the citizens of our community, the industrial park will provide a substantial increase in the county's tax base," Jablonski said.
David Shanks, chairman of the county's Industrial Development Authority, said the road to getting the necessary funding to develop the park had been a long one.
The IDA applied for the loan in 1994, then put the application on hold until Christiansburg and the county reached the water and sewer agreement. Then the loan fell victim to the federal budget impasse. When that was resolved, the county learned that its request exceeded the entire federal loan allotment for the state. In the end, the county received $1 million in federal funds, with Rural Development guaranteeing 80 percent of the $3.5 million in bank loans. The county will repay the loans with money earned from selling the sites or through other means.
Shanks said the money will be used for grading, storm water management, clearing, removal of fences and buildings, relocating a cemetery and preparing sites.
"Once these items have been completed, Falling Branch Industrial Park will be a top-notch competitor for the high-investment companies that have considered our area previously, and gone on, I might add," Shanks said.
Don Moore, the county's economic development director, said he hopes barns and other structures on the premises could be demolished by the end of the year. That would mean an invitation to bid for the construction projects could go out early next year.
"One of the things prospects want to see is grading, so there's a pad they can start building" on, Moore said.
That was one of the reasons Roanoke County was successful in courting R.R. Donnelley last year for its Valley TechPark.
Donnelley gave Montgomery a serious look but was dissuaded by the lack of infrastructure at Falling Branch.
An I-81 interchange near the intersection of Falling Branch Road is scheduled to be completed in 1999.
LENGTH: Medium: 73 linesby CNB