WCC takes over site
By Steve Herring
Published in News on January 22, 2015 1:46 PM
The lights and water are already on, and work will begin next week on the first phase of a Wayne Community College project that will turn the former Cooper Bussmann building into the college's Advanced Manufacturing Center of Excellence.
Creating a hub for specialized training will prepare people for employment in the advanced manufacturing sector and will benefit new and existing industry by creating a pipeline of well-trained workers for the area, county officials said.
Wayne County Commission Chairman Wayne Aycock announced the acquisition of the property Wednesday morning.
The plant, which had operated in Goldsboro since 1983, closed this past summer. The facility is located at 210 Dixie Trail near the intersection with South John Street.
The company sold the 78,715-square-foot former manufacturing facility to the Wayne County Development Alliance for $685,000.
The county used a low-interest loan through the former Eastern Region to borrow $400,000 for the project, while Impact Wayne, the private development funding arm of the Development Alliance, provided the remainder of the funds.
The county will repay the Eastern Region loan over a five-year period.
The Development Alliance will lease the facility to Wayne Community College for a nominal fee of $1 annually and the college will operate the program.
The county is responsible for funding facilities at the college, so it will pay for the maintenance and upkeep of the building.
Aycock was joined in the commissioners' meeting room at the county courthouse annex by WCC President Dr. Kay Albertson and Chuck Allen of the Wayne County Development Alliance, representing Alliance Chairman Kevin Kornegay, who was unable to attend the event.
"This is a big deal," Allen said. "I have been on the Development Alliance board for many years. This has been talked about a lot. We are just really proud to be a part of this collaboration of the WCDA, Wayne Community College, Impact Wayne -- the private arm of the Alliance -- and Wayne County.
"It is just a really great partnership. It is an example of what can be accomplished when you work with people and try to get things done. It is going to be an asset to our college, our community. It will save the county millions of dollars in facilities at the college. It is going to be huge for recruitment for our companies in Wayne County."
The center will allow Wayne Community College to fully implement major manufacturing equipment purchased over the last three years and will be the educational training site for WCC students, Wayne County Public School students, and workers alike.
Nor is just an empty building, Aycock said.
Bussmann left some furniture, shelving and equipment, such as cranes, that the county would not have bought to put in the building, he said. The equipment can be used in the WCC programs housed there, he said. All of that adds to the value of the deal, he said.
Aycock said that Commissioners Ray Mayo and Joe Daughtery, who are in the manufacturing business, were instrumental in "getting the wheels turning" on the project.
"We have a few things that have to be done," Mrs. Albertson said following the announcement. "We have got to get some carpet in, some paint in, but I would think that we would have the first phase move-in completed by summer, which is amazing."
The entire move will probably take a "good year," she said.
"We have to get through some environmental studies. So certain programs will have to stay at the college until we can make sure that any of the products that they would use would not contaminate the soil or anything like that.
Even with that consideration, the first classes to be held there will be this fall, she said.
"We will be moving some of our offices, some of our employees there this summer, and we should be up and running with a few things perhaps in our engineering and in our electronics areas," she said.
Not only does the deal provide a home for the center, it also frees up 21,000 square feet of classroom space at the college, Aycock said.
Mrs. Albertson said she does not have a "clue" at this point what the freed-up classroom space would be used for.
"One the things that we do want to look at, we do want to do some of the precision kinds of workforce training like plumbing, cabinet making -- some of the more customized kinds of things that people are losing that art in," she said. "I need space for science labs. I need space for nursing."
Mrs. Albertson said that it would have cost $25 million to construct a building the size of the Bussmann plant and $13 million to build a 21,000-square-foot classroom building.
"To use repurposed space is what should be thought about," Mrs. Albertson said. "We were very conservative in our approach, and this is a lot of bang for the buck."
The purchase of the Bussmann property cost about $10 per square foot, versus $150 per square foot needed to buy classroom space, Aycock said.
"Wayne Community College has been extremely fortunate in having the support of community partners who made the Wayne County Advanced Manufacturing Center a reality," Mrs. Albertson said. "Two significant partners are the Wayne County Board of Commissioners and the Wayne County Development Alliance who have contributed both fiscal and time resources to the project.
"And we also have the support of the Chamber of Commerce, Wayne County Public Schools, and our local business and industry sector. This is an amazing concept that has become a reality because the partners in this initiative are believers in the College's mission of preparing a highly skilled workforce for Wayne County and the region."