City of Jackson unveils land purchase-sell plans

JACKSON, Tenn. — There is good news from city leaders.

On Tuesday they revealed plans for the city to be able to purchase and sell hundreds of acres for industrial development.

The land is just off Highway 223 at Lower Brownsville Road in west Jackson.

Local leaders approved a purchase-sell agreement, allowing the City of Jackson to sell more than 100 acres of land from 300 acres that they already own.

“It costs the city at the time in 2016-2017, 2.5 million I believe. Once all the purchase and the sell options are finalized, we’ll have roughly $800,000 and 100 acres for additional industrial site, which we then sell which would give us a net profit of roughly all together nearly $4 million,” said Jackson Mayor Scott Conger.

This option would allow the city to buy:

• Parcel A, which consists of 98 acres at a cost of $25,000 per acre.
• The adjacent “Freeman property,” which is close to 38 acres at $20,000 per acre.
• Parcel B, which is 101 acres at $25,000 per acre.

At this time, it is not clear what the price of the land will be sold for or if the city will be able to sell it for more than the purchase price.

“We’re exercising the option to buy more land, and then we’ll be selling land to the new tenant,” Conger said.

The city would then ask that new tenant, Georgia Pacific, to purchase the land the city already owns plus Parcel A for $40,000 per acre, with hopes to make a profit.

They city is not disclosing what will happen with Parcel B. The mayor says this agreement should happen within four months.

“The purchase-sale agreement is a 90 day with a 30 day extension. Once we get to that and the due diligence is done, they’ve had their meetings with the Industrial Development Board on incentives and then they get done meeting with the state on their incentives, then we’ll be able to reveal information,” Conger said.

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