ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 3, 1996 TAG: 9604030021
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B8 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FINCASTLE
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
The town of Buchanan has been dying slowly for decades, bleeding as its young people and much of its commerce left town for better opportunities elsewhere, town officials said.
But the leaders of the 1,200-resident burg on U.S. 11 believe it got a life-giving transfusion Tuesday.
Meadville Forging Co. of Pennsylvania said it has chosen a 35-acre site within the town limits for its new plant. The $18 million, 60,000-square-foot automotive parts manufacturing plant is expected to employ 75 people, paying them $12 to $15 an hour. The plant is to open in summer 1997, but will not reach full employment until October 1998.
A second $17 million phase - for which no start-up date has been set - could increase its work force to 125, nearly all of which is expected to be hired locally.
"It's kind of like what the astronaut said," Buchanan Mayor Rex Kelly said after the announcement. "This is a huge step for the town of Buchanan."
Town Councilman Tom Middlecamp said he can't remember a time in the 34 years he has lived in Buchanan that new jobs came to town. "This is probably the best thing that has happened to Buchanan in the whole history of its existence," he said.
Botetourt County Administrator Jerry Burgess said the county has been courting Meadville Forging since the company put Buchanan on a list of 50 possible sites, including 20 in Virginia. The company's president, Jim Martin, said proximity to The Timkin Co. in Altavista played a major role in the decision. Timkin's purchase of automotive wheel hubs makes it one of Meadville's major customers.
Meadville's choice, though, perhaps means more to people near the plant than company officials could know.
Jesse Jones moved to Buchanan in 1948. Now 78, he remembers when the town had three car dealerships. Now it has none. It had three barbers, he said. Now there is one
But in the past few years, the town has embarked on a revitalization effort. Harry Gleason came to Buchanan 10 months ago to head the effort to restore historic properties in the town. Already some store signs and marquees have been renovated and new stores have opened in long-vacant buildings on Main Street.
"This plant represents a lot of opportunities to show that with cooperation with business, the town planning commission and council, a new precedent can be set for higher quality development," Gleason said. His main project is the revitalization of Buchanan's downtown.
He points out that there are no guarantees that the plant will aid his efforts to revitalize the downtown area, which is just a few miles from the Meadville plant site. But he hopes it will give more exposure to Main Street.
The site was changed from agricultural zoning despite some neighboring residents' complaints that it is prone to flooding. They fear any building on the land will increase flooding of their property. But the plant is planned for a corner of the lot above the 500-year flood line and must meet with all Federal Emergency Management Agency guidelines.
Computers and robots will do much of the work in the plant of taking steel rods, heating them to 2,200 degrees, and pressing them five times into parts for trucks and mining equipment.
At the outset, 100 percent of the plant's work will be for Timkin, Martin said. The plant will forge wheel-bearing hubs for the front axles of four-wheel-drive pickup trucks. Later, however, he expects the plant to be less dependent on Timkin for business.
Martin said that although workers at one of Meadville's facilities in Pennsylvania belong to a union, the Buchanan site will not be a union shop.
Nearly all of the jobs created will be high-skilled ones that require previous training in electronics, hydraulics or mechanical skills, Martin said. Only two will be management jobs. The company also will provide significant additional training with the aid of funds from the Virginia Department of Economic Development's Workforce Services program.
The company's decision to build in Buchanan was sweetened by $175,000 from the Governor's Opportunity Fund awarded to Botetourt County and the town for site development. Botetourt County will extend water-line services.
But Buchanan's greatest benefits from the plant may be less tangible, such as community morale, town leaders say. For years the children of Buchanan families have found little in the way of jobs that might keep them in town.
"Buchanan is home to a lot of people," Kelly said. "It would be great to have some more come home."
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC: map showing location of Meadville plant. color (b&wby CNBin New River edition.) KEYWORDS: JOBCHEK