Wake Forest officials want to keep the defense contractor firm of 3Phoenix in town and to help it flourish here. With that in mind, the Wake Forest commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday night for a $90,000 grant to the firm to help with the construction of its third building on Capcom Avenue.
They voted for the grant with the assurance 3Phoenix’s continued growth in town will benefit the town and its residents.
First, the estimated tax value of the third building will add about $3.5 million to the tax base. Second, 3Phoenix will hire a “substantial number” of new employees to fill the building, which might hold up to 100 employees. Those new employees will be paid salaries comparable to current employees or about $100,000 per year. That is about double the average annual salary in Wake Forest.
The commissioners are looking at increased demand for housing and services as a result of the new employees as well as the increase in the tax base, which is currently an estimated $4.2 billion. “The board believes this project will stimulate and stabilize the local economy and result in the creation of a substantial number of new, permanent job.”
The alternative was that 3Phoenix could move its expansion plans to another location. 3Phoenix has other engineering facilities in Chantilly, Va., and Hanover, Md.
3Phoenix broke ground for its first Wake Forest building May 2, 2010. The building is used to build submarine mast systems for the U.S. Navy, but the company has several other U.S. Department of Defense contracts.
There are about 90 employees in the first building. The second building, which should be complete this July, will hold about 110 employees.
The third building can be accommodated on the site, and planning is already underway for its construction, which could begin in the second quarter of 2016.
The town plans to provide the $90,000 cash grant in three installments of $30,000 each beginning on June 17 and afterward on Dec. 1 and Feb. 1, 2015.
“We are extremely pleased to have 3Phoenix in Wake Forest,” Mayor Vivian Jones said Wednesday. “They continue to grow and offer excellent jobs for our residents. They also are hiring high school students as interns, which is a great benefit for the community. I am glad that we are able to help them achieve their goals.”
“It is really exciting to have an existing industry growing,” Marla Akridge, the president of the Wake Forest Chamber of Commerce, said. “The new positions have great salaries and we see additional growth for the future for 3Phoenix.” The chamber staffs and provides the town’s economic development program.
The money will come from the town’s Futures Fund, which was established after the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) sold the abandoned Parker-Hannifin factory and land to developer Jim Adams for the planned Wake Union Place shopping center. The IDC realized $2.2 million from the sale after fees and other expenses and promptly donated the money to the town and dissolved itself.
The IDC was created to buy the land on Capital Boulevard (then U.S. 1) and build the factory for Schrader Brothers, the first large employer to come to town after Wake Forest College moved to Winston-Salem in 1956. After the bonds were paid off in 1984, the town refused to accept ownership of the property, preferring to have it on the property tax books.
The town has used the money to provide start-up funds for the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina and a line of credit. There was an initial grant of $308,312 to the center and for other economic development expenses and then a $948,950 loan to the center.
On April 27 the fund was at $1,076,720, town Finance Director Aileen Staples said. The town had received an interest payment of $35,000 from the center, but there were also two encumbrances, $26,050 remaining funds committed to the wireless center and the $90,000 the town board agreed on for 3Phoenix. The current available balance is $995,670.09.
