With all its industrial project announcements over the past three months, it appears Jackson County can cheer other area economic development successes as well.
Such was the case last Friday when the state announced that Caterpillar was bringing a $200 million project and 1,400 jobs (by 2020) to Oconee and Clarke counties.
Courtney Bernardi, the Jackson County Area Chamber of Commerce’s director of economic development, broke the news to her board of directors at a breakfast meeting Friday.
“This is very exciting,” she said. “If it’s not in Jackson County, it might as well be in North Georgia. It is a great thing for promoting our region.”
Later that day, Bernardi said Jackson County’s proximity to the Caterpillar site puts it in contention to land projects built by Caterpillar’s suppliers.
“With this, they’ll probably have a number of suppliers not necessarily located next to Cat,” she explained. “It is a really good opportunity for us, because we have the available land and space.”
Bernardi said any location within 50 miles of the plant would be considered “close” to the suppliers.
“They don’t have to be in the same industrial park or in the same community,” she said. “Logistically, we’re set up so they could get there quickly.”
Jackson County’s own string of announcements began in November, with Bed Bath & Beyond and an expansion of the Toyota Automotive Compressor Georgia plant, followed by Kubota’s $80 million expansion in Jefferson and Toyota’s announcement of a new $350 million plant on Jan. 31. Among them, those companies promise nearly 2,000 jobs and a half billion dollars in development.
And there are other projects in the works.
“I talked with the state Tuesday at the (Kubota) groundbreaking,” Bernardi said. “They’re as busy as they’ve ever been.”
Reporting to her directors on Friday, Bernardi revealed that five new projects have surfaced thus far in February.
“We’re still seeing huge project activity,” she reported. “That gives us 19 active projects.”
Better yet, she said, is that whereas not long ago most projects were distribution related, today they’re predominately manufacturing.
“Sixty-seven percent of our new projects are manufacturing,” she said. “That’s impressive. Two years ago about 75 to 80 percent were distribution or e-fulfillment. Manufacturing is definitely picking up. Most projects we see are manufacturing, and a lot are international companies.”
Bernardi said Toyota expects to have its groundbreaking in April or May. That will give Jackson County two major industrial facilities under construction at the same time.
Jackson County did lose out on another project. A company looking at Jefferson went to Dublin instead.
“It just wasn’t the perfect fit this time, and that’s okay,” Bernardi told the chamber’s directors.
Chamber president Shane Short praised Bernardi to the directors.
“We’ve had a lot of positive press in the announcements… because of the work she’s done getting them (new companies) here,” he said. “I think she’s doing an excellent job.”
