Beaufort County to Receive Offer on Quick Start II | Eastern North Carolina Now

    The Beaufort County Commissioners met in closed session today to decide the future of the ill-fated Quick Start II, "shell building", resting on 6 acres in Beaufort County's Industrial Park. When the county commissioners emerged from the closed session, they voted 6 to 1 (Commissioners Richardson, Deatherage, Langley, Cayton, Klemm, McRoy voted affirmative, Booth voted negative) to unload the building, in principle, for $1,050,000.00 to a yet to be announced suitor, thus beginning the upset bid process, which gives anyone from the public the right to upset the bid in a 10 day period once the official written contract has been ratified.

    The verbal agreement to sell will be encumbered with certain conditions: natural gas must be piped to the building at an expense other than the county's, 35 jobs must be created within 18 months, and there must be no net loss of jobs from the suitor, who is already located in Beaufort County. Enforcement of these conditions have not been discussed as of yet; however, these conditions must be ironed out, and enforceable if a deal is to be finally consummated.

    Beaufort County's Quick Start II is the ill-fated building, owned by the public, that was sold by the Beaufort County EDC, and their director, Tom Thompson, as an essential component to draw industry to Beaufort County. Now after over 4 years of vacancy, ongoing maintenance costs and no real prospects identified, Beaufort County will now have to take its lumps - take the loss, create and save jobs, further natural gas into the industrial park, and vow to never build another "shell building" - no Quick Start III.

    Not on my watch. But then again, when has that ever mattered?

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