Business

$1M grant will help maker of GO campers expand

By Bill Moss, Published: September 1, 2016

Transylvania County received a $1 million Golden Leaf Foundation to construct a 50,000-square-foot light industrial building on Ecusta Road for outdoor gear manufacturer SylvanSport, which has seen huge sales growth of its GO camping trailers. 

The grant will be used to implement a project that includes $100,000 for enhanced Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) instruction at the high school level and $1 million for the SylvanSport building.

The Transylvania Economic Alliance in partnership with the City of Brevard, Transylvania County and Transylvania County Schools announced the grant.

The $1M Golden Leaf Foundation support will be leveraged by the contribution of a six-acre site owned by the City of Brevard coupled with funding support from Transylvania County to construct the building. When completed, approximately 30,000 square feet of the facility will be immediately leased to SylvanSport, which  projects future business and job growth. The remaining square footage will be available to other light industrial businesses. Lease revenues from the project will be used to recoup the initial investment with a percentage of returns directed towards a reinvestment fund to acquire future sites and other building initiatives.

The majority of the remaining $100,000 will be used to buy state-of-the-art equipment for technology, engineering and design courses offered through Transylvania County Schools. Classroom instruction will utilize LEGO pre-engineer kits specifically tailored to help teach concepts related to robotics, computer programming, industrial design and other related career fields.

“These innovative course offerings further demonstrate our school system’s commitment to connect classroom instruction with real-world applications that translate to high-wage, high-skill careers.” said Jeff McDaris, Superintendent of Transylvania County Schools.

According to Chairman Mark Tooley of the Transylvania Economic Alliance, “An enormous amount of work has gone into this project from many different organizations, including staff from Transylvania County, the City of Brevard, Transylvania County Schools, Blue Ridge Community College and various volunteer board members and economic development allies. We are pleased by the community collaboration that led to this award, and thankful to our elected officials for being in a position to move forward with a tangible project. We are especially grateful to the leadership at SylvanSport – for their passion and desire to grow in Transylvania County. Their willingness to be part of this unique grant proposal allowed the community to demonstrate short- and long-term job creation, a critical component of our grant request.”

“On behalf of the SylvanSport team I would like to express my gratitude to the community leadership for everything they have done to get this project off the ground. Our growing company looks forward to a long-term future in Transylvania County,” said Tom Dempsey, Founder and President of SylvanSport.