Company Moving to Shelby West Park

Shelby County has landed another tenant with expansion plans for its corporate park off Interstate 65 in Alabaster.

Handoff Wireless will move its operations from Industrial Road in Alabaster to a 50,000-squarefoot building in Shelby West Corporate Park that the county sold for $1.7 million.

The company refurbishes and recycles cellular telephones. Rayford Higginbotham, its CEO and founder, said Handoff Wireless is among four companies in the nation that were recently selected as preferred providers of services to a leading wireless carrier, which he declined to name.

Higginbotham said moving to Shelby West will allow the company to increase its production and add about 40 jobs.

He said the 3-year-old company wanted to remain in Alabaster, where it was founded.

The Alabaster Industrial Development Board has agreed to waive $87,570 in non-educational property taxes for the company over the 10 years. The board also will waive $15,000 in sales taxes on start-up costs for the expansion.

IDB executive director Cam Ward said the board wanted to do whatever it could to help a local company grow.

Handoff Wireless will occupy a building constructed by the Shelby County Economic & Industrial Development Authority, which promotes the corporate park.

James Dedes, executive director of SCEIDA, said the authority, with support and financing from the Shelby County Commission, started a speculative building program to make sure “publicowned buildings in our area would be available for new and expanding businesses.”

Founders Investment Banking worked with a group of private investors who bought the building that will be leased to Handoff Wireless.

The arrangement allows Handoff Wireless to “preserve capital for their rapid growth,” Dedes said.

“We’re pleased that this public-private partnership has helped an existing company expand in Shelby County,” he said.

AGC Automotive Americas, formerly known as AP Technoglass, occupies the first speculative building built at Shelby West Corporate Park.

The company makes windows and windshields for the Honda plant in Lincoln and Daimler Chrysler in Vance. It also will supply glass to the Hyundai plant in Montgomery.

AGC recently underwent an expansion expected to double the number of jobs it provides to at least 118.