Metal Fabricator Kooima Buys Conover Building for $9.1M, Plans 21 Jobs

Kooima acquired an empty structure in Conover. The price? $9.1 million. The metal fabricator will establish 21 positions at this location, according to WSOC-TV. State Steel, which owns Kooima, intends to pour more than $22.5 million into this site across the next three years.

The property stands on Emmanuel Church Road. State Steel purchased it from T.C. Corriher Implement Company last December, per Catawba County deed records. The transaction covered a 105,000-square-foot structure plus the land around it.

This might grow bigger. The first phase brings 21 positions, but State Steel's total spending could hit $34 million and generate 30 positions within five years. The Iowa-based manufacturer wants to reach the $22.5 million mark during the first three years.

Neill Grading & Construction built the structure for Everything Attachments. That manufacturer had wanted to occupy the space in 2022, but a legal fight between the owner and builder halted those plans.

Corriher and Neill Grading & Construction both filed lawsuits. Corriher's legal claims stated that construction flaws prevented occupancy. Those delays caused the company to miss deadlines for equipment orders, according to court documents.

Neill Grading & Construction said it couldn't access the structure to make needed fixes and sued Corriher for unpaid bills. After the court battle ended, Everything Attachments had to pay at least $670,000.

T.C. Corriher Implement Company ran the site as Everything Attachments before the sale. Everything Attachments produces and sells machinery for industrial and farm work. Workers there build attachments that fit tractors, excavators, and skid steers.

Everything Attachments still operates next door, even though it sold the Emmanuel Church Road structure.