If economic development can be compared to a baseball game, then Mount Airy has struck out twice with Aerial Machine and Tool.

The defense contractor based in Patrick County, Va., recently decided to open its third plant in the county seat at Stuart, a project for which Mount Airy also was in the running.

That expansion initially has created about 20 jobs, with more workers expected to be hired soon by the company experiencing a growth period with the increased U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and its continuing occupation of Iraq.

The move to Stuart was triggered by production demands for fire-suppression kits that protect fuel tanks of military transport vehicles under enemy attack, requiring the company to double its production of them and hire new employees right away. Aerial Machine and Tool has added more than 100 workers in the past year.

In September 2008, the company headquartered in Vesta, Va., chose to open a satellite plant in a leased building in Ararat, Va., rather than a location in Mount Airy. A lackluster effort by a Surry Economic Development Partnership official, who since has resigned, was blamed for the city losing out on that project.

But Aerial Machine and Tool’s latest rejection of Mount Airy was due more to “bad luck than anything,” according to Dean Brown, a member of the city board of commissioners. Brown had been actively pursuing the Aerial expansion for this community along with Deborah Cochran, a fellow commissioner.

While Virginia’s ability to offer more incentives than North Carolina has been a factor with some projects, Brown explained that the latest Aerial expansion simply came down to the availability of a building suitable for the company.

Aerial is renting 15,000 square feet in a former Spencer’s Inc. building in Stuart owned by Buddy Williams, a member of a Patrick County family long prominent in the business community there. The Mount Airy site that was in contention is owned by local businessman Dean Bray Jr.

A published report from Virginia indicated that Williams made more space available in the old Spencer’s building than was originally requested so Aerial “could move right in.”

Patrick economic-development officials and Williams were praised by Aerial President John Marcaccio for making the process go “easily and smoothly,” which he said expedited the company’s decision to expand to Stuart.

When reached Thursday afternoon at his office in Virginia, Marcaccio said he could not discuss the expansion decision then due to being pressed for time.

However, Brown said he doesn’t think the move was any reflection on Mount Airy’s industrial-recruitment abilities. “It wasn’t anything we did wrong,” he said, indicating that the situation involved one community being able to supply accommodations that another couldn’t under the time frame desired.

“I think it was a matter of space. They offered instant space and additional space that couldn’t be offered here,” Brown added.

“They really cut him a deal (on the building), from what I understand,” he said of the competitors in Stuart, which like Mount Airy, also has suffered from industry closings in recent years.

“Debbie and I had made trips up there to talk with (Marcaccio) and she’s been on the phone with him several times,” Brown said.

In addition to the efforts by the two city commissioners, Martin Collins, Mount Airy’s community development director, pursued the Aerial expansion. “Martin worked real closely with (the company),” Brown said. “Martin’s from up there (in Patrick County) — he’s ‘one of the boys’ there.”

Cochran said Thursday that while she isn’t knowledgeable about exactly what occurred in the final stages of the latest Aerial expansion, the fact the company already had a foothold in Patrick — with two other plants there — was a likely factor.

“I’m just guessing, though,” she said.

City Making Headway

Despite the setback with Aerial Machine and Tool, Brown said he believes Mount Airy’s economic-development program is on the right track.

Last week, the city commissioners approved a $472,178 incentive package for an unnamed manufacturer considering a new facility in Piedmont Triad West Corporate Park. Incentives for two other companies interested in launching operations in existing buildings in Mount Airy will be considered at another meeting next week.

Altogether, those three projects could create about 300 jobs.

“We’ve made some great changes in the last couple of months and things are looking good for additional industries other than the three we’ve been talking about,” Brown said. “I’ve met with a couple of other companies that (haven’t been) mentioned yet.”

Local efforts have gotten a boost with the recent hiring of a new president for the Surry Economic Development Partnership, the lead recruitment entity in the county, and Brown is hopeful for the future.

Contact Tom Joyce at tjoyce@mtairynews.com or at 719-1924.