Fabrication company relocating to Floyd

An industrial metal fabricator hopes to tap into the local workforce of the county where the company is relocating its operations.

Thomas Industrial Fabrication plans to relocate 28 employees from its current location in Patrick County to Floyd County by the end of the summer. The company bought the property at 296 Commerce Center Drive NE for $735,000 from the Economic Development Authority of Floyd County.

John Paul Thomas and his wife, Kelly, own the company and live in Floyd. John Paul Thomas says a big draw for the relocation was the vocational program in the Floyd school system. “It is a big deal,” Thomas says.

Thomas adds the new facility is bigger than the company’s current one and gives Thomas Industrial Fabrication room to grow.

Floyd’s EDA has owned the Commerce Center Drive property since December 2018 when it bought it for $825,000, says Lydeana Martin, the director of Floyd’s EDA. Floyd’s board of supervisors loaned the EDA money to purchase the 11-acre site.

Floyd’s EDA can buy the property back for the price it sold it for if Thomas Industrial Fabrication tries to sell the site in the next five years, Martin says. The EDA’s purchase permitted the addition of deed restrictions to the property and reservation of access to it.

Martin says the Thomas Industrial Fabrication deal made sense for Floyd because of the number of local students who graduate with welding skills; existing complementary businesses that work in metal; and the fact that the company already had roots in Floyd.

“It’s a really good fit with our workforce,” Martin says.