Surry Business

“Green” commercial building practices will the topic of the Piedmont Real Estate Council’s monthly meeting March 14 at the Piedmont Club in Winston-Salem, The Business Journal of the Greater Triad reports.

Greg Savage, director of sustainable construction for Mount Airy-based John S. Clark Company, and Rence Callahan, vice president of Walter Robbs Callahan & Pierce, Architects, will present an overview of the emerging environmental trends in commercial buildings.

The meeting is open to the public and runs from 11:30 to 1 p.m. March 14 at the club, 200 W. Second St. Cost: $14. For information, contact Judy Sutherin at 724-7077 or Judy.Sutherin@ourclub.com.

John S. Clark Company LLC in Mount Airy, one of the Triad’s oldest and largest general contractors and a leading design/build company in the Southeast, is donating $25,000 in scholarships to students at five community colleges in areas where the company has operations. The scholarships will also serve to commemorate John S. Clark’s 50th anniversary celebration this year.

John S. Clark Company presented the first $5,000 to the Surry Community College Foundation, which will benefit 10 students attending Surry Community College in Dobson. In coming weeks, the company will also present $5,000 checks at Forsyth Technical Community College, Guilford Technical Community College, Brunswick Community College and Cape Fear Community College.

Each school may award 10 scholarships, half of them to students selected from among the “non-traditional student” category; that is, adult students returning to school due to job loss or downsizing. All scholarship candidates must be full-time students majoring in a curriculum related to the construction industry; be residents of the college’s home county or an adjacent county; be able to demonstrate financial need; and fulfill several other criteria. Administrators at each college will handle the selection process and propose potential scholarship winners to John S. Clark Company.

“With the successes that John S. Clark has enjoyed over the decades, we are fortunate to be in a position to help one of our most valuable assets, our community-college students,” said Richard Vaughn, John S. Clark’s chief executive officer. “The scholarship program represents a continuum in our history of support to communities that sustain us and enrich our lives. And it is equally satisfying that the scholarships will contribute to helping displaced workers prepare for re-entry into the job market.”

John S. Clark Company is one of the oldest and largest general building contractors in North Carolina’s Piedmont Triad and in the Southeast, and a leading provider of in-house design-build services. Founded in 1958, the company has its headquarters in Mount Airy and full-service offices in Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Wilmington.

Bodet & Horst will expand its U.S. operations into Surry County in the coming month.

The company is leasing space at 640 Riverside Drive in Mount Airy where it plans to invest $1.2 million to $1.8 million in machinery and equipment. The company will hire 10 employees initially.

Bodet & Horst produces knitted fire barriers for mattress manufacturers. The company utilizes computerized knitting machines and state-of-the-art robotics technology. The German company has operated a plant in High Point, N.C., since 2004. It now employs 65 people.

Citing this growth, Robin Rhyne, president of the Surry County Economic Development Partnership, said, “We believe that this company has the potential to grow and hire many more people in the near future.”

Jerry Pratt, president of Bodet & Horst, says the availability of experienced workforce in Surry County was a factor in the decision to locate the expansion here.

Pratt, who lives in Surry County, is familiar with the skill sets in the local labor market. He worked with the Surry County Economic Development Partnership and Mount Airy municipal officials for several months to find a suitable building for Bodet & Horst’s expansion.

Mount Airy City Manager Donald Brookshire said, “We are excited to have the company select Mount Airy. They represent the utilization of the workforce in a manner that benefits our community. It is a good fit for our citizens.”

Both the Mount Airy city commissioners and Surry’s county commissioners approved performance-based tax incentives to help Bodet & Horst establish the Mount Airy operations.

Mount Airy-based Surrey Bancorp earned $2.79 million, or $0.78 per fully diluted share, for the year that ended Dec. 31, 2007 — a 5.1 percent increase in profitability from year-end 2006.

For the fourth quarter of 2007, the company reported earnings of $566,706 or $.16 per fully diluted share, down 9.7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2006.

The 2007 increase in annual earnings primarily resulted from overall growth and increases in non-interest income. The decrease in the fourth-quarter earnings was a result of a tightening net interest margin, brought about by a general decrease in interest rates and increases in the provision for loan losses due to loan growth.

Total assets were $211 million at year’s end, an increase of 12.7 percent from the $187 million reported on Dec. 31, 2006. Net loans increased 8.2 percent to $166,456,800, compared to $153,852,006 at the end of the 2006. Asset quality remained strong with delinquency levels and charge-offs in line with industry averages. Loan loss reserves were $2.78 million or 1.64 percent of total loans as of Dec. 31. Total deposits increased 13.3 percent to $171 million, compared to the end of 2006.

