Spec building going up in Vina

“Bringing industry into the county is like selling cars in a car lot; you have to have a product there to sell,” Franklin County EDA Executive Director Mitch Mays said. “In this case, the product is industrial buildings, and having this spec building makes Franklin County more appealing to industries.”

According to Senator Roger Bedford, funding for the Vina Spec Building was made possible through the 666 Industrial Development fund from oil and gas royalties in the gulf.

“Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow and I feel that this building is important to this area,” Bedford said. “Some people may call this a pork project because it is supported 100 percent by state money, but Johnny Mack and I just call it more jobs.”

Bedford went on to say that the people of Franklin County deserve to have this building and the jobs and industry that it will bring.

“My grandfather, J.W. Rogers, owned a store in Vina and my father was born here,” Bedford said. “My roots go deep in this area and it is a dream come true to have a state-of-the-art industrial park here that will help the whole county be prepared to support industries like Toyota suppliers.

“Retaining jobs that we already have here and attracting new ones are my top priority as a senator.”

Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow credits projects like these to local men who paved the way for people such as Sen. Bedford and himself.

“Pioneers from this area like John Sparkman, Tom Bevill and Carl Elliott sat down and made plans for things like the Appalachian Region Commission Development which created ARC Corridor X – U.S. 78 and the future Interstate 22 – and ARC Corridor V – Highway 24 and U.S. 72,” Morrow said.

“These guys are responsible for paving the way for projects like these that we are doing today and we are just following through on what they have done in the past.”

Morrow added that he hoped this would be the first of many more groundbreaking ceremonies in the future for this area.

Vina Mayor D.W. Franklin thanked the town council, the Franklin County Commission, the Franklin County Development Authority, Bedford and Morrow for their help in this project.

“This is all just a result of team work and working for the good of the county,” Franklin said.

“There are great things that are going to come out of this. We want jobs in Franklin County and this is the way to get them.”

Mays said that construction of the new building will begin in earnest next month and the building is expected to be completed by May 2011.