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Food Packaging Plant Not Being Built in Winston-Salem, N.C., Area

Posted on: Friday, 22 July 2005, 21:00 CDT

Jul. 23--Alcan Inc. intended to build a packaging plant in the Winston-Salem area, but it didn't work out that way.

The Montreal company's subsidiary, Alcan Packaging Food and Tobacco Inc., was one of five packaging companies that bought parts of R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co.'s RJR Packaging LLC division in May.

At the time, Alcan said it would build a plant "in the vicinity" of Reynolds' manufacturing operations in Forsyth County. Reynolds said that 170 jobs would be offered to former RJR Packaging workers.

But on Thursday, Gov. Mike Easley announced that Alcan would build a $42.6 million plant in the Reidsville Industrial Park in Rockingham County.

Officials in Winston-Salem said yesterday that they tried to entice Alcan here, but to no avail.

Alcan was initially shown seven properties in Forsyth County, said Bob Leak Jr., the president of Winston-Salem Business Inc., a business-recruiting organization.

Alcan also hired a real-estate brokerage company to analyze sites and it expanded its search to other areas, Leak said.

He said that there wasn't a perfect site locally for Alcan. He said that the sites were challenging in terms of their configuration and grading. A lot of land locally for these types of projects have some slope to it, adding to costs, he said.

Leak also said that from what he understood, the company was also offered significant economic incentives, which "would have been hard for us to meet" based on the city and county's published policies on economic incentives. He declined to discuss the incentives issue further.

In the end, the competition for Alcan came down to Rockingham County and Martinsville, Va., said Tom Robinson, the Rockingham County manager.

Reidsville's site and its economic incentives helped it win the day.

Alexander Christen, a spokesman for Alcan, said that the company "got the best deal from them."

Alcan has entered into a long-term supply agreement with Reynolds.

The state's One North Carolina Fund is kicking in $500,000 for the Reidsville project. The governor's announcement also touted the creation of 170 jobs at an average week wage of more than $700 plus benefits.

Alcan plans to offer the jobs to former RJR Packaging workers, Christen said, but how many of them would want to drive a round trip of about 80 miles is unclear.

Maura Payne, a Reynolds spokeswoman, said "we're disappointed that the plant isn't closer, but at least it's within the Piedmont Triad region."

Robinson said that Lisa Perry, the executive director of the Rockingham County Partnership for Economic & Tourism Development, helped them land the project. Perry used to work for Virginia's commerce department and worked with Alcan while she was with the department.

"They were comfortable with her and her ability to deliver," Robinson said.

Perry was unavailable for comment.

The Reidsville Review reported that Alcan would be reimbursed for 80 percent of all its local property taxes during the next 10 years, which would amount to $445,000 based on the company's planned investment.

Robinson said that Alcan is also getting a free site. The plant is expected to open about the middle of next year.

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Copyright (c) 2005, Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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AL, RAI, BTI, BATS,

Source: Winston-Salem Journal

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