The exterior of Forest Pro Inc., a Tigercat franchise that will sell new and used forestry equipment, is currently under construction,Gary Walker with the Heartland Regional Industrial Facility Authority confirmed Monday.

“If the weather will cooperate, they should be through in less than two months,” Walker said about completion of the building’s construction. The building will be located at the Heartland Industrial Park adjacent to the park’s main entrance.

Walker said in response to a Gazette inquiry that work on the interior would take place after the roof and walls were installed. “Obviously they can’t do the inside until they get the roof and the sides up. Once they get the roof on, and the weather won’t hold them up so much, they can work on the rest of it. But they’ve got to get in enclosed before they finish work on the inside. They’ve got the concrete boards and steel beams up, and the rest of it goes fairly quickly.”

Forest Pro Inc., which has locations in Scottsville and Ashland, initially purchased 16.84 acres from the authority in 2015 for $180,000 to construct the facility, a past Gazette report cited.

The Authority voted in favor of offering an extension to Forest Pro’s contract to construct the property during the authority’s Jan. 23 meeting. The initial contract stated that Forest Pro would need to make construction corrections, particularly in fulfilling site requirements by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), by Dec. 31, 2017.

Walker noted during a January meeting the challenges Forest Pro company has experienced in building at the site, including reaching agreements with the DEQ and the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). The authority previously agreed to pay $40,000 in reimbursements to Forest Pro, with provisions met after construction of the new business.