RALEIGH – North Carolina’s Rural Infrastructure Authority recently awarded five grant requests that it says will create more than 130 jobs and attract $68.3 million in investment from the private sector.

The grants total nearly $1.4 million.

The grants:

Three grant requests under the state’s Building Reuse Program in two categories:

Vacant Building Category

  • Yadkin County: A $75,000 grant will support the reuse of a 1,684-square-foot building in Yadkinville. Hospice of Surry County, Inc. (d/b/a Mountain Valley), a hospice healthcare provider serving 18 counties in North Carolina and Virginia, plans to establish a location at this facility. The project is expected to create 8 jobs, with an accompanying private investment of $133,337.

Existing Business Building Category

  • Granville County: A $500,000 grant will support the renovation of a 355,000-square-foot building in Creedmoor. The building is occupied by Altec Industries, Inc., a provider of products and services to the electric utility, telecommunications, tree care, lights and signs, and contractor markets. The company expects to create 70 jobs and invest $30,927,478 in this project.
  • Vance County: A $75,000 grant will support the renovation of a 4,500-square-foot building in Henderson. The building’s occupant, Versatrim, LLC, is a Henderson-based provider of moldings for the flooring industry. Through this project, the company plans to create 15 jobs while investing $106,498.

Two grants under the Industrial Development Fund – Utility Account program:

  • Town of Spring Hope (Nash County): A $434,730 grant will assist the Town with construction of a 3,675-linear-foot extension of a water line in order to provide public water to the Bass Farm Sausage meat-packing facility. This extension is also expected to facilitate growth of additional commercial development in the area. The project supports an expansion at Bass Farm Sausage, in which the company is expected to create 40 jobs while investing $2.2 million.
  • Pitt County: A $300,000 grant will assist the County with construction of a 13,500-linear-foot transmission water line from an existing elevated storage tank to the Ayden Rail Site, which will support current and future growth in the surrounding Ayden industrial district. The Ayden Rail Site is the largest certified industrial site (through the ElectriCities Smart Sites program) in Pitt County. These water infrastructure improvements are expected to benefit multiple ongoing economic development projects, attracting new jobs and private investment totaling at least $35 million.