US 41 corridor is booming
Several industrial projects are in the works between Adairsville and Calhoun.
The U.S. 41 corridor between Adairsville and Calhoun is looking like it may be the next boom site for industrial expansion.
Private developers have broken ground for a 252,000-square-foot speculative building on a farm property between
U.S. 41 and I-75. LG Hausys has posted a sign just north of the proposed spec building site indicating it plans to expand its campus and there has been a sale of approximately half of a 200-acre site in the Georgia North Industrial Park at Adairsville.
Gordon County Chamber of Commerce President Kathy Johnson confirmed that L.P. Owens and Sage Ralston have purchased a 24-acre portion of the old Gus Moore farm for the large spec building. Owens said the partners have options on a little more than 200 additional acres.
Owens and Ralston have completely filled up their Calhoun Commerce Center development just a few miles further north on U.S. 41 with six large buildings, most of them built as speculative properties, which filled quickly.
KAS has two buildings, and Mattex, Shaw, Stanton and Mapei — which just took the last 210,000-square-foot building to fill up the park — occupy the remaining four buildings.
Johnson said the proximity of what is being tentatively called the Gordon Industrial Park to a pair of exits off I-75, Ga. 140 and Union Grove Road is a big factor in the growth of that area.
She said the LG Hausys plans for the adjacent property are not related to the Owens and Ralston project.
Owens said subsurface conditions look good for major industrial development prospects.
LG Hausys purchased approximately 57 acres at the north end of the old Gus Moore farm although they have not revealed specific plans for the new site.
Rome Floyd Chamber President Al Hodge said it was clear the proximity of the parcels in Bartow and Gordon counties to I-75 had a great deal to do with the success of the private development in those communities.
Rome and Floyd County attempted to attract a private developer into a partnership for a speculative building at one of the several parcels controlled by the two local development authorities in December 0f 2016. A March 2017 deadline was set for proposals, but the Chamber did not get a single offer.
Hodge said Rome and Floyd County offers accessibility to I-75 with the widening of Ga. 140, but is not as close to the transportation corridor.
“The sooner the better for that,” Hodge said.
He said there has been active engagement for the 110-acre tract at the northwest corner of the Ga. 140/ Ga. 53 intersection in Shannon.
Melinda Lemmon, the executive director of the Cartersville-Bartow Economic Development office, said about half of the WPM of Atlanta-owned 200-plus-acre tract in Adairsville’s Georgia North Industrial Park has been sold to another private developer.
She said the parcel is close to I-75 across from the Sakai manufacturing facility.