Tombigbee Tooling of Mantachie will be expanding its business into the former home of Wicks 'N More, according to owners Dewayne and Becky Thornton.

An official announcement for the project was made during the regular meeting of the Itawamba County Board of Supervisors last Friday. According to Dewayne Thornton, work on expanding the 20-year-old business into the 81,000-square-foot building will begin immediately but likely won't conclude for several years.

Tombigbee Tooling is currently housed in a 21,000-square-foot building the Thorntons purchased in 1991 and expanded upon in 2005. This building will still house the business' current functions while the new building will be home to expanded operations.

The new building has stood vacant since Wicks 'N More founder Becky Neal closed its doors due to the rising costs of materials used in the creation of candles.

Once finished, the expansion will result in an estimated 20 new jobs. Thornton is hoping the physical growth will allow for new business opportunities to present themselves.

"It opens up a lot of doors for possible expansions within our current business as well as some arms off of our current business," he said.

Immediately following the meeting, the Thorntons concluded a lease/purchase agreement with the board of supervisors, who purchased the building through a $550,000 loan from Three Rivers Planning and Development. This is significantly less than the appraised value of the building, which is approximately $900,000.

According to Thornton, the lease/purchase arrangement with the board of supervisors allowed the expansion to occur far ahead of schedule.

"It couldn't have happened for us at this time if the county hadn't been able to do this for us," Thornton said. "This was in our future business plans, but we wouldn't have been looking at it for another five years."

The current home of Tombigbee Tooling was purchased by the Thorntons through a similar arrangement with a previous board of supervisors.

According to Itawamba County Development Council Executive Director Greg Deakle, who worked closely with both the board and the Thorntons to arrange the transaction, the expansion of Tombigbee Tooling will be a real boon to Itawamba County.

"It presented an opportunity for all of us to do what's fun in economic development: Create jobs and entice investment into the community, especially with a company that's been around for 20 years," Deakle said.

"The most important thing is that you have a local person growing his local industry to work local people. That's the bottom line," commented board president Danny Holley.

Thornton called the board a pleasure with which to work, stating that the announcement wouldn't have been possible without the team effort that went into it.

"This board has shown interest in job creation and economic development, and that's what this is all about," he said."This team that has been assembled here in Itawamba County is just amazing. These guys are intent upon bringing jobs and economic development opportunities to Itawamba County."

Adam Armour can be reached at 862-3141, by e-mailing adam.armour@itawamba360.com or by visiting his blog at itawamba360.com.