Officials talk about City of Jackson’s plan to buy industrial land
JACKSON, Tenn. — A big land purchase is currently in the works by the City of Jackson.
The city has called a special meeting for Thursday.
One of the biggest discussions on the agenda is a $4,896,250 industrial land acquisition.
It would be paired with the earlier approval in 2021 of $765,000 for what is being called Project Cardinal.
“It’s an industrial land acquisition on behalf of the city to support a potential project that is currently in its due-diligence period,” said City Councilman Paul Taylor.
Taylor says the purchase plan is well overdue to expand into that part of the city.
“It has been in the works for many years. I believe before we even came onto the council, this property was optioned, as well as another piece of property,” Taylor said.
Senior Vice President of Economic Development for the Jackson Chamber, Mandy White says the city is in the process of purchasing 237 acres at the intersection of Highway 223 and Lower Brownsville Road.
“We have approximately 200 acres available in the Airport Industrial Park, and 100 acres available adjacent to the property we are purchasing now,” White said.
White says the purchase is much needed for the Jackson community, and it is the best use of dollars and resources at this time.
“We never should stop recruiting companies and creating jobs. We understand that Jackson, like every other community in the United States, is suffering right now with workforce challenges, but we are focused on recruiting companies that have high paying jobs that can provide for families,” White said.
She says the Jackson Chamber and city are also developing a plan to be able to help with those employee shortages and even affordable housing shortages.
“Even before the Ford announcement, we were focused on creating an environment and a quality of life here that would allow us to recruit people to Jackson, to retain people to Jackson. You’ll see the new park in the northern part of the community, the Lyft area, or the Brewery. Those are the types of things that we can do as a community to recruit people here so that we can serve these companies that locate,” White said.
Due to the non-disclosure agreement with Georgia Pacific, we do not know how many jobs they will provide, what the rate of pay for their employees will be, or what the timeline will be to complete construction of their facility.
WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News will have more details after attending the special called meeting at 9 a.m. on Thursday.
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