By CHARLES OWENS
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
Sat, May 17 2008
—
GRUNDY, Va. — The Virginia Coalfield Economic Development Authority closed Wednesday on a $5.7 million grant that will help with the creation of hundreds of new jobs for Southwest Virginia.
The grant award to the Buchanan County Industrial Development Authority will be used for the phase II development of the Lover’s Gap/Poplar Gap Regional Industrial Park, VCEDA Executive Director Jonathan Belcher said.
Belcher said a company proposing a major inbound information support center has agreed to locate into the industrial park, and will be the first tenant at the site.
“They announced they will be locating a major inbound information support center on this development that will employ hundreds and hundreds of workers,” Belcher said. “There will be a formal groundbreaking for that project in the coming days.”
Belcher said the company will be temporarily located at the Information Park in the Slate Creek section of Buchanan County.
“The company was interested in having a temporary location where they could begin hiring workers,” Belcher said. “We expect them to begin operations there by the end of the year if not sooner. When the permanent site is finished in 2008, they will be moving into the Lover’s Gap/Poplar Gap park. They will be going into phase one of the development area.”
Belcher said the $5.7 million grant is the singe largest funding award in the history of VCEDA.
“We feel this is a very important project for Buchanan County and the region,” Belcher said. “These funds are going toward the site development costs of preparing another 690 acres, and that’s in addition to the 485 acres that have already been developed in phase one.”
Belcher said Buchanan County is subsequently going from a county with the least amount of marketable property in the Commonwealth to an area with one of the largest amount of marketable property.
“Counting our investment in phase one, this brings our total commitment to over $10 million on this project,” Belcher said. “We believe it is definitely a worthwhile investment and will lead to a lot of benefits in the future to the region.”
— Contact Charles Owens at cowens@bdtonline.com
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