By Ken Ripley | kripley@springhopeenterprise.com
NASHVILLE — Nash County commissioners on Monday chipped in $10,000 toward providing fiber optic internet to a new industrial park in Nashville as an “inducement” to its first tenant, a startup pharmaceutical company.
At the request of new industrial developer Andrew Hagy, the board agreed to add its share to a $10,000 Carolinas Gateway Partnership grant and $15,000 from the town of Nashville to extend the fiber optic internet service to the West Nashville Commerce Park on Cooke Road at the outskirts of town for use by new tenant Asterra Lab, out of Greenville.
The county and Nashville had been working on landing the new company since late last year, Hagy said. The project represents a $2 million investment, split between a 10,000 square foot shell building and equipment, and includes a $250,000 state commerce building reuse grant to Nashville. The park was recreated in 2013.
Asterra plans to produce a specialty grade dietary supplement and hopes to be in operation by July. Hagy said the company plans to hire 25 people initially and up to 40 after three years. The average wage, he said, was $92,000.
In other economic business, the county proclaimed this week as “Economic Development Week,” promoting the importance of economic development activities “by creating, retaining and expanding jobs that facilitate growth, enhance wealth and provide a stable tax base.”
Commissioners also approved a recommendation by county attorney Vince Durham to grant a one-year extension to Draka to allow the company to meet its required capital expenditures under the original inducement agreement.
“They also estimate that their landlord at this second Draka location in Nash County will spend at least $10 million in capital expenditures for an expansion to serve Draka,” Durham said, which will increase the county’s tax base further.
In other business during the regular monthly meeting, commissioners accepted the new round of $190,000 in funding for the Essential Single-Family Rehabilitation Loan Program, which will initially fund repairs for five houses before tapping into a loan pool to finance repairs to more eligible homes.
The board also approved the annual audit contract with Thompson, Price, Scott Adams and Co. for $48,500, and declared this week as “Hurricane Preparedness Week” to encourage county residents to begin preparing for hurricane season, which begins June 1 and ends Nov. 30.
In his comments, board Chairman Robbie Davis got assent from other commissioners to send a letter he had composed, but did not release, to Gov. Roy Cooper encouraging the governor to reopen the state’s economy safely and gradually as soon as possible. He noted that Friday was a “milestone” in which the state lockdown might be eased and stressed that the county would abide by the state’s guidelines whatever the decision.
“I continue to get calls from small businesses,” he said. “It’s certainly affected our small, homegrown businesses more than the nationally owned businesses. If we had that right (to reopen), we would look at it, but we have to wait until the state and governor tells us what to do next. We have another milestone that comes Friday. We’ll see what happens then.”
As of Monday, Nash County had reported only 103 cases of COVID-19 and three deaths.
“I think we’ve done a great job in Nash County monitoring the situation, frankly a model for the state,” Davis said.
After a closed session, the board recessed until Tuesday morning to spend a day hearing requests and working on the next fiscal year budget.
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County chips in to bring dietary supplement maker to Nashville - Spring Hope Enterprise
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