ECD Commissioner Robert Rolfe
The sale to the county of a 37-acre tract adjacent to the Washington County Industrial Park closed last Thursday, the same day the county received word the smaller of two existing tracts in the park had received Select Tennessee Certified Site status from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The new land will grow the park to greater than 100 acres. The designation of the site will be of use in guaranteeing to potential buyers that the site is “ready to wear” according to a letter from ECD Commissioner Robert Rolfe.
“When businesses explore location opportunities in Tennessee, they want great, shovel ready sites,” Rolfe said. “These companies are like consumers coming into a store and looking for product on the shelf. They aren’t “built to order” customers; they are ready to wear customers. They won’t wait until we create a site for them; they want them immediately. Your new site means that you now have product on the shelf ready to buy.
The purchase of the land on the far side of the park from Highway 11E will create ingress and egress on both sides of the park. “Some prospects had expressed concerns about there being only one entrance to the park,” said County Mayor Dan Eldridge. “They have a very short time window to get one shift out and the next shift in, so having only one entrance to the park had been a cause for concern. This will address that concern.”