Surrey Bancorp (SRYB.OB) is the bank holding company for Surrey Bank & Trust (the “Bank”), both headquartered at 145 N. Renfro St., Mount Airy, North Carolina. The bank operates four full-service branch offices in Surry County at 145 N. Renfro, 1280 W. Pine St. and 2050 Rockford St. in Mount Airy and 653 S. Key St. in Pilot Mountain. It also has a full-service office at 303 S. Main Street in Stuart, Va.

A wholly-owned subsidiary, SB&T Insurance, sells insurance at 199 N. Renfro in Mount Airy. The bank also owns Surrey Investment Services, which provides full-service brokerage and investment advice through an association with UVEST Financial Services, and Freedom Finance, LLC, a sales finance company at 165 N. Renfro in Mount Airy.

The N.C. Secretary of State’s office registered 20 businesses and limited-liability corporations in Surry County last month and has registered 17 in February with a week to go in the month.

Here are the companies registered in January (we’ll post February’s report on March 7):

• Bucky’s Fudge LLC, registered by Michael Curtis Lowery of 153 Chilton Road, Ararat.
• Cave Real Estate Inc., registered by Joyce Watson Cave, 102 Watson Lane, Dobson. Cave is associated with Carolyne Anne Branch at Suite 104, 154 N. Renfro St., Mount Airy. Cave Real Estate previously was registered as an LLC.
• Clayton King Inc. registered by Clayton King, 512 Massey Road, Mount Airy. King’s business interests include heating, air conditioning and plumbing and repairing restaurant equipment including refrigeration systems.
• Double TT’s Conversions & Signs LLC, and registered by Thomas Umstead of 328 Hay St. and Tommy V. Sechrist of 308 E. Norman Road, Mount Airy.
• Fabrica Development Inc. registered by Tom Webb, 1219 W. Lebanon. Fabrica Development is the principal developer of the Borden Lofts project in Goldsboro that will convert the former Borden Manufacturing building (a structure on the National Register of Historic Places; it’s also known as the Goldsboro or Wayne Cotton Mills) into 65 condominiums. Webb’s other business interests include Old North State Winery and Scuppernong’s Restaurant in downtown Mount Airy.
• Granite REI Holdings Inc., registered by Monty K. Venables and Granite/Mayodan LLC, registered by R. Craig Hunter, both at Suite 200, 210 Airport Road, Mount Airy. Venables and Hunter are associated through Granite Development Inc.
• High Country Boats Inc., registered by James M. Robbins, 1887 Eldora Road, Ararat. The incorporator is attorney Hugh B. Campbell III of Mount Airy.
• Hillbilly Country Bar & Grill, 617 N. South St., registered by Kay and Glenn Boyles of 215 Johnson Creek Road in Ararat, Va. Remodeling work at the nightspot — formerly JT’s Sports Bar and more recently South Street Grill and Games — is under way. No opening date has been announced.
• Jessup’s Floor Covering and Interiors Inc. registered by Gilmer R. Jessup, 3170 Cook School Road, Pilot Mountain.
• Lynch Grading LLC registered by Ronnie Lynch, 225 Mountain Loop Road, Pilot Mountain.
• Niland Plumbing LLC at 1415 Fancy Gap Road registered by Josh Cox, 154 Jewell Court, Mount Airy. Cox’s partners include Ronald Niland, 300 Folly Farm Circle, and Robert P. Demcio, 306 Folly Farm Circle.
• PC-Mentor LLC registered by Phillip Fullerton, Unit 2, 119 Royal View Drive in Pinnacle.
• Pruitt Insurance Agency and Pruitt Land Company, both registered by Glenn S. and Wendy Pruitt, 181 Pruitt Farm Lane in Pinnacle.
• Ramey Investments LLC registered by Thomas Dewayne Ramey of 1008 Ramey Creek Road in Lowgap.
• Renaissance Environmental LLC registered by Robert Douglas Holyfield, 4844 Rockford Road in Dobson.
• Richmark Ventures LLC registered by Mark T. King, 571 Carson Road in Pilot Mountain, and Richard H. Layne of 903 Dodson Mill Road in Pilot Mountain.
• Silver Oak LLC registered by Michael Lee Harrell, 286 Farm Brook Road in Mount Airy, in association with Mark E. Randolph of Suite 205, 3288 Robinhood Road in Winston-Salem.
• The Healing House of God, 1214 Paynetown Road in Mount Airy, a religious corporation organized by Sandra and John E. Ford Jr. of 1718 Asherton Drive in Winston-Salem and Qushanta Ford of 301B Windsor Manor Way in Kernersville.

