Piedmont Medical opening delayed by seller's bankruptcy

The opening of Piedmont Medical's Sparta plant has been delayed by finalizing the purchase of the Spring Ford building, according to Piedmont President Byron Wurdeman. The plant will be a facility to refurbish and store used medical equipment, such as stretchers and hospital beds, which are then sold to buyers worldwide.

The earlier projected opening date had been April 1, but Wurdeman now projects that the plant will open sometime in early May. Even so, the company does have a few workers in the building now, getting it prepared to operate and cleaning up the grounds.

"We're supposed to be getting everything finalized in the next couple weeks," Wurdeman said. "We've got all the agreements signed and we've just had a delay in closing due to the fact that Spring Ford filed bankruptcy. That delayed it a little while."

The final closing on the building purchase will occur in the first or second week of May, Wurdeman said, despite the bankruptcy situation.

Until the final closing is done, Piedmont Medical cannot start operating, he said.

"Right now, we're concentrating on getting everything set up and ready to go, we just can't operate yet. We want to be able to walk in and go for it." About five workers have already been hired to work in the facility.

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