Chamber officials discuss how to grow the City of Jackson

JACKSON, Tenn. — Members of the Jackson Chamber gathered Wednesday morning to discuss the growth of the city.

Chamber officials say change has been constant, and they plan to keep innovating the city in hopes of increasing the quality of life.

“In just over the last two years we’ve seen around 2,000 new jobs be created, and over $600,000,000 in capital investments. That’s before the Blue Oval City project was announced at the Megasite,” said Kyle Spurgeon, President of the Jackson Chamber.

Spurgeon says along with the Megasite, they plan to attract more companies to help build homes, establish new commercial buildings, service companies and hotels.

He says he wants to make Jackson a place where there is optimal opportunity for work and fun.

“Jackson is going to grow as a result of Blue Oval City, and other industrial expansions of new announcements that will happen here. Plus, the growth of the healthcare system, tourism with Great Wolf Lodge. So we’re going to grow. What we have to do as a community is make sure that’s the right type of growth,” Spurgeon said.

Spurgeon also said over the past 100 days, downtown Jackson has been garnishing attention, resulting in 14 buildings being sold or leased.

“There’s an unprecedented interest in downtown now. Because we see a downtown, it is the soul of any community. You know, if you travel to Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville, or whatever, you don’t remember the chain stores. What you remember is what’s going on typically in a downtown area,” Spurgeon said.

He says the easiest way to grow as a city is to bring in residents that will add to the quality of life, and to also pressure local elected officials to do more.

“We got an opportunity here to transform Jackson and West Tennessee. People from all around the world are looking at us, so let’s grab the very best of that growth and demand even more,” Spurgeon said.

Chamber officials say they fully expect residents to start seeing changes within the next five to 10 years.

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