InterMarket Technology wants to buy about 3.39 acres at the Washington-Beaufort County Industrial Park so it can expand.

To facilitate that sale at $7,000 an acre, the city and Beaufort County are operating under an interlocal agreement that allows the county to act as the agent for the upset bid process and accept the offer from Scott Gardner, an InterMarket Technology executive, to buy lot 3 in the industrial park.

The council approved the interlocal agreement and sale price during its meeting Monday. It also approved $8,100 as the city’s portion of a “match” for a $50,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund to help facilitate InterMarket Technology’s relocation from Wayne, New Jersey, to Beaufort County. InterMarket Technology makes point-of purchase displays and recycling bins for Fortune 500 companies. It plans to invest nearly $2.7 million and create 57 jobs over three years. Those new jobs, according to a news release from Beaufort County Economic Development, will bring a yearly payroll influence of $1.7 million to the local economy.

Beaufort County is providing $8,567 as its grant match. InterMarket Technology, founded in 1995, has 15 employees working at the industrial park, according to Martyn Johnson, Beaufort County’s economic-development director.

Under the upset bid process, other parties have 10 days after the original bid is offered to submit higher bids (higher by a specified percent). If a higher bid is received, other parties may submit higher bids during another 10-day period. That process can be repeated several times. Once a bid is received and not upset by another bid within 10 days, that bid becomes the winning bid.

After the sale is completed and costs such as advertising are deducted from the sale amount, the county and city will split the remaining money, with the county getting 55 percent and the city receiving 45 percent.