On the hill above the City of Spencer, behind the Armacell warehouse, sits a 149, 280 sq. ft. building that once housed the Spencer Veneer Plant. Now filled with misc. stored materials, and debris, sitting on 38 acres of real estate it’s waiting for its opportunity. Crystal Laughlin Mersh of NEWCO, her partners and investors are hoping that opportunity has come for them.
Through the help of Mark Whitley, Executive Director of the Roane County Economic Development Authority (EDA), Crystal and her staff toured the facility on Thursday, March 24 to view the viability of the space for a high tech manufacturing plant for continual processing of pharmaceuticals. Should the plant come to fruition in Roane County it would add an additional 500 jobs in the plant and 100 in the back office. The funding will come from Crystal, her business partners, venture capital as well as State and Federal funds. With a current unemployment rate of 8.6%, Roane County, like most counties, could use the boost in the economy. Roane General Hospital is currently the largest employer in Roane County employing approximately 109 employees. Newco would surpass that by 500 should Mersh and her business partners succeed in purchasing the Industrial building.
