Edgecombe County officials will offer $45,000 in economic incentives to a company they hope will create new jobs for Rocky Mount.

Blue Hawaiian Products Inc. will take over the Fountain Industrial Park space previously occupied by One Circle Solutions. The company will need to create 150 jobs in Edgecombe County over the next five years to receive the allotted funds.

The incentives will be paid through a grant from the One North Carolina Fund, which assists the state in attracting businesses that will stimulate economic activity. The Florida-based company will manufacture fiberglass swimming pools and spas in the complex.

The Carolinas Gateway Partnership, a public-private agency that recruits outside businesses to Edgecombe and Nash counties, helped arrange the deal. John Gessaman, the organization's president, said the partnership is pleased to bring Blue Hawaiian to the area.

"We're very excited to welcome the company, and we're always excited to bring new jobs to Edgecombe County," Gessaman said.

The company looked at sites in Indiana, Ohio and Virginia before settling on Rocky Mount. Blue Hawaiian President and Chief Executive Officer Roger Erdelac said the city's central location along the East Coast and access to major highways were key factors in the decision.

"If you can find an area where we have a good customer base to begin with and a serious opportunity to grow, you pretty much have to do it," Erdelac said. "When we made the trip up there, we found the road system was excellent for the transportation of our product, and there were some good incentive programs to bring us there.?

Blue Hawaiian distributes pools to all states east of the Mississippi River and a few in the Southwest. Because the pools must be shipped by ground, Erdelac said North Carolina allowed the company to more easily serve markets in the Midwest.

Erdelac said the available work force in the area also swayed the company. Blue Hawaiian will train employees for production, managerial and sales positions, and expects to provide as many as 70 new jobs in the first year.

?The unemployment situation there was high enough that we felt we could really pull from the existing community and get the employees we needed,? Erdelac said. ?We're not looking for experience. We're looking for people who are willing to work.?

The company will take over the building on Oct. 1, and hopes to have operations running by January. The minimum weekly wage will be $540 for production workers.

Blue Hawaiian brings in around $10 million in annual revenue, Erdelac said. He said he expects the Rocky Mount plant to account for about $2.5 million to $3 million of that during its first year of operations.