By Mary King, Staff Writer
From the January 17, 1985 edition of The Salem Times-Register
Dillard Paper company, a multimillion-dollar wholesale distribution business, has announced plans to expand its Roanoke operations to Salem late this year by constructing a new plant off Apperson Drive.
The company will invest approximately $2.5 million in the plant; however, city council resolved Monday night to pay for all costs of rights of way and adjustment of utilities and to keep up the access road to the plant.
Although the city has yet to determine its total investment in the plant, the business should bring the city approximately $80,000 yearly in revenues, according to City Manager Bill Paxton.
The company plans to purchase 10 to 14 acres off Apperson Drive beside Wiley Construction Co. to locate the three-acre plant. The independently owned company has already applied for industrial revenue financing to cover land acquisition, construction, equipment and furnishings.
“Construction is scheduled to begin as soon as the weather breaks,” said Dalla Peoples, vice president and general manager of the Roanoke Plant. “As for the opening date, our optimistic guess is late summer.”
The new plant will provide initial employment of 50, with total employment expected to reach 75. However, according to Paxton, some jobs will be filled by workers from the Roanoke plant.
Peoples said the primary reason for expansion is lack of adequate space, rail sidings, and visibility. “We’ve just outgrown the space here,” Peoples said of the 40-year-old Roanoke plant. “We only have two available acres here and the building we need would take up three acres.
The vice president noted the company looked allover the Roanoke Valley before choosing the Salem Location. “The site has good access to rail sidings and highways and it has good visibility,” Peoples said.
City Council has requested the Virginia Highway Commission allocate construction funds for an industrial access road to the plant off Apperson Drive. However, if the company fails to complete the plant within 12 months, they must incur that cost. Peoples said he fully expects the plant to meet the deadline.
Dillard Paper Company, now entering its 59th year of operation, owns 19 subsidiary operations located in seven states. The company also owns a plastic plant in Thomasville, N.C., and a packaging and converting plants in Greensboro, N.C.
The company was started in 1926 in Lynchburg as a family business. Today the corporate office is located in Greensboro, N.C. with John H. Dillard serving as president.
-Prepared by Shelly Koon
