aCorridor Headlines

1. Nautilus to invest $1.7 million to expand
   Governor announces 60 jobs for Grayson County.
2. American Wood Fibers up and running
   Local newspaper calls Smyth plant 'bright spot.'
3. Bristol, Va. receives awards
   Only U.S. city named top 'intelligent community'
4. Bland County company develops new product
   American Mine Research communicating with miners.
5. Gates Corporation profile
   Success story on aCorridor website
6. From My Perspective...
   An update from Executive Director Tom Elliott.
7. around the aCorridor...
   New face in economic development in Bland County.                  United Way of Washington County surpasses its goal.

Nautilus to expand Grayson facility

Local, regional and state representatives meet with Nautilus officials to finalize the agreement for expansion at the Independence facility. From left, are, Tom Elliott, Executive Director, Virginia's aCorridor; Ken Fish, Chief Financial Officer, Nautilus; Bill Ring, Grayson County Administrator; Cindy Rudy, Controller, Nautilus; Mike Maynard, Chairman, Grayson County Board of Supervisors; Tim Joyce, Senior VP/General Manager, Nautilus; and Warren Hammer, Project Manager, Virginia Economic Development Partnership.

Governor Timothy M. Kaine announced Dec. 18 that fitness company Nautilus, Inc. will invest $1.7 million to expand in Grayson County. The company, which will expand its manufacturing operation to add a cardio exercise equipment line, will create 60 jobs. Virginia successfully competed with Oregon and China for the project.

"Nautilus has been a major employer in Grayson County for 33 years, Governor Kaine said. "The success of Virginia's existing businesses is more crucial than ever in these times of economic downturn and I am thrilled to bring good news of jobs and investment."

"In these difficult economic times, it's critical to have a workforce that employers have confidence in, and the employees of Nautilus in Grayson County more than meet the high standards required," said Mike Maynard, chairman of the Grayson County Board of Supervisors."It's their work and commitment that have made this decision possible."

Smyth plant starts operations                            

American Wood Fibers uses waste wood from the region's timber processing industry and turns it into products for animal bedding, heating fuel and industrial uses in its new plant in Smyth County.

American Wood Fibers, a company that uses waste wood from the region's timber processing industry and turns it into products for animal bedding, heating fuel and industrial uses, has one product line up and running in its Smyth County facility, a second starting and a third to come online in the near future.

The new plant, which employs more than 50, is an expansion from a smaller plant in nearby Sugar Grove, which was founded by a local entrepreneur and was purchased by American Wood Fibers, a privately owned company based in Columbia, Md. The company received a $100,000 grant from the Governor's Opportunity Fund and $40,000 from the Smyth County Industrial Development Authority and announced construction of the plant near Marion in 2007.

A recent article in the Bristol Herald Courier called the new manufacturing facility a possible "bright spot in a down economy." Operations Manager John Patterson said he thinks the plant will do well because of its products.

"People still spend money on their pets, even in a bad economy, and we do animal bedding and pet bedding. And with the price of fuel, we sell the fuel pellets, which are competitively priced against oil. The good thing about our business is when some parts are down, other parts are up, so it kind of evens out."

City of Bristol recognized in top 'intelligent community' category

Bristol officials receive a Gold Award for Municipal Excellence from the National League of Cities at its annual conference in Orlando, Fla. in November. From left, are, BVU Board Chairman Paul Hurley; Bristol, Va., City Manager Bill Dennison; BVU President and CEO Wes Rosenbalm; and Bristol, Va., Mayor Jim Rector; Elisa Speranza, President of Operations and Maintenance Business Group with CH2M HILL, and Ronald Loveridge, 1st vice president of National League of Cities and mayor of Riverside, Calif.

Bristol Virginia recently has received recognition including being the only American city to make the Top Seven list of "most intelligent communities" wordlwide. The announcement was made in January during the international PTC 09 conference, sponsored by the Pacific Telecommunications Council in Honolulu, Hawaii. Bristol Virginia and its 64-year-old utility company, Bristol Virginia Utilities (BVU) were honored for their pioneering work in the area of municipal broadband, both in the city and throughout remote areas of Southwest Virginia during the past five years. Bristol was selected from a field of more than 450 international applicants for the technological award. In October 2008, Bristol was one of five American communities named to a list of global Smart21 communities.

