INDUSTRIAL PARK TO BREAK GROUND SOON
The partnership that brought the Spanish company Grupo Sesé to the Enterprise South industrial park in Chattanooga is working to bring something exciting to Catoosa County.
Tenby Partners and White Oak Enterprises, working together as Chattanooga Industrial LLC, is searching for tenants who would like to settle at what is being called the Cloud Springs I-75 Industrial Park, to bring up to 700 high-paying jobs and $100 million in capital investment to the county.
Jeff Londis, president of White Oak Enterprises, says it is not yet known who will locate in the industrial park but that the two-parcel site that will result in 1.13 million square feet of Class A industrial space will make a real impact on the area.
“Brown Bros. Inc., a fullservice civil contractor throughout the southeast,” says a joint press release by partners in the project, “is well underway to completing the mass grading and other infrastructure improvements to accelerate delivery timelines for companies looking to make Cloud Springs I-75 Park their home.”
“The state of Georgia and others have been working hard to telegraph the availability of the site around the world to potential tenants,” says Londis.
Developing an industrial park is no small job. It takes many partners, ranging from government to designers and builders, manufacturers and others.
An example of the work Chattanooga Industrial LLC has produced in the recent past is the Grupo Sese plant at Enterprise South. Grupo Sese produces, among other things, motors that go into Volkswagen electric car
wheels. The company wanted to locate a plant close to the Chattanooga VW plant, the foremost producer of VW electric cars in North America.
Grupo Sese needed a 300,000-square-foot facility built to precise specifications. Construction took nine months. The site had to be prepared and the stages of the building constructed, from framework to the
indoor flooring to electrical, water and more. Chattanooga Industrial LLC was hired to make it happen.
Construction took nine months. The construction of the indoor flooring is an example of the scope and intensity of building a large manufacturing plant. For a week, 100 trucks delivered 44,000 square feet of concrete every night. Construction workers had to smooth
and finish the concrete as it was poured.
For long-term success and jobs, there must be an adequate number of suitably educated employees available, the right companies must be recruited, the site must be compatible with other industries in the area or within desirable transportation hubs for shipping purposes (along railroad lines and trucking routes leading to compatible industries or to coastal or inland ports).
“The new (Catoosa I-75) Industrial Park,” says the press release, “is geared towards attracting advanced manufacturing, research and development, and other technology related businesses.”
“Tenby Partners and White Oak Enterprises are deeply grateful for the support and enthusiasm expressed by the leadership of Catoosa County and Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. The entire community has embraced this new opportunity for economic growth. Amy Jackson, President and CEO of the Catoosa County Chamber, and Dan Wright, Catoosa County Manager, and Fort Oglethorpe Mayor Earl Gray, and their teams have been extremely
supportive of efforts to prepare the park for new employers and development. Furthermore, efforts by retired Sen. Jeff Mullis and the Northwest Georgia Joint Development Authority have been critical to work in the region and with the state of Georgia as the park has been prepared for development.”
Groundbreaking for the industrial park is being planned for mid-march. For more information, visit www.chattanoogaindustrialproperties.com.