Parkersburg News
Sunday, December 21, 2003

Calhoun board offers free rent

By CURTIS JOHNSON


GRANTSVILLE- Providing 10 jobs to Calhoun County WV residents might be enough
to allow a company to secure free rent for a year in Calhoun County.

Calhoun Economic Development and Recreation Corp. has owned the NYA Complex
since BF Goodrich shut down its Grantsville operation in the mid-1990s. At
its peak, BF Goodrich put about 300 employees to work, said corporation
member Richard Kirby. He hopes lucrative rent offers will bring a portion of those jobs back.

"Our corporation is not into trying to make any money. All we're interested
in is bringing jobs to the community," Kirby said. "To us we don't see it as
a source of income. We see it as an asset trying to get some jobs here."

While 10 jobs may provide a year, Kirby said 100 jobs could equal 10 years
of free rent. When those 10 years end, the corporation would then negotiate
a maximum rent for the future.

"There's a good work force here," he said. "There are good people here ready
to go to work if they had someplace to go."

The 50,000-square-foot NYA Complex could be that place, Kirby said.

Before being home to BF Goodrich, a portion of the building served as the
Calhoun County High School gymnasium. The complex contains room for offices,
workshops, garages and manufacturing, Little Kanawha Area Development Corp.
director Diane Ludwig said.

Kirby and Ludwig agreed that the space could make an ideal location for a
business incubator or a larger factory.

The two corporations, along with state and county governments, have been
taking a step-by-step approach to preparing the building for a tenant. The
most recent project used a $30,000 state grant to pay for roof repairs at
the complex. That new roof came with a 15-year guarantee.

"It made a huge difference," Ludwig said. "The roof leaked year-round," she said.
"It had some low spots so everything ran to those low spots and leaked."

Officials have been running dehumidifiers throughout the building to dry the
leakage. The next step in the process will be refurbishing the offices that the leaky
roof damaged.

"It did a lot of damage to the ceiling, the carpet, the wallpaper," Ludwig
said. "The typical soft things you have in an office were damaged."

Kirby estimated refurbishing that damage could be finished within 30 days if
the right opportunity presented itself.

"As we go along we'll be cleaning, but if we have a client that comes in and
it's a matter of jobs, we'll step up the cleaning process," he said. "Until
there is a reason to step it up, we'll do it as economically as we can."

Those economic options include finding volunteers from the community or
using labor from the West Virginia Department of Corrections.