One incentive package approved, one to go for Solstas Lab Partners and its pursuit of a 500-job expansion in High Point.
The High Point City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to offer up to $500,000 — $1,000 for each job created — to the company.
The Guilford County Board of Commissioners will consider up to $500,000 in incentives at a hearing at 5:30 p.m. today.
Loren Hill, president of the High Point Economic Development Corp., said Wednesday that the Solstas expansion would be the city's largest job-creation project in 13 years.
Solstas, a medical and diagnostic laboratories company, was formed in 2010 through the merger of Spectrum Laboratory Network and Carillion Labs of Roanoke, Va. Novant Health Inc., Moses Cone Hospitals and High Point Regional Hospital have been among the investors in Spectrum.
Solstas has dual headquarters in High Point and Roanoke, with 721 employees in High Point and about 400 in the Roanoke area.
Hill said the Solstas expansion has Triad-wide implications because the company already "draws employees from all over." Hill said Solstas has committed to adding 100 jobs a year over five years at an average annual wage of $45,560.
Bud Thompson, an executive vice president for the company, said Jan. 6 that although High Point faces competition from Roanoke and Knoxville, Tenn., where Solstas also has operations, High Point is the only site that has reached the public-hearing stage with incentive requests. He said the company expects to make a "timely decision" after the Guilford officials vote on incentives. Hill said he expects a decision could come "in a few days to a few weeks."
Solstas provides clinical, pathology and testing services to health-care professionals, physician practices, hospitals and medical groups. The expansion would involve enlarging its information-technology division, human resources and other office and lab functions.
Since the merger, the company has been on a major growth spurt, buying seven companies that helped expand its presence into 10 mid-Atlantic and Southeast states and Washington.
"The times are uncertain, the acquisition opportunities in front of us are uncertain, and there is certainly risk to this," Dr. Michael Hanbury, the company's chief operating officer, told the High Point Enterprise.
"But we are certainly embarking on a program to build a world-class national laboratory and very much look forward to the opportunity of doing that here in High Point."
Although Solstas' operations are in High Point's Piedmont Center industrial park on the south side of Interstate 40, some of its buildings have a Greensboro address for business reasons, which is similar to other companies in the park. Thompson said part of the incentive agreement would require all Solstas buildings to take a High Point address.
Thompson said he did not know the precise amount Solstas was planning to spend on capital investment. The goal is to renovate about 90,000 square feet of leased space and buy equipment, although Thompson said the company plans to consolidate space in other Piedmont Center buildings.
Hill and Thompson said matching state incentives have been requested, whether through the One North Carolina Fund, which is under the governor's control, or the Job Development Investment Grant.
If Solstas chooses to expand in High Point, Hill said the company likely would hold a job fair in central High Point in conjunction with his office as well as the Guilford Workforce Development Board and the local office of the N.C. Division of Employment Security.
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