The Henry County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $1 million appropriation to buy back a shell building previously sold to Schock GmbH after the German company opted not to expand its operations into the United States.
The board made the decision after it returned from its closed session meeting, on a motion by Joe Bryant, of the Collinsville District.
Bryant’s motion to appropriate $1 million to the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to “facilitate the purchase of land, building,” and all improvements, and to authorize the IDA chairman to execute documents related to the transaction, was unanimously approved by the board.
The company purchased the building that is located at 1320 Beaver Creek Drive, in Martinsville, from the IDA in 2021, with plans to occupy the Lot 8 Shell Building, a 95,500-square-foot facility located on 14.7 acres in the Patriot Centre Industrial Park.
At the time, Schock announced it would invest $85 million to establish its first U.S. manufacturing operation in phases. The first phase was to be completed over five years, during which the company would establish the manufacturing capability to produce quartz composite kitchen sinks in its new location.
“Regrettably, the recent economic downturn and subsequent financial challenges have necessitated the reduction of costs and exposures across our company,” Ivo Huhmann, Chief Financial Officer for Schock said in a later release.
Jim Adams, board chairman, said, “This is primarily a business decision on the part of the company. The county did its due diligence on this project and ensured safeguards were in place to protect the economic interests of our citizens. We hope to further our relationship with the company in the future and we wish them the best in their endeavors.”
The county constructed the shell building at a cost of about $3.2 million in 2014, according to Brandon Martin, the county’s public information officer.
The release noted that funds from the original sale of the building were never spent by the county. Additionally, publicly funded incentives that were offered to the company based on performance also were not spent due to the company’s decision to halt the project.
Schock has made approximately $750,000 in improvements to the building since the initial sale,
The primary improvements were dock levelers and electrical wiring, Martin said, adding the current value of the building is more than $5 million.
“Henry County remains our top choice for investment,” Huhmann said. “Its strategic location, coupled with the robust support from a county known for its business prowess, makes it an ideal choice. While it is unfortunate that we are unable to proceed as planned at this time, we maintain a strong connection to Martinsville and Henry County.”
Although the county is “disappointed that this project will not be proceeding as originally planned, we are grateful to have established a relationship with another international business partner,” Adams said.
The IDA will own the building, and work closely with the Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. (EDC) to market it to other prospective industries.
The county also will move forward with its plan to build another shell building.
Last month, the IDA approved a real estate contract and development agreement with the Marlboro Development Team to construct and market a new 105,000-square-foot building.
“There is a continuing demand in Virginia for ready sites and buildings,” County Administrator Dale Wagoner said. “This will give us two speculative shell buildings with varying characteristics to market. It gives us more tools in our toolbox to attract prospective industries to our community.”
