Industry Moving to Monticello

Grading was to begin this week for a new plant in the Monticello industrial park that will bring 15 jobs to Jasper County with at least 10 more anticipated over the next three years.

MetzgerMoore, Inc., is a metal fabrication enterprise that participates in architectural applications such as stairwells, entry gates, decks, railings and myriad other ornamental and functional applications.

Examples of their work include the lobby staircase at the new Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta and residential applications in homes of Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and entertainer Elton John.
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Principals in the company are Tom Metzger and Tom Moore who became friends when they attended St. Augustine Catholic Church in Covington. For the past six years the plant has been in a shop at Mr. Metzger’s home in Mansfield.

With a growing work force and product demand the company needed more space, leading to the decision to relocate to Monticello, Mr. Metzger said. The 145×60-foot building here will provide work stations for 11 ironsmiths and is designed for expansion, Mr. Moore noted.

The 2.5-acre site, purchased from the county Economic Development Authority, is on Industrial Park Road next to PermaTherm, Inc., and across from Poly Tech Industries. The city will provide three-phase electric service with the company paying for conversion equipment for single-phase applications. Cost of the building, exclusive of equipment, was shown on the building permit as $250,000.

Construction will be unusual in that a huge overhead crane will be installed initially and the building erected around it. Erection of the metal building is scheduled to begin next month with occupancy anticipated by the end of March.

Mr. Metzger, a native of Columbus, Ohio, said he first became interested in the ornamental metal business as a real estate developer in Florida. After moving to Atlanta in the mid-1990s he purchased Dixie Ornamental Iron, a 50-year-old Atlanta firm and moved it to Mansfield. His primary responsibilities with the company are design and production.

Mr. Moore, who handles sales and marketing, is a Piedmont Academy graduate who lives on Wild Road in Jasper County. Before he resigned from the Coca-Cola Co. last fall he was president of the company’s North American Food Service Division. He is married to the former Ellen Tillman of Hillsboro.