Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, May 15, 1990 TAG: 9005150184
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: GREG EDWARDS BUSINESS WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The legal paper work for the sale is to be signed by May 31. Quibell, a bottler of sparkling water, is to take possession on June 1.
Roanoke City Council was scheduled to approve the agreement at its regular meeting Monday night.
The 72,000-square-foot shell building is owned by the Greater Roanoke Valley Development Foundation, a private group, and sits on 13.7 acres owned by the city. The original asking price had been $1.35 million.
Quibell, whose bottling plant on Roanoke Avenue in Southwest Roanoke currently is operating at near full capacity, is expected to double its current work force of 62 during its first year in the new plant. It plans to exceed 200 workers by 1995.
Quibell will move its corporate headquarters and bottling operations to the plant by the fall, after the plant is equipped.
The city will receive $111,000 for the land at the time of closing but has agreed to defer $80,000 of its proceeds from the sale for five years following the closing.
Virginia municipalities are not permitted to give tax incentives for economic development and deferring the price of real estate is a way to make up for that handicap, said Vice Mayor Beverly Fitzpatrick.
Quibell will add the city's "Roanoke" to its labels and that alone is going to be worth thousands of dollars to the city, Fitzpatrick said.
Both City Manager Bob Herbert and Mayor Noel Taylor stressed in their remarks during Quibell's announcement Monday morning at City Hall that the city has a commitment to help keep existing industry as well as to attract new industry to the Roanoke Valley.
The city is making a very strong effort to be sure that industry does not have to leave Roanoke in order to be successful, Taylor said.
The shell building has been empty for more than a year and a half. It has been running up $9,000 a month in interest charges, Fitzpatrick said.
The building has been successful as a magnet for attracting industrial prospects into the valley even though the building itself may not have met the needs of those businesses, officials said.
Charles Hunter, chairman of the development foundation, whose roots go back to the closing of the American Viscose plant in Roanoke, said the decision has not been made yet to build another promotional building. But Herbert and others at Monday's announcement expressed interest in getting another one under way.
Herbert said the city will probably start calling people within the next 30 days to discuss the possibility of constructing a new shell building.
Sales of Quibell's bottled water skyrocketed after Perrier products were pulled from store shelves earlier this year because of contamination. The company's sales, which were running about 100,000 cases per month have increased by 75 percent.
Ronald Qui-bell, president of Quibell, said the company plans to offer new flavors after it moves into the new plant.
by CNB