Highlands Business Park Occupants

Highlands Business Park has three occupants and 10 lots available for development.

A new industry to the region, Gates Corporation, a Denver-based manufacturer of hydraulic assemblies, moved into a shell building in the park in 2007 and currently employs more than 200. In 2010, a Washington County business, General Engineering, expanded its operations and built a 50,000 square foot facility in the park. The park’s first tenant was Appalachian Power Company that operates a regional service center from the park.

Gates Corporation

Since the beginning, Gates Corporation officials have praised the excellent location for its manufacturing facility in Highlands Business Park and the quality of the workforce and applicants they received at start-up and today. A second Gates product line is also being produced in the manufacturing facility today which operates four work teams 24 hours a day, seven days a week. “The counties are great to work with,” said Bob Atwood, plant manager of the Glade Spring plant. “Our customers expect a quality product and our growth here has been phenomenal.”

General Engineering Company

When General Engineering Co., a manufacturer of hydraulic cylinders used primarily in the mining, construction, water well, and gas/oil exploration industries, outgrew its facility in Washington County, company President John Owens began looking for an expansion site to house large equipment that would allow the company to take advantage of “high production cycle manufacturing.” Owens said his company also looked in West Virginia and Tennessee for a new site, but decided to expand in Highlands Business Park in a five to seven-year time frame. Phase one of the expansion was the construction of a 50,000 square foot building on a 20-acre lot in the park. “With growth comes the need for additional floor space and new equipment, and this expansion allows us to access the newest technology in high production manufacturing,” said Owens.