SMITHFIELD -- Johnston County Industries, which provides job skills to persons with disabilities, is moving to Selma.

JCI announced Thursday that it would move from Smithfield to the former Eaton Corp. building on East Preston Street near Interstate 95. The news came just one day after The Herald reported that JCI had been eyeing the former plant.

“We’re very excited,” said Vicki Shore, director of JCI. “It’s a very nice building, and I think it will work well for us.”

Michael de Sherbinin, Johnston’s director of economic development, told a reporter last week that a possible deal had been in the works. De Sherbinin expressed confidence in JCI’s decision, calling it a “win-win situation for both them and Selma.”

When contacted Friday, Selma Councilwoman Debbie Johnson had not yet heard about the nonprofit’s decision. “But that’s great,” she said. “Wow.”

Shore said rising building costs had all but crushed JCI’s hopes of further expansion in Smithfield. JCI last added new construction in 2002, when it built 9,565 square feet of space next to its longtime building on North Bright Leaf Boulevard.

“When we built the new building, our plan was to eventually tear the old building that’s beside it down and extend the new building over,” Shore said. “But as the cost of construction has gone up quite a bit since we built this building, and since we are limited in the amount of land available to expand on, we saw the Eaton site as an opportunity.”

“We’ll be able to put all our operations under one roof, plus have room for expansion,” she added. “It just makes sense economically.”

Johnston County Industries’ current home will soon go on the market. “With the amount of traffic on Bright Leaf nowadays, we feel like it is in a good location, especially for commercial entities,” Shore said.

Meanwhile, minor renovations have already begun at JCI’s future home. Shore said crews would be working through June to add classrooms, paint walls and refinish the floors. The renovations are expected to wrap up by June 30, when JCI will close for one week to allow time to move to Selma.