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BEVERLY -- The Randolph County Development Authority voted this week to approve the sale of the property on which the Armstrong Hardwood Flooring Products manufacturing facility is located.
Armstrong asked to purchase the Beverly property, which is owned by the Randolph County Development Authority, RCDA Executive Director Robbie Morris told The Inter-Mountain.
"Through our lease agreement, AHF has always had the right to purchase the property from us whenever they wanted to," Morris said. "They (AHF) exercised the option to buy the plant from us, so we took action to start that process."
Morris said the two sides agreed on the price of $7.25 million for the property. He said all that's left to do is get all the paperwork in order. Morris said legal details should be complete by the end of the year.
"The board approved the sale, now all we have to do is get the closing completed," he said. "Real estate attorneys on both sides are getting all the documents prepared for transfer of the property."
Morris said that AHF will be investing in the plant to increase production capacity and product offerings in the coming months.
"They (AHF) are looking at some machinery upgrades and they're looking at some new services in the product line," Morris said. "They recently did a water line upgrade that will allow for some new things at the plant as well. There's a lot of good investment they are committing to make at the plant."
In 2019, AHF Products oversaw an 85,000-square foot expansion of the Beverly plant, which is the largest prefinished solid hardwood flooring plant in the country.
"For the 30-plus years that they've been in the community, they've continued to make investments and commitments to Randolph County and the Beverly plant," Morris said. "This transaction doesn't change any of that at all; in fact, they are going to be making more investments."
Armstrong Flooring, Inc., headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, operates seven manufacturing facilities worldwide. The company has been in business for 150 years.
"We are appreciative of AHF's continued commitment to Randolph County," Morris said. "We look forward to continuing our relationship with them for many years to come. That manufacturing facility is the significant backbone not only to our local economy, but the regional economy."
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The RCDA approved a Local Economic Development grant agreement with the West Virginia Department of Economic Development during this week's meeting.
It is the 29th straight year that the RCDA applied for and received the grant, which is awarded to lead economic development authorities in each county that demonstrate strong economic development efforts.
Authorities applying for the grant, which is in the amount of $22,727, must also meet a variety of requirements, including relevant activities, marketing efforts and professional development.
"We are very proud to have received this grant for nearly three decades," Morris said.