MEMPHIS & KNOXVILLE/CHATTANOOGA/HUNSTVILLE BOARDS

[Tennessine]

No problem- thank you, Smeags!

[chris holman]

https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2018/12/06/huge-permit-new-renderings-filed-for-one-beale.html

[smeagolsfree]

If you see something, give those boards some love and post it over there. It will help with the numbers and build the excitement.

[Memphis4ever]

4 hours ago, chris holman said:

https://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2018/12/06/huge-permit-new-renderings-filed-for-one-beale.html

Glad to see this topic, lots of people do not realize how much is happening in Memphis right now.  Our page really does no justice, some cities just don't have many posters.

[donNdonelson2]

Memphis area to get $5.6 billion investment from Ford. Great news for our neighbor to the west!

(For some reason I’m unable to paste a link from my iPhone, but the story is everywhere.)

Edited September 28, 2021 by donNdonelson2

[FrankNash]

^^^Nashville is sandwiched between the two auto plants that are being built in Tennessee and Ky,  This is Ford's largest investment ever.   11 billion!  Out of the whole country we are getting both within about a hour in half either way. 

Edited September 28, 2021 by FrankNash

[markhollin]

19 minutes ago, FrankNash said:

^^^Nashville is sandwiched between the two auto planets that are being built in Tennessee and Ky,  This is Ford's largest investment ever.   11 billion!  Out of the whole country we are getting both within about a hour in half either way. 

Indeed---just 167 miles from Nashville to Stanton, TN along 1-40.

Just 126 miles from Nashville, TN to Glendale, KY (6 miles south of Elizabethtown off I-65. 

And the most continuous freeway route between the two is thru Nashville.  Might be a stimulus for TDOT to look towards at least extending I-840 between I-40 west at near Burns, TN all the way to the NE past Ashland City and intersecting with I-65 around White House, TN 

Very happy for both Memphis and Louisville/E-Town areas for landing these amazing new plants with close to 11,000 jobs between both areas, and thousands more ancillary jobs on top of those.
 

More at AP here:

https://apnews.com/article/business-technology-kentucky-electric-vehicles-tennessee-fe30179e922d864e2e25303fec667bf7

[bnacincy]

44 minutes ago, FrankNash said:

^^^Nashville is sandwiched between the two auto plants that are being built in Tennessee and Ky,  This is Ford's largest investment ever.   11 billion!  Out of the whole country we are getting both within about a hour in half either way. 

Very happy for both places but West Tennessee in particular needed this the most. This is a huge shot in the arm.

Hopefully this is a trend setter for good things to come in Memphis and the surrounding region.

[markhollin]

More about massive Ford electric truck/battery plants near Memphis announcement:

- The truck plant is expected to employ about 3,200 people, the battery factory about 2,500 more.

- Blue Oval stands for the Ford logo.

- Will be built on the 4,100 acre Memphis Regional Megasite which the state and Memphis has poured $52 million into developing over the past 5 years. 

- The site is in Haywood County (about 50 miles NE of downtown Memphis along I-40), which has a total estimated population of about 17,000. The workforce will come from surrounding areas as well. 

- If approved by the legislature, the proposed $500 million grant from tax dollars will be divided between Ford and SK Innovation, said Bob Rolfe, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The proposed grant comes with a catch: If job creation goals aren't met, the state has legal means to recover money. This is called a clawback.

More at The Tennessean here:

https://www.tennessean.com/story/money/business/development/2021/09/27/ford-electric-vehicles-memphis-regional-megasite-new-jobs/5884664001/


More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2021/09/27/ford-to-invest-billions-memphis-regional-megasite.html


And behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/manufacturing/megasite-finally-gets-a-tenant-in-ford/article_309455aa-2055-11ec-9dfd-ef4039a5bbd9.html

[dxfret]

West Tennessee desperately needs this project. Memphis and the mid south region are economically depressed, so this is should be a big boost. Nashville is also extremely well positioned as it is in the best possible sweet spot right in the middle of the two plants located in both TN and KY.

[MLBrumby]

True about being between the two plants but also the EV battery plants in Smyrna (Nissan), Spring Hill (GM) and Chattanooga (VW). Bullseye! Time for those flights to Tokyo. 

[Bos2Nash]

11 hours ago, markhollin said:

Might be a stimulus for TDOT to look towards at least extending I-840 between I-40 west at near Burns, TN all the way to the NE past Ashland City and intersecting with I-65 around White House, TN 

I sure hope not. Why wouldn't rail be a viable option to pass between the two? We always talk about how CSX has a ton of ROW through this region, why would we extend a highway for manufactured goods like this when the rail is honestly a more efficient way to move those goods?

I'm excited for the Memphis development, but is it just me or is a $500 million incentive pretty robust for a large company like Ford?  Can someone put it in context for me?

[smeagolsfree]

2 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

True about being between the two plants but also the EV battery plants in Smyrna (Nissan), Spring Hill (GM) and Chattanooga (VW). Bullseye! Time for those flights to Tokyo. 

You forgot about Toyota in Huntsville.

[MLBrumby]

9 minutes ago, smeagolsfree said:

You forgot about Toyota in Huntsville.

Yes... and I read something last night about a "mystery" plant going to Clarksville?  Anyone know anything about this?  Electric vehicle investments in Tennessee lead the southeastern U.S. (tennessean.com)  Mini rant:  The articles for the Tennessean are chock full of misspelled words, poor grammar and misstatements of facts (at best). Awful excuse for a newspaper. Look at how much this article says the new battery plant at Spring Hill costs (the largest investment to date).  

In Clarksville, Tennessee’s fifth-largest city, a nine-digit industrial investment is coming, part of the electric-powered automotive movement. Already, American-owned-and-operated Microvast Power Solutions selected Clarksville as the site where it will manufacture electric vehicle batteries primarily for commercial vehicles. The decision is expected to bring 287 new direct jobs and a $220 million investment to Montgomery County.  Microvast has executed a purchase sale agreement on a local site previously owned by  Akebono Brakes, and plans to transition the facility from brake manufacturing to a Li-ion battery manufacturing facility, officials announced earlier this year.  Microvast is expected to begin production next summer.

Edited September 28, 2021 by MLBrumby

[PruneTracy]

16 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

I sure hope not. Why wouldn't rail be a viable option to pass between the two? We always talk about how CSX has a ton of ROW through this region, why would we extend a highway for manufactured goods like this when the rail is honestly a more efficient way to move those goods?

The Memphis megasite has access to the CSX Memphis Subdivision to the north; it is a requirement