Furniture Manufacturer Announces New Plant in Spruce Pine
Date Posted: 9/30/2005
AdvantageWest North Carolina—the western regional economic development commission—today announced that Genesis Furniture Industries has purchased the former Henredon facility, where the company will create 206 new manufacturing jobs in Spruce Pine.
Genesis, a Pontotoc, Miss.-based manufacturer of upholstered furniture, plans to begin hiring and upfit in the plant by mid-October, and hopes to be fully operational this fall.
Van Phillips, volunteer executive director of the Mitchell County Economic Development Commission and an AdvantageWest board member, noted that the announcement represents a major step in the right direction for the region’s economy, and said that county leaders will continue to partner with state and regional efforts to create jobs. “Our County leaders’ commitment to this project and help from the state, AdvantageWest and the Golden LEAF Foundation in the form of grants and incentives will pay great dividends to the people of Mitchell County,” he said.
AdvantageWest provided a $12,000 matching grant to the Mitchell County Economic Development Commission to help pay for “soft costs,” such as engineering design and equipment relocation fees, while the county invested in repair and renovation of the facility. AdvantageWest also applied for and received a $200,000 grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation to purchase manufacturing equipment that the organization will lease at a fair market rate to Genesis.
Mitchell County Commission Chairman Keith Masters said that county leaders had made economic development a major priority, and that commissioners were pleased to have Genesis as a new part of the community. “We made economic development our number one priority,” Masters said. “A lot of people in the county and across North Carolina worked hard to create these jobs for Mitchell County. We’re grateful to Van Phillips and the Mitchell County EDC, AdvantageWest, the Governor and the Department of Commerce, and particularly to the executives of Genesis, who had so many options as to where they could locate this plant. I know that the people of Mitchell County will come through for you in making this facility a success.”
A One North Carolina Fund grant of $206,000 over a period of years will help offset the company’s relocation and startup expenses. Like all state incentives in North Carolina, the grants and incentives are performance-based, meaning that funds will be allocated to the project over time, after certain job creation and investment benchmarks have been satisfied.
Genesis Furniture Industries CEO Bob Balekian said that company leaders are anxious to get started with the facility in Spruce Pine. “Genesis Furniture Industries has been committed to the production of mid to upper priced stationary upholstered furniture since 1996,” he said. “In an effort to improve our distribution and competitiveness to the East Coast we sought to expand our operations in the east. Our decision to expand operations to Spruce Pine was based not only on the available labor and production facilities but also on the aggressive incentives provided by Mitchell County and the State of North Carolina.”
Genesis plans to be in full production and shipping furniture by the end of the year. For information on job opportunities, contact the Employment Security Commission in Spruce Pine at (828) 765-7376 or fax to (828) 765-8552.
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"As a life-long resident of western North Carolina I can’t imagine a more beautiful or diverse place to live and work."
D. Samuel Neill
Attorney-At-Law & AdvantageWest Board Member
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