AmerLink files for bankrupcty

A company headquartered in the Battleboro community that produced and sold log cabin homes throughout the country has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and is being sued by a county in Virginia.

AmerLink Ltd., which at one time employed more than 100 at its local headquarters and closed its doors late last year, has filed for Chapter 11 protection, a form of bankruptcy that calls for reorganization.

On June 3, the company asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the eastern district of the state in Wilson for a 120-day time extension to file a reorganization plan.

The Carroll County Board of Supervisors in Virginia filed a lawsuit for breach of contract against AmerLink on Nov. 12 in the Circuit Court of Richmond, according to media reports in Virginia.

In the lawsuit, Carroll County is seeking the return of a 32.4-acres in the Carroll County Industrial Park and the return of $600,000 plus interest after the company failed to deliver on promises of creating 200 jobs and making a $3 million capital investment. The promises were made in a performance agreement signed with Carroll County. As part of the agreement, AmerLink received grants of $300,000 each from the Governor’s Opportunity fund and the Virginia Tobacco Commission, as well as the 32.4-acre tract of land.

AmerLink President John Barth could not be reached for comment on Friday, nor could Raleigh attorney Stephani W. Humrickhouse who is representing the company in bankruptcy court.

Five years ago, the Carolinas Gateway Partnership assisted the company with the extension of a water line to its Battleboro plant.

But the partnership never followed through on a $100,000 incentive package that was announced in 2007 for the company’s planned expansion, said John Gessaman, president and CEO of Carolinas Gateway Partnership.

“We had developed and prepared an agreement for them and would have had gone forward, but did not,” he said.

He said the money was not doled out because the company did not follow through on its expansion plans.

“It was tied to performance,” Gessaman said. “You perform, then payment is made.”

In 2007, AmerLink announced that it was expanding its Rocky Mount headquarters, creating 50 jobs and investing $1.8 million during the next three years.

The company stated that the new jobs at AmerLink would have included telemarketing, designing and engineering jobs, according to a news release at the time.

For this expansion, AmerLink was to have received a $100,000 incentives package, split equally between the Carolinas Gateway Partnership and the One North Carolina Fund.

Gessaman said he was disappointed to learn of the bankruptcy filing.

The N.C. Attorney General’s office has received 26 complaints over the last couple of years from AmerLink customers, said Jennifer Canada, a spokeswoman for N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper.

She said the recent complaints made to that office have been referred to the bankruptcy court.

“It seems like most (of the complaints) deal with consumers not receiving (log cabin) product paid for up front,” she said.