In the search to fill a vacant warehouse at Bulloch County’s Gateway Regional Industrial Park, the Development Authority of Bulloch County found a suitor in one of the country’s most prominent roofing manufacturers.
    Gov. Nathan Deal and the Bulloch County Development Authority announced Thursday that building materials manufacturer GAF will open a 300,000 square-foot manufacturing facility in the Gateway I section of the park.
    The plant will produce polyisocyanurate, an insulation material used with GAF’s commercial roofing applications.
    The new facility will provide 50 full-time jobs for Statesboro and the surrounding area, according to Benjy Thompson, Chief Executive Officer of the Development Authority. Production could begin by mid-2012, he said.
    “We welcome GAF to Bulloch County and are fortunate to have another company make a significant capital investment in our community and provide much needed jobs to our area,” said David Holland, chairman of the Bulloch County Development Authority, in a news release from the Governor’s Office.
    With its $4.7 million purchase of the warehouse, GAF will join the adjacent Walmart Distribution Center, Briggs and Stratton and Great Dane Trailers in the Industrial Park.
    “I think this is a great thing for Bulloch County,” said Thompson. “It is a really efficient, positive use of a facility that we already own. I think it is a great thing that we have a manufacturer coming, and it is a great thing that a manufacturer with the reputation of GAF is coming.”
    For GAF, which has production facilities in Savannah and Cumming, the polyisocyanurate-producing plant will be the company’s first.
    “We are opening our first polyisocyanurate roof insulation plant in response to continued industry demand, and we believe it will greatly strengthen our position in the commercial roofing business, as well as giving us the ability to produce residential sheathing products,” said Bob Tafaro, President and Chief Executive Officer at GAF, in the release.
    According to Thompson, the company chose to locate in Statesboro for factors that include: proximity to railroads to import materials (a rail-spur will be routed to the facility), convenience in serving a large portion of its customer base in Florida and throughout the Southeast, and access to a skilled workforce.
     “I think the facility fits their needs really well, and manufacturing jobs are always good jobs to bring into the county,” said Thompson. “It is not an obvious time for any community to be signing a new business in this economy. It just doesn’t happen very much. I think that says a lot about our county and the foresight the development authority and the county had with the Industrial Park.”
    “GAF’s expansion and investment makes a very significant statement about the company’s commitment to Georgia,” said Deal, “and is another example of how our competitive assets for expanding companies help us create meaningful opportunities for the people and communities throughout the state.”
    Work to ready the facility — importing machinery, retrofitting the building and laying the rail spur — is scheduled to begin immediately, according to Thompson.
   
    Jeff Harrison can be reached at (912) 489-9454.