The Henderson-Vance Industrial Park Board approved Wednesday afternoon to sell the shell building and 10 acres of property in the park to Linde Gas & Equipment, Inc., a leading global industrial gases and engineering company.
County Attorney Jonathan Care said this deal is better by about $300,000 than previous deals to purchase the building. Two other companies had expressed interest in the building, but both deals fell through.
Board President Tommy Hester called the meeting for 4 p.m. Wednesday, after getting the go-ahead from commissioners to sell for $135,000 three acres of land in the park to Linde in addition to the building and the seven acres it sits on. The industrial park board owns the building and the seven acres, located at 39 Commerce Dr. inside the Henderson-Vance Industrial Park near the U.S. 1 Bypass.
It took less than 10 minutes for the board to reach a unanimous vote in favor of the sale, which will total $3,135,000. Henderson Mayor Melissa Elliott made the motion, seconded by Vance County Commissioner Leo Kelly and the motion passed unanimously. Hester and Henderson Mayor Pro Tem Michael Venable, along with Elliott and Kelly, comprise the board.
Hester called it “one of the best deals ever for this community.” The company has said the plan is to finish out the building with a $25 million investment and initially hire about 30 employees before ramping up to 50 or 60 soon thereafter.
Hester told WIZS News that he had gotten endorsements from N.C. Sen. Lisa Barnes and N.C. Rep. Matthew Winslow, who fully support the project.
“We don’t need to miss this,” Hester said. And with endorsements from local legislators, Hester said it helps attract more projects to the county in the future.
The sale of the shell building and adjacent property is a win all the way around, Hester said – for the county, the city and for economic development.
One of the drawing cards to Vance County for Linde, Hester said, is the area’s commitment to invest in the community. “If you build it, they’ll come,” Hester said at the outset of the Wednesday meeting.
Linde is willing to put down $60,000 in earnest money, complete a 90-day due diligence process, with the possibility of an extra 30 days if needed. After the due diligence is completed, they’ll be able to close within 15 days.
The company did ask the county and the industrial park board to consider future zoning to ensure that any future “neighbors” would not be inconsistent with itsoperation.
The county will provide any environmental studies that are available, and the park board will pay 3 percent to the buying agent at closing.
As Hester explained, Linde will buy the building and seven acres for $3 million, then invest $25 million to finish it out. The average worker’s salary is about $60,000, so it will help Vance County’s status as a Tier 1 county. He said company officials have already stated they want to eventually expand the building from the current 57,000 square feet to 97,000 square feet.
Expanding the tax base, hiring workers and putting the shell building back on the tax books all spell progress and growth, Hester said.
And although city leaders at the time chose not to share the costs for constructing the shell building, the city will get the benefit of having the new occupant pay for water and sewer, which the city furnishes.
According to Hester, Linde’s home office is in New Jersey. This facility will be used to create a high-pressure and liquid filling facility for industrial, specialty and medical gases to serve the Research Triangle Park, as well as other markets in North Carolina and Virginia.
“They don’t have anything else on the East Coast for manufacturing,” he said.
They’re going to pay cash, and there are no incentives offered to locate here, Hester said.
Care said Linde is looking to expand and grow. “This was the property that they concentrated on,” he said, adding that the prospective buyer has done everything that they said they were going to do during the process.
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