HOT SPRINGS - One of the largest employers in Hot Springs celebrated its opening with a ribbon cutting ceremony Sept. 24.
Advanced Biogas Systems, on Andrews Avenue, operates under the Landfill Group to extract methane gas from solid waste landfill sites and build compression systems for its gas industry. Madison County leadership began discussions with ABS prior to Hurricane Helene about establishing a facility in Madison County. ABS previously operated a facility north of Asheville, but it was washed out in Hurricane Helene.
Helene ravaged Hot Springs when it made landfall in September 2024, causing severe flooding from the French Broad River and Spring Creek that devastated the downtown area, damaged the historic spa, and destroyed roads, bridges
and homes.
In April 2025, the commissioners approved a resolution in support of the Economic Development Board's application to the North Carolina Department of Commerce Rural Building Reuse program. The Department of Commerce grant program provides grant funding to assist with building renovation projects that support economic development in rural areas.
As part of the grant, the county received $95,000 in state funds, once ABS committed to creating 20 full-time jobs and investing $2 million, including renovations to the existing facility, formerly the Peerless Blowers site. The facility is roughly 100,000 square feet.
With the county providing an additional $5,000, state, county and local officials were on hand to celebrate the facility's opening and to present the $100,000 check in a ribbon cutting.
According to a release from County Manager Rod Honeycutt, the average salary will be $56,000.
"The revitalization of the facility represents more than a new location for ABS; it represents the next chapter in the history of a building that has been an important part of the Hot Springs community for more than 70 years," said Eric Stuchrenberg, ABS' director of manufacturing.
Madison County Board of Commissioners Vice Chair Jeremy Hensley joined with Commissioners Matt Wechtel and Alan Wyatt.
"What is unique here is when county commissioners, local leaders and municipal officials come together to pull industry to an area," Hensley said.
Sen. Ralph Hise said the facility symbolizes the county's moving forward in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
"This entire region has been devastated time and time again — by the loss of the tobacco industry, the loss of furniture and textiles and other policies," Hise said. "We're not trying to rebuild those industries again. We're finding the partnerships that exist in Western North Carolina, and those products, just as you're seeing here today."
'One big family'
Hugh Self, a Hot Springs resident, is a structural welder at ABS. He worked in the plant out of high school for three years in the 1980s, when it was called Madison Manufacturing. After working for 26 years as a long-haul truck driver, Self returned to work at the plant in 2012.
And since the ABS team took over the operations, Self has noticed a cultural change at the facility.
"It's like family. They take care of us," said Self, who was born and raised in Hot Springs and lives roughly five miles from ABS in the Shut-In community, northwest of downtown.
William Brinker, the managing director of the Landfill Group, founded by his father, said the entire team is "one big family."
"We just do specific things as it relates to that whole system," Brinker said.
Mayor Abby Norton told The News-Record the town is excited to have ABS.
"The building looks great, outside and inside," Norton said. "They're a Christian company, and I think they will continue to do well because they'll be looking for His guidance. Maybe they can expand and create even more jobs than they have now."
Rep. Mark Pless said one of the greatest parts about Madison County is that the county finds a way to continue to move forward.
"Mayor Norton and all the people in Hot Springs have been through a lot, but they just keep rising up," Pless said. "They are very symbolic of all the folks that are here in Madison County. I couldn't be prouder today than to be able to stand up here and witness another success that the county has brought here."
Johnny Casey is the Madison County communities reporter for The Citizen Times and The News-Record & Sentinel. He can be reached at 828-210-6074 or jcasey@citizentimes.com.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Hot Springs celebrates new business relocation following Helene
