Deal would add building to park

Ground could be broken on a second speculative building in Columbia County's Horizon South Industrial Park in as soon as three months.

Zack Daffin, the executive director of the Development Authority of Columbia County, said Wednesday the county is in talks with a private investor that would finance part of the proposed 50,000-square-foot building.

The building would be marketed to a light- to medium-industrial tenant.

"We think there is an ample and good market for this size facility and it gets us involved in many of the projects that might be forthcoming," Mr. Daffin said.

He would not name the private investor until a formal agreement is signed later this month.

Mr. Daffin estimated the cost of the building, which will basically be a shell with a completed or partially completed slab floor, to be between $1.2 million and $1.5 million.

"This deal does not require any local public cash infusion," Mr. Daffin said.

The authority has secured a state grant for $140,566 and an interest-free federal loan for $450,000. The remainder would be financed by the private investor, Mr. Daffin said.

The authority's first speculative building was a 128,000-square-foot structure, also located in the Horizon South development off Wrightsboro Road near Interstate 20 in Grovetown. That building was purchased by Deere & Co. in 2002 and is used as a warehouse to support its John Deere assembly plants.

Mr. Daffin said the authority also is considering additional speculative buildings in its long-range planning.

Reach J. Scott Trubey at 868-1222, ext. 109, or jeffery.trubey@augustachronicle.com.