news-record.com

GREENSBORO — Two manufacturers have asked Guilford County to provide incentives for projects that could create 172 jobs and $46.2 million in capital investments.

Precor, a California exercise equipment maker, wants to relocate a strength-training equipment division to Guilford County, where it would create 142 jobs with average salaries of $37,000 to $38,000 a year.

The company, which has asked for $294,000 from the county, would spend $26.2 million on a 225,000-square-foot building, said Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance, and Rob Bencini, the county director of community and economic development.

Precor has not decided whether to ask for Greensboro city incentives because it has not picked a final site.

ConvaTec, a medical products manufacturer with a plant already in Greensboro, has asked the county for $152,000 to help it expand. The company would create 30 jobs and invest $20 million in the project. Those jobs would also pay an average of $37,000 to $38,000 a year.

Lynch said that ConvaTec has already expanded its company outside the United States and local incentives could entice it to choose Guilford for its next expansion.

The company will also ask the city for $255,000, Lynch said.

The Guilford County Board of Commissioners will hold a hearing on the two projects at 5:30 p.m. at its Nov. 6 meeting.

Lynch said incentives are a good investment because property tax liability for Precor, for example, will be $462,000 over the three-year term of the incentives, and it will also be paying salaries and doing business with local suppliers.

“The fact that people want to create quality manufacturing jobs in this area, it’s a good thing,” Lynch said. And his group has been working to recruit other companies for months.

“The pipeline is still full,” he said, despite the recession. “We know that can change going into the first or second quarter, but right now activity remains strong.”

He stressed that neither project is a done deal, but the companies’ continued interest in Guilford County is very encouraging.

The Alliance and the county have been working for about 18 months with Precor, which has decided it needs an East Coast location to help it grow, Lynch said.

Contact Richard M. Barron at 373-7371 or richard.barron@news-record.com