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An exercise equipment manufacturer will be adding 142 jobs to Greensboro during the next three years as part of its planned construction of a plant.

Precor Inc., an international manufacturer of physical fitness equipment, is building a $26.2 million, 225,000-square-foot building.

That followed a decision in November by the Guilford County Board of Commissioners to approve $294,000 in incentives.

Guilford County had been in competition with Columbia, S.C., and Nashville, Tenn.

"We did a national search and Guilford County was among a short list of locations and won out after a pretty rigorous, yearlong search," Precor sopkesman Jim Zahniser said. "That's a compliment to Guilford County."

There were a number of reasons why the company chose Guilford County, including the location on the east coast, quality of the employment base and the economic incentives, he said.

"The majority of our customers are east of the Mississippi," Zahniser said. "We're a global company, supplying European commercial business with commercial strength product also. Our current facility is in California and freight costs are getting to be an increasingly large item."

The Guilford County facility will manufacture strength equipment, such as the arm and leg press machines often found at the gym.

It's an area of the company that has seen significant growth, he said.

"The driver of all this is our commercial strength business is very dynamic and high growth area," Zahniser said.

The size of the current facility has been doubled once and is still exceeding capacity.

"We anticipate further growth and the facility in Valencia isn't big enough to keep up with the increasing gap in demand and production capability," he said. "We needed to grow the facility."

Precor, founded in 1980, has its headquarters outside of Seattle. Last year the company posted revenues of $411 million.

Salaries for the new positions will vary by job type, but the average wage will be $38,456 not including benefits.

That's more than the Guilford County average annual wage of $37,700.

The project was made possible in part by a $142,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund, Gov. Mike Easley said in a press release Wednesday.

More information including job opportunities at precor.com

Staff Writer Lanita Withers contributed to this story.