News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development has designated a location in Crossville as a Select Tennessee Certified Site.
Crossville Mayor James Mayberry said the designation will allow the state to market land within the Interchange Business Park to companies around the world.
“We not only want to bring more industry, we want to bring better-paying jobs,” Mayberry said. “The way this thing will be marketed is whatever industry does come in, it’ll have to be a wage that’s 10 percent above the average industrial wage in the community today. The whole plan is to bring in more better-paying jobs which, in turn, will help the whole community advance.”
Brad Allamong is the President of the Crossville-Cumberland County Chamber of Commerce. He said the recent addition of SKF and the current Maverik Oil project at the industrial park will make the site more appealing to other companies eyeing the Crossville area.
“Whenever you’re showing off a property and prospects can look over and see new buildings that have been in place a short period of time,” Allamong said, “it gives them confidence that somebody else has gone through the process and deemed it worthy to be in that park. I think it’s priceless, as far as I’m concerned, to show activity in the industrial park.”
Allamong said the growing number of industrial and manufacturing jobs in Cumberland County helps bring balance to the region’s job market.
“Having industrial recruitment gives us another segment of the economic development picture,” Allamong said. “That means there’s good paying jobs, great benefits, folks are walking around with discretionary income in their pockets. That’s what we want because folks are going to buy things.”
Mayberry said having the state take care of marketing the site to national and international companies will be a valuable asset in the process of finding a company.
“It’s a more intense [and] extensive marketing plan than if we were to try and put it together. With this designation the state helps us out on that and puts it all together,” Mayberry said. “It’s a major asset. With worldwide marketing, it’s something the city couldn’t afford to do. Of course, we’ll fit right in with the other select sites across the state, so it gives the potential industry a variety of things to look at.”
The two other industrial locations selected by the state are located in Halls and Ripley on the west side of the state. The Interchange Business Park location was the only site selected east of Nashville.
The concrete padding is already installed at the 20-acre site in Crossville as the state will look to market the space to companies worldwide for future development. Crossville City officials are requiring companies who purchase the site for development create at least 100 additional jobs for the area. The purchase price of the site will be up to $100,000 per acre.
