Progress Index - September 25, 2002

$1 Million Loan

BY JENNIFER FRANCIS

PRINCE GEORGE - Scott Kelly can't stop smiling. Neither can his longtime friends and business partners, Randy Weis and Chip Dollins. After 16 hard, long months of planning and preparing, their dream of opening their own business is finally getting ready to come true. Thanks in part, to a $1 million loan from the state Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund, the ground in SouthPoint Industrial Park will finally be broken at the future site of Service Center Metals Inc. next month -

"We are all very excited about it because it is our first business venture," said Kelly, president of Service Center Metals Inc., which specializes in aluminum extrusions. "Our mission is to lead the industry in sales service and quality, and to have the most competitive cost structure in the industry and we are confident that we can do that."

The $1 million loan is just a portion of the $4.4 million in business financing assistance dolled out this week by the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority.

Gov. Mark R. Warner announced the approval of the loans late Wednesday and lauded the efforts of the VSBFA to support the growth of Virginia businesses during what has been an extremely strained fiscal year for the state.

"We will grow jobs and get our economy moving again with innovative financing programs like these," Warner said. "I am pleased to report Virginia's public-private partnership is working, especially in regions of the commonwealth which need it the most."

Other companies that received money through the program were in Ashland, Danville, and the region encompassing Wytheville and the counties of Bland and Wythe.

Service Center Metals Inc. is the only company in the Tri-City area to receive such funding and will begin construction on its first facility in Prince George County next month. Dealing in aluminum, the company specializes in rod bars and standard shakes for use in transportation applications, machinery and equipment, building and construction.

But what makes the company so interesting is the three men at the helm. Weis, the company's vice president of sales, Dollins, the vice president of operations, and Kelly are all former longtime employees of Reynolds Metals Co. who have spent their entire careers working for large aluminum companies. After years of working for other people, Kelly said, the partners decided it was time to set out on their own.

"We decided with all the consolidation taking place that it was time to break out and take all the good things we learned working for big companies, incorporate some new things and go out on our own," Kelly said. "We are starting from the ground up and doing things the right way."

Prince George officials have been working hard to market the county as an industry-friendly locality and have placed great emphasis on their enterprise zone which offers new or expanding companies additional tax incentives at the state and local level.

"We appreciate all the tools the state of Virginia brings to the effort of locating companies in the state and are very appreciative of the cooperation that the state agencies have provided for the success of this project," said G. William Bailey, director of economic development for Prince George. "We are very pleased that Service Center Metals has chosen Prince George County as the location for their first plant."

SouthPoint Industrial Park itself has substantially grown in size since its creation in the late 1990s and has grown in popularity with big name industries like ACE Hardware which opened a facility at the Chudoba Lane park just last year.

Service Center Metals Inc. will be the latest addition to the park and will employ about 45 people. Kelly estimated that the company could grow to employ closer to 60 people by next year.

It will take between seven and nine months for construction of the facility to be completed

"Through the Virginia Small Business Financing Authority we are leveraging dollars to help Virginia businesses and the communities in which they are located assemble the financing packages they need to succeed," said Michael J. Schewel, state secretary of commerce and trade. "Even during the current budget situation, that's a good investment."

Jennifer Francis may be reached at 732-3456, ext. 255.