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Smoke rises above the QVC Distribution Center after a fire on Dec. 18, 2021.

Smoke rises above the QVC Distribution Center after a fire on Dec. 18, 2021.

During a question-and-answer session following a presentation by Carolinas Gateway Partnership President and CEO Norris Tolson to the Rocky Mount Rotary Club, Mayor Sandy Roberson’s Chief of Staff Cary Cox wanted to know whether there is any interest in the former QVC distribution facility off U.S. 64 in Edgecombe County.

Tolson replied in the affirmative and said that when the fire occurred at the facility in the early morning hours of Dec. 18, 2021, QVC had about 65,000-75,000 pallets or truckloads of material on-site.

“And so they’ve been very, very busy moving product off the site,” Tolson told the club’s luncheon gathering on Monday. “About 60 percent of that site is still viable.”

Tolson emphasized that means that of what was 1.2 million square feet at the site, there is about 650,000 square feet of usable building.

Tolson also said QVC representatives told him and his team last week the company had received offers for the site from a couple of people.

“We’ve actually got it under consideration by a company that’s interested in manufacturing solar panels on that site,” he said. “So I think we’ll get somebody out there as soon as QVC is ready to turn it loose.

“They started to — they’re getting close.”

QVC is the network based northwest of Philadelphia that focuses on offering viewers a televised, in-home shopping experience. QVC is part of the Qurate Retail Group, which is a Denver-area-based media conglomerate.

The Telegram reported on April 7 that QVC said in a news release a decision had been made not to rebuild the facility in Edgecombe County.

The fire was reported at 2:06 a.m. on Dec. 18, 2021, which was a Saturday. One of the workers at the QVC facility, Kevon Ricks, 21, was killed in the fire.

Earlier during the question-and-answer session on Monday, Nash County Commissioner Fred Belfield asked whether there have been thoughts about any alternatives to large industries if anything happens to them and they decide to shut down.

Belfield cited the fire at the QVC facility.

Tolson said QVC prior to the fire had 3,000 people working at the facility, with more than 1,900 of them having been full-time employees and with the rest having been contractors.

Tolson said five months after the fire, 1,600 of those people had been placed somewhere else, either in Edgecombe County or elsewhere in the region.

“There is a workforce development group that is supposed to help people get placed in other jobs,” he said.

He also referred to news reports on Friday that Sandoz, a division of pharmaceutical giant Novartis, plans to shut down its plant in Wilson next year. The plant employs about 240 people.

“They’ll be absorbed in the industry,” he said. “There’s some pharmaceutical companies down in Greenville that are desperate to hire people.”

He also said he and his team know that at pharmaceuticals giant Pfizer’s plant at North Wesleyan Boulevard and N.C. 4 and at the Cummins Rocky Mount Engine Plant off U.S. 301 just southwest of Whitakers, their respective attrition rates run from 5 percent to 8 percent a year.

Tolson emphasized that if one takes the Pfizer plant alone at 3,300 employees and does the math, then one can see 5 percent of 3,300 is a lot of people one has to find to fill positions.

He said other plants, such as the one Sara Lee Frozen Bakery has off U.S. 258 southwest of Tarboro, are in the same boat.

“So we’re always looking to fill the workforce, but the new people, Fred, that we’re going to have to have available sometime in the 2025 range, we’re looking at a minimum of 3,000 — minimum of 3,000,” Tolson told Belfield in reference to anticipated future economic development.

“So we’re starting to talk to the colleges and the community colleges about: How are you going to be able to help us locate those people, get ’em trained up — and have ’em ready to go to work?” he said.

The president and CEO of the Carolinas Gateway Partnership told the Rocky Mount Rotary Club the Kingsboro megasite off U.S. 64 in Edgecombe Co…

www.RockyMountTelegram.com 1151 Falls Road Suite 2008 Rocky Mount, NC 27804 Main Phone: 252-446-5161 Customer Care Phone: 252-329-9505

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