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Orkand to close Sylva operation

By Lisa Majors-Duff
Approaching the end of their two-year, rent-free agreement at the former Buster Brown building, Orkand Corp. has announced it will leave Sylva in October.

The announcement was made Tuesday (Aug. 15) by Economic and Development Commission Chairman Tom McClure during a joint meeting of the governmental units of Jackson County and its four incorporated towns. Orkand, he said, has never done the business they'd expected to do in Sylva and no longer feels it beneficial to remain.

A data and document management service headquartered in Falls Church, Va., Orkand expected to employ about 200 by the time their two-year, rent-free status expired this November. Those numbers never materalized, McClure said.

Contracts for services between Orkand and the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville were not extended beyond Sept. 30, said Orkand marketing director Barton Greer. Without that contract, he said, the company could not justify keeping the Sylva operation open.

Paula Daugherty, the last Orkand employee on staff in Sylva, said at its height the company retained 10 people here. Of those, five were hired locally, she said. Pregnant and unsure of her future employment status, Daughtery said her last day on the job will be Sept. 30.

The silver lining to the story, McClure said, is that another firm from the Washington, D.C., area is interested in moving a portion of its business to Sylva with 50 to 60 jobs expected to be offered to area residents. Though McClure would not name the company involved, he did say their starting salaries would be equivalent to starting faculty salaries at Western Carolina University. An announcement could be made within two weeks, he said.

Orkand was the first company to occupy the former Buster Brown plant after it was purchased by Jackson County and the town of Sylva. Ownership of the building was then transferred to the Jackson Development Corp., a private, non-profit corporation created by the Jackson County EDC. The JDC signed a lease with Orkand in November 1998, the terms of which called for a two-year rent abatement on the property.

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