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by Kevin Griffin, Hickory Daily Record
Click here for the original article and additonal video from the Hickory Daily Record.

Conover Manager Rom Hart said the goal is to have the new Manufacturing Solutions Center building finished this year.  Photo by Robert C. Reed, Hickory Daily Record

Workers began installing the roof of the new Manufacturing Solutions Center in Conover this week.

On Wednesday, they lifted packs of insulation onto the building for installation. The arrival of some roof components has allowed the city to move forward after weeks of supply delays.

Conover City Manager Tom Hart said there was at least one seven-week delay involved in getting the roof.

Hart said he did not know when the roof will be completely finished but praised the work of Matthews Construction workers in doing as much as they could despite some of the constraints they faced.

“They’ve got a lot of the utility systems and stuff like that, like your electrical and the plumbing, they’ve got that about as in as you can get it before you start adding drywall,” Hart said.

He has hesitated to say when, exactly, the building will be complete, but the goal is to have the structure completed this year.

Construction on the new $8.3 million, 75,000-square-foot building began last spring.

The structure is intended to add space for the center to serve its clients and provide an informational clearinghouse. Part of the building will be used by private companies.

The new building will free up space in the original Manufacturing Solutions Center for testing of personal protective equipment.

The city received $9 million in federal COVID-19 money appropriated by the state to assist with the project.

The Manufacturing Solutions Center dates to the late 1980s. That’s when a group from the hosiery industry asked Catawba Valley Community College to develop a training center. The center was established in 1990 and has become a testing site for local manufacturers, according to the center’s website.

 

 

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