New York-based box company may locate here
The only chance Warren County has to lure a New York-based company looking to build a plant in Middle Tennessee is to offer cheaper land and other incentives, industrial recruiter Jim Gray told the Industrial Development Board Friday.
The company, which makes cardboard boxes, has specifically mentioned it would like to build a plant in Middle Tennessee, preferably near the Nashville airport. In addition to Warren County the company is also looking at sites in Gallatin, Murfreesboro and Lebanon.
Since these other sites are much closer to Nashville’s airport than Warren County, Gray said if the county is serious about luring this company, which would employ 130 people initially and inject $32 million in capital investment into the local economy, we must make available economic incentives that would overcome our relative distance from Nashville.
“Our ace in the hole is much cheaper land and incentives. That’s the only way we’re going to be able to compete with these other cities,” Gray said.
Land costs will probably do more than anything to make the aforementioned company seriously consider Warren County, Gray said. While land prices in the cities closer to Nashville are running around $30,000 an acre, the most likely site here is priced at just over $8,000 an acre.
The site in question is 58.44 acres and is located between McMinnville and Morrison on Highway 55. This site was chosen over several others in the county because it is the most level, has highway access and is close to railroad tracks, which it will need to conduct business. The tract of land is priced at $475,000.
Gray said because the company prefers to design its own building and needs railroad access, locating either at Mt. View Industrial Park or one the vacated factories, such as Aquatech or DeZurik, is not an option.
Incentives already offered to the company by the county include a 10-year abatement of county property taxes. Others include cheaper electricity through TVA, state incentives including tax credits for each job created and a state grant which would pay for 75 percent of the cost to build a railroad spur from the main line to the company. The county would pay the remaining 25 percent.
The executive vice president of the company was in town Thursday for the second time to tour the area, Gray said. He came once before in August. The company’s owner is scheduled to come to Tennessee early next month though it is not known at this time if he will be coming here.
A decision on where in Middle Tennessee to locate the plant will be made sometime in the next three months.