THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 27, 1995 TAG: 9505270388
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines
Newport News officials said Thursday that a Japanese manufacturer, which they declined to identify, is considering investing about $100 million to build an electronic components plant that would employ more than 600.
Newport News is one of two locations that has made the final cut in the company's site selection process, city officials said.
Paul Miller, the city's planning and development director, said the company would either buy or lease about 38 acres of the 140 acres off Jefferson Avenue that the city bought in April for an industrial park.
The city paid $4 million for the property and hopes to buy 12 acres next to the park to lease to the company. The historic Lee's Hall mansion sits on that land, and Miller said the company wants to use the home as a bed-and-breakfast facility for visiting executives.
The competing site is in a state south of Virginia, officials said, but they wouldn't say where. A decision is expected within 30 to 60 days.
Miller said more than six prospects have toured the site since the city obtained a sales agreement from the Carleton family late last year, and at least two other companies have expressed interest in using the historic mansion for executive visitors.
``The property has some nice attributes,'' Miller said. ``It's on I-64, it's near an interchange, it has rail service.''
Newport News already is home to one large Japanese company, Canon Virginia Inc., which employs about 1,200 workers at its Oyster Point facility. Canon Virginia estimates it has invested about $1.5 billion in the United States, much of that on the Peninsula, since it arrived in Newport News in 1986.
As with Canon, Miller said Newport News will offer incentives to the electronics manufacturer to entice it to move to the Carleton Farm park. He said those incentives include a reduction in the price of the land, although he wouldn't comment on what the reduced price would be for competitive reasons. by CNB