Arneg chooses Davidson County for a cool $1.6 million incentives package.
Now we know why Davidson County Economic Development Commission director Steve Googe was a bit mumbly while discussing the incentives package with county commissioners back in January:
Googe also offered his apologies for a recruitment process complicated by the early release of the company’s name and what he called “the greed of a real estate agent” who sought to lure Arneg to Guilford County.
The company was originally granted incentives in January under the name “Project Freeze,” the first of two code names the company would be given to protect its anonymity during the recruitment process.
At the same time, the EDC was attempting to secure the building formerly occupied by Mepla-Alfit for Arneg’s new operation.
Googe said at Monday’s press conference that the name of the company was leaked to the media from a closed session.
However, during a Jan. 9 meeting of the Davidson County Board of Commissioners, Googe mumbled the name of the company in open session and would later refuse to repeat it to reporters who inquired. The Dispatch subsequently verified that the company in question was Arneg, a fact it reported alongside several other media outlets.
That information, Googe said, led the agent overseeing the Mepla-Alfit property to contact Arneg and offer the company a building in High Point, promising a lower price tag and a richer incentives package.
“I typically don’t get into the private parts of the deal, but this is totally unacceptable. It was to us, and it certainly was to the company. They came back to us and let us know what happened,” Googe said.
This is strange, because I’m not sure what kind of real estate agent has the power to offer up incentives packages on behalf of local governments. I can’t help but get the feeling that Googe is offering up this bit of information to cover his own awkward handling of the situation. By the same token, is it hard to believe that High Point would resort to such clandestine tactics to lure a company?
