Business Park

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - The bulk of more than $6 million in loans preliminarily approved by the West Virginia Economic Development Authority would go to two Eastern Panhandle companies. Gov. Joe Manchin announced Thursday in a news release that the Berkeley County (W.Va.) Development Authority could receive $2 million - a sum it plans to use to purchase equipment for a new business that could potentially bring 400 new jobs to the area. Summit Point Automotive Research Center (SPARC)

GREENCASTLE, Pa. - A $250 million business park envisioned on the west side of Interstate 81 at Exit 3 is moving closer to becoming a reality. The Antrim Township (Pa.) Supervisors on Tuesday gave their blessing to the concept following a presentation by Perini Industrial Land LLC. The business park remains in the early stages of development a decade after being first discussed, but the developer is looking to contact all the state and local agencies involved and soon be able to submit full land development plans.

waynesboro@herald-mail.com ZULLINGER, PA. - A former orchard in Zullinger might sprout new buildings early this year as a local development corporation continues to sell lots at the location of its pet project. The 12-lot Wharf Road Industrial Park between Waynesboro and Greencastle is home now to only one business: CAM Superline, a manufacturer of construction and hydraulic dump trailers. But officials with the Waynesboro Industrial Development Corp. feel that's about to change.

AMERICOM Government Services, a satellite telecommunications company that opened in the Technical Innovation Center at Hagerstown Community College in 1999, expects to move into a 30,000-square-foot building in Hunt Ridge Business Park by July and more than double its work force by 2009, according to the Hagerstown-Washington County Economic Development Commission. "That's something that we're really excited about because it shows the evolution of a business that was out at the Technical Innovation Center," said Cassandra H. Latimer, marketing specialist for the EDC. "If you look at what we have, we've got two tremendous telecommunications businesses right here in Washington County.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com CHAMBERSBURG, Pa. - A Wisconsin-based packaging company has purchased a "shell" building in the Cumberland Valley Business Park from the Franklin County Area Development Corp. Bentley World Packaging Ltd. of Milwaukee recently bought the 18,200-square-foot building for $450,000, said L. Michael Ross, president of the development corporation. The building is on a 5-acre lot at 5105 Technology Ave., he said. "We essentially sold it for what we had in it," Ross said, explaining that the development corporation had paid about $450,000 to buy the land and construct the building in 2003.

HAGERSTOWN daniels@herald-mail.com A Myersville, Md.-based electrical contractor with ties to Washington County is in the process of moving his 50-member firm's headquarters to the Washington County Business Park. Clinton "Skip" Staggers, a Hagerstown resident and president of MEC Inc., said after three years scouting sites in Frederick and Washington counties he selected a 5.2-acre property at 221 McRand Court. "We see Washington County as a huge growth area.

chambersburg@herald-mail.com ZULLINGER, Pa. - A Highspire, Pa., food exporting company has received a state grant to study the possibility of building a poultry processing plant in the Wharf Road Industrial Park that could employ hundreds of people, according to State Sen. Terry Punt's office. Rizkcozann Food Corp. received approval Wednesday from the Commonwealth Financing Authority for a $175,000 grant for feasibility and engineering studies, said Catherine Cresswell, the executive director for the Senate Community and Economic Development Committee, which is chaired by Punt.

CHARLES TOWN, W.VA. Jefferson County planning officials gave preliminary approval Tuesday night to a 100-acre industrial park in a "very special" part of the county that is known for its rich farmland. The Jefferson County Planning Commission approved a community impact statement for the Sunnyside Industrial Park after a long discussion about how wastes from the industrial park would be handled and what kind of geology is at the site. Planning Commissioner John Sims, a geologist, said many sinkholes are in the area where the Sunnyside Industrial Park is proposed and he wants to know what type of ground septic tanks at the park will be draining into.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - A $1.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Commerce will be used to help build an access road, extend public water and sewer lines and install fiber optic cable into the Tabler Station Business Park, according to a press release issued Monday from U.S. Rep. Shelley Moore Capito's office. The Tabler Station Business Park is between U.S. 11 and Interstate 81, at the intersection of U.S. 11 and Tabler Station Road between Martinsburg and Inwood, W.Va. "Bringing high-skilled jobs to the Eastern Panhandle is a top priority," Capito, R-W.Va.

julieg@herald-mail.com WASHINGTON COUNTY - The Washington, D.C., development company that was under contract to buy approximately 368 acres in Friendship Technology Park has terminated its agreement with Potomac Edison Co., a development company official said Monday. The Washington County Planning Commission's Dec. 6 vote to recommend that the Washington County Commissioners reject a zoning text amendment that would allow a mix of development uses at the park was the primary reason John Akridge Development Co. officials terminated the option, said Joe Svatos, senior vice president for Akridge Development.