Grant & Loan Awards: Burke County

BRIDGE funds to assist with the cost to develop a feasibility/business case conducted by Key Bridges that will help the five-county area (Burke, Jefferson, Jenkins, Richmond and Washington) determine their local needs and opportunities for Broadband service. Specifically, Key Bridges will work with local stakeholders to articulate a vision, conduct a needs assessment, provide application identification/suggested solutions, determine a business case-driven total cost of ownership and produce a deployment and sustainability plan. If successful, a wireless Broadband network will allow businesses within the economically-distressed five-county region to better compete in the global marketplace. TPC is $50K with a Local commitment of $10K divided among the prospective counties.

EDGE grant funds for building improvements in support of the location of ASTA, Inc. to the former Kwikset/Fleetguard 209,000 SF facility in Waynesboro that is situated on 50 acres. ASTA will manufacture a specialized copper product known as Continuously Transposed Conductors (CTC) and will distribute throughout the North American market. This will be the first U.S. facility for the parent company, Metrod (Malaysia) Berhad (MB). MB is a leading provider of oxygen-free electrical copper wires, rods and strips which are used in the cable, telecommunications, electrical and power industries. In addition, MB has facilities in Malaysia, Thailand, Austria and China. This project is in competition with South Carolina.

EDGE funds to assist with the purchase of the fomer Kwikset facility. The company intends to locate a manufacturing facility at that location to manufacture mufflers. This project will creat 300 new jobs within 24 months. Waynesboro is in competition with South Carolina and North Carolina for the project.

EDGE funds to renovate an existing building in Waynesboro for this Fortune 200 Company to locate. MeadWestvaco manufactures automotive emission control products and will initially create 40 jobs with 100 jobs long term. The company is investing approximatley $5,500,000 for their operation.