Who’s #1? – Biggest Job Announcement Busts – Part #3

We’re up to the biggest two Job Busts in the area. We’ve covered a bunch of them in Part #1 and Part #2 but it’s time to finish the list and find out Who’s #1! Let’s start off with a #2 that almost made the top of the list…

#2: Web Parts LLC – When I think of Guatemala, I immediately think of high-tech computer companies that are ready to move to Danville and become giants in the high-tech field. Actually, that’s wrong. I think of a country that gets destroyed every five years by a hurricane and in the time between rebuilds, they export bananas. Lots of bananas.

Speaking of bananas, that’s what Danville Economic Development Office, the Tobacco Commission and anybody involved with the Web Parts move could have their mental state described as for thinking that this company’s business plan would succeed in Danville. So far, Web Parts moved into the Masonic Temple with a promise of 100 jobs Real Soon Now. They ended up at around 10 or so before the owner (Brad Mainland) went into Napoleon-mode, firing people and then firing people whose offense was being friends to the people that he had just fired. But wait, there’s more. As the owner’s empire was starting to get smaller and smaller, he left the Masonic Temple and is now with his remaining employees running whatever in the hell business that he has out of his house on Main St.

But don’t you worry, friends. Napoleon is plotting his triumphant return to Downtown Danville because he’s bought an office building that will have an Internet cafe and also… wait for it… VENDING MACHINES! And those vending machines of blissfulness will have things like aspirin and batteries for sale! You may ask, what in the hell does this have to do with a high-tech Guatemalan company that has promised 100 jobs paying $65K a year? The answer is a clear “Not A Damned Thing”. It’s another diversion that will never happen. $1,000,000 of Tobacco Commission money… and all Danville got was a Job Bust.

And now it’s time for what you all have been waiting for… the #1 Job Bust of the area.

#1 – The White Mill – In the summer of 2009, there was a giant press conference at City Hall to announce “400 jobs coming to the White Mill Complex”. Every facet of economic development was there, and all of the City Council members made a speech about how the White Mill project would change Danville and make it a destination for high-tech businesses.

It never happened. The proposed supercomputer ended up in the Old Belt building off Craghead Street. All traces of the White Mill development project (which even had its own blog for a while) have been scrubbed from the internet. John Gieser, the front man for Gibbs International and the development company is no longer with the company. The building is renovated but there’s nothing there nor is anything planned or rumored to be locating there. Non-surprisingly, Tobacco Commission and Danville Regional Foundation money went into this project that has turned out to be a flop.

It seems that the city learned a lesson from having this giant dog-and-pony show about something that was actually nothing. We haven’t seen such a spectacle of this nature since, and I doubt if we ever will again. Back then, I rightfully called it out as nothing, yet but I saw the potential that it would work. I got half of that prediction right.

There’s one part that you definitely can’t blame on this Job Bust, and that’s the building itself. The White Mill refused to burn down even after multiple fire incidents. That’s unlike it’s sister building across the river. That one caught on fire relatively easily and got the investors off the financial hook for buying such an unsalvageable property. The White Mill (or whatever the hell it is now) is a clear #1 on the biggest Job Busts in the area.

So there you have it, folks. What did I miss on this countdown of doom? Comments are open!