Company To Create Up To 100 New Jobs
BLOUNTVILLE, TN—(October 31, 2007)— NETWORKS
- Sullivan Partnership officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday
at Gateway Commons Park, just minutes before breaking ground for the
park's first business - a FedEx Ground distribution center.
Located in the western part of Sullivan County near
the interchange of Interstates 26 and 81, Gateway Commerce is a 166-acre
park that features 60 developed acres for technology and industrial
development. NETWORKS purchased the park for $2.7 million in July
2007 from the Kingsport Economic Development Board (KEDB) and Brooks-Petzoldt
Developers.
The FedEx Ground distribution center will be built on
more than 13 acres in the park and represents an investment of more
than $8 million. The center, which is expected to open by June 1,
2008, will measure 90,000 square feet, with plans for a 20,000 square
feet expansion within 10 years. FedEx plans to initially hire 80 employees.
Scannell Properties, which will build and rent the facility
to FedEx, purchased the site from NETWORKS earlier this month for
$976,800. GoinsRashCain, Inc. of Kingsport will build the facility.
"Attracting FedEx to this site has been an 18-month
process," says NETWORKS CEO Richard Venable. "This is a
project that we have been eagerly anticipating, and today's groundbreaking
is evidence of hard work from a number of individuals."
The City of Kingsport, in partnership with the Kingsport
Industrial Development Board (KIDB), purchased the 166-acre industrial
park, originally known as the Garland property, in 1987 for $830,000
for future industrial development purposes. In 2004, the KIDB entered
into an agreement with Brooks-Petzoldt for development of the park.
The park's industrial access road was finished in early 2005 and infrastructure
was completed in late 2006.
Betty Martin, NETWORKS' Director of Business Development,
has been involved with the development of the park for nearly two
decades.
"It's gratifying to see 20 years of work pay off
with this joint announcement," Martin says. "This park has
unlimited potential, and FedEx is a well-known, first-class company
that will help recruit additional business and industry."
Larry Estepp, KEDB chairman and former NETWORKS board
chairman, reiterated Martin's sentiments.
"Both the KEDB and NETWORKS are committed to seeing
that Northeast Tennessee has the opportunity to attract prospective
companies that will take our region to the next level in economic
development, " Estepp says.
