Repairs on an industrial property built to attract an industry to the county should be completed and the building should be ready for a buyer by the end of the month, according to information presented Monday to the Beaufort County Board of Commissioners.

“We’ve made a lot of progress on what we’ve done,” said Jim Spain, the county’s maintenance supervisor, at the meeting of the county board. “I feel good about what we’ve got out there.”

A.R. Chesson Construction Co., the Williamston-based firm contracted to build the structure, has agreed to pay half of the roof repair costs, not to exceed $10,836, according to an agreement presented to the board.

Earlier this year, Kelli Wilcox, principal engineer with Atlas Engineering of Raleigh, recommended to the commissioners a series of repairs to the roof that included the installation of an emergency drainage system for the roof to bring the structure up to local building-code requirements, repairs on all of the “minor distresses” on the roof and incorporation of a routine maintenance program that would include a visual inspection of the roof at least twice a year.

The cost of installing the drainage system has been estimated at $17,172, and the costs of repairing the “minor distresses” have been estimated at $4,500, according to information previously presented to the board.

Installation of the roof drains is expected to be finished this week, after which work on the remaining roof repairs will begin, Spain said.

Spain said he inspected the building after recent rains, determining that leaks in the grout along the building’s side panels appear “pretty well fixed” as a result of the application of a polymer coating along those grout lines.

Commissioner Al Klemm, who also serves on the Beaufort County Economic Development Commission, said he has seen the repairs and is pleased with the progress at the site.

“The building shows very well at this point,” Klemm said.

Quick Start II was completed in early 2008 at the Beaufort County Industrial Park off of Leggett Road just west of Washington at a cost of about $2.4 million.

Since then, the building has developed the aforementioned problems.

Beaufort County contributed $879,000 toward its construction and obtained $982,000 and $400,000 in the form of two loans from the N.C. Department of Commerce to fund most of the remaining costs of the building.

Beaufort County Economic Development Director Tom Thompson recently told the commissioners that three businesses have shown interest in the building.