And in November 2008, Bristol received a Gold Award for Municipal Excellence from the National League of Cities. Bristol was selected over 18 other finalists in the "Less than 50,000" population for work achieved by BVU Optinet, the utility's fiber-optic division.

Bland County company develops mine messaging system

American Mine Research of Rocky Gap has developed an electronic system to track and communicate with miners. AMR's products, Mine Net tracking system and Mine Net Messenger, are expected to be the two key components of federal regulations on tagging/tracking miners and providing them with a two-way communication device that become effective June 15, according to an article in the Bland County Messenger. Bob Saxton, AMR's general manager, said in the article that AMR's Mine Net tracking system is in place in six mines in West Virginia and Southwest Virginia and uses underground reader boxes and electronic tags on miners' helmets to communicate the workers' locations in the mine back to the surface where an aboveground employee uses computer software to view the miners' status and movements. The product design has been done at the company's Rocky Gap headquarters.

Gates Corporation is profiled as aCorridor success story

Scott Moore and Dan Gorton of Gates Corporation.

Gates Corporation came to Virginia's aCorridor, locating in the Highlands Business Park in 2007. And since the manufacturing division moved in and started operations, a second company division has located there.
Existing industry success stories are profiled on the Virginia's aCorridor website and are among the most read content on the site. Read about Gates.

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From my     perspective...

Tom Elliott      Executive Director

2008 Year End Report Card

• 6 Expansions, 139 jobs, $27.30 Million capital investment.

• 2 New Industries, 165 jobs, $7.94 Million capital investment.

Total: 8 Announcements, 304 Jobs, $35.24 Million capital investment.

The numbers tell the story - 2008 was a tough year for economic development in our region. Although it’s small consolation, we had a lot of company. It was a tough year for economic development almost everywhere!

Despite all the bad news, we did have some bright spots, including the Nautilus announcement featured in this edition. I had the opportunity to be directly involved in that project, and it’s important to note that our biggest competition for those jobs was China. This was a win not only for Grayson County and Virginia, but for the USA!

Now to the challenges we face in 2009. What do we do during this downturn? We continue to work on READINESS. Even during the current crisis, there will still be prospects with projects that need to move forward and the competition for those projects will be fiercer than ever. When recovery does start to occur, projects that were placed on hold will return with significantly compressed timelines.

While some states and localities are cutting back on their economic development initiatives, the smart ones are redoubling their efforts. Now more than ever, we need sites that are ready to go with infrastructure that’s in place and robust. We need to look at ways to be more creative and aggressive with local incentives. We need to be working on improving websites and marketing materials. We need to reexamine our target industries with an eye to alternative energy projects. The list goes on, but I believe the efforts will be rewarded. We have localities in the aCorridor that get it and I’m anxious to continue working with them in the days ahead.

around the aCorridor...

There's a new face involved in economic development in Bland County. Audra Repass of Wytheville has been selected as projects manager. In addition to helping manage the various economic development projects, Repass, a Radford University graduate, will help identify, write and administer grants, working with the Board of Supervisors and the Economic Development Authority.

The United Way of Washington County surpasses its $850,000 goal. Announced in January, the United Way of Washington County reported at the end of the campaign $881,909.94 was raised, the third consecutive year the non-profit group has exceeded its goal. The United Way provides support to 35 health and human service agencies in Washington County.

A market study of the potential development of the old Washington Mills site on the New River in Fries indicates that the location is within 150 miles of 9.2 million people and 314,000 college students. According to an article in the Galax Gazette, the study was done by K.W. Poore & Associates of Richmond and is part of the town's Revitalization Master Plan, which calls for significant improvements in downtown Fries and on the mill site.The town started the venture in 2007, and most recently the land was turned over to the Blue Ridge Crossroads Economic Development Authority (BRCEDA) to help market the site to any prospective developers.

Expected to open in spring 2009, a Saltville dental clinic projects it will serve nearly 3,300 patients. The regional dental clinic will be located inside Saltville's T.K. McKee Hospital building and is being financed in part by a $2.3 million Virginia Community Development Block Grant and a $519,000 loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Agency. The clinic will be staffed by a dentist supervising senior-year dentistry students.

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