The board of directors at Insteel Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: IIIN) in Mount Airy has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.03 per share on the company’s common stock, payable April 4, 2008, to shareholders of record as of March 21.

Insteel Industries is one of the nation’s largest manufacturers of steel wire reinforcing products for concrete construction applications. The company manufactures and markets prestressed concrete strand and welded wire reinforcement, including concrete pipe reinforcement, engineered structural mesh and standard welded wire reinforcement. Insteel’s products are sold primarily to manufacturers of concrete products used in nonresidential construction.

Headquartered in Surry County, North Carolina, Insteel operates six manufacturing facilities in the United States.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has given the go-ahead for plans to build the Winston-Salem Northern Beltway in Forsyth County, the Winston-Salem Journal reported Saturday.

This step completes the project’s environmental review. Once a pending legal challenge is resolved, the state may begin right-of-way acquisition and construction planning, according to a news release from the N.C. Department of Transportation.

The Northern Beltway consists of a western portion from U.S. 158 north to U.S. 52 and an eastern portion from U.S. 52 north of Winston-Salem to U.S. 311 southeast of Winston-Salem. The project may cost more than $1 billion.

Having work start on the Northern Beltway has long been seen as a requisite step before improvements can upgrade U.S. 52 to interstate status on what’s designated as the Interstate 74, or I-74, corridor between Mount Airy and Winston-Salem.

A new $1-million fund will give state grants of up to $100,000 to small (1-99 employees) North Carolina businesses who develop alternative-energy technologies and “original, pioneering ideas that are both good for the environment and good for the economy.”

The application deadline is April 30.

For information, go to www.ncscienceandtechnology.com.

Bodet & Horst, a German company with facilities in Europe and North Carolina, may open a new plant in Mount Airy.

The Surry County Board of Commissioners on Feb. 18 may approve a tax-incentives package to help Bodet & Horst establish a local facility. Similar action by the Mount Airy Board of Commissioners could follow on Feb. 21. Each board is offering $17,700 to $26,800 — the final amount depends on the company’s actual investment — according to Robin Rhyne, president of the Surry County Economic Development Partnership.

The plant initially will employ 10 people, but Rhyne said she hopes it will grow, much as Bodet & Horst’s 23,000-square-foot High Point facility started three years ago with five employees and now has 65.

The proposed Mount Airy plant will make knitted fire barriers for mattresses. Bodet & Horst claims to be “the world’s leading producer of knitted mattress cover materials” for the international mattress industry and also manufactures spacer fabrics, climate belts, service zippers and other mattress accessories.

One of its High Point managers lives in Surry County and knows the availability of experienced textile workers here, a major reason why Bodet & Horst focused on Mount Airy as a site for the operation that will complement work done in High Point. The manufacturer expects to invest $1.2 million to $1.8 million in machinery and equipment here.

Rhyne said company will pay more than $30,000 in property taxes annually, which will be rebated to the company over its first five years as an incentive grant.

No site for the Mount Airy facility has been announced.

The N.C. Board of Transportation on Feb. 8 awarded contracts totaling more than $106 million for highway improvement projects in 32 counties.

None of the contracts are for projects in Surry County, but Smith-Rowe Inc. of Mount Airy had four winning bids.

The contracts are to:

• Replace the bridge on Rivermont Road (S.R. 1402) over Nancy Rhodes Creek between Cole Mill Road and Rose of Sharon Road in Durham County. Work on the $539,351 project is scheduled to start between March 3 and May 15, and be finished within 180 days.
• Replace the Wallburg-High Point Road (S.R. 1741) bridge over Spurgeon Creek in Thomasville. Work on the $1.2-million project may begin as early as March 3, with final completion scheduled for Nov. 15.
• Replace the N.C. 801 bridge over Fulton Creek in Davie County. Work on the $1.2-million project may begin as early as March 3, with final completion scheduled for June 15, 2009.
• Replace the Mitzpah Church Road (S.R. 1631) bridge over Muddy Creek near Rural Hall in Forsyth County. Work on the $598,671 project may begin between March 15 and June 1, with final completion set for 135 days after work begins.

Now in its 25th year, Smith-Rowe Inc. specializes in bridge, tunnel and elevated highway construction. The company employs about 75 people. Dun & Bradstreets estimates its annual sales at $12.5 million. David Rowe is the company’s president.

The next NCDOT board meeting will begin at 9 a.m. Thursday, March 6, in Room 150 of the Transportation Building at the corner of Wilmington and Morgan streets in downtown Raleigh. On Wednesday, March 5, board committees will begin meeting at 8:30 a.m.