Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corporation

Work begins on RTI site

Jun 4, 2008
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer. RTI International Metals has started grading its site at the Patriot Centre at Beaver Creek to expand the building there and add two new buildings.

RTI, which manufactures titanium products, has purchased the former shell building at the Patriot Centre. It plans to invest $100 million in the facility and create 150 jobs during the next three years.

The company plans to add 79,500 square feet of manufacturing and office space to the 79,480-square-foot building already built, as well as erect two new buildings at the 50-acre site, said Martinsville-Henry County Economic Development Corp. (EDC) President and CEO Mark Heath. Heath said the three buildings combined will comprise more than 300,000 square feet of floor space.

Grading for the new buildings has started. Contractors are “going to grade six days a week, 24 hours a day” until the site is ready, said Heath.

He did not know exactly when construction of the new buildings will start or how long it will take, but he said the construction could start within 30 days and be completed within a year.

Heath showed sketches of RTI’s planned expanded and additional buildings, which will be painted blue and white.

“Blue is their corporate color” and “one of their desires” is to make RTI’s approximately 20 facilities worldwide look similar, Heath said.

The complex will be surrounded by a security fence, and visitors will have to pass by a guardhouse, he said.

The complex will be developed in a way that complements the looks of the industrial park, as well as Henry County and Martinsville, he said.

“Everybody out there (the companies at Patriot Centre) takes pride in their structures,” Heath said.

He said the RTI complex’s appearance will be comparable to the Nautica facility directly across the road.

Right now, RTI is focused on getting its newest plant built and “they’re a ways off” from starting the hiring process, said Heath.

But the EDC still is accepting resumes from people interested in working for the company. Heath estimated the economic development organization has received more than 100 resumes so far. He said they should be e-mailed to the EDC.