It’s true. Ashley Furniture is moving to Davie County, converting the old Reynolds building on Baltimore Road into a distribution and manufacturing center that will employ at least 550 people.
Ashley didn’t just look at a map and pick Davie County.
It took a lot of work by a lot of people.
Davie Economic Development Director Terry Bralley has spent more than a year on the project, dealing with state, company and local officials. Ashley looked at other sites, in other states, and it was up to Bralley and his team to convince the company that the Davie site is right, the employees are here and ready to be trained and work.
Now, it’s up to state and local officials to handle the incentives packages that helped lure the company here.
On May 14, county commissioners unanimously approved four resolutions that state what those incentives are, and the county’s role in making it happen.
The county will:
• provide $2.5 million (through the Golden Leaf Foundation) at closing, to be reimbursed by Ashley through lease payments on equipment;
• all local permitting fees will be waived, totaling an estimated $240,000;
• $37,505 match for a Rural Center Grant; and
• a local cash incentive of 75 percent return of new taxes generated for five years.
The site is valued at $10 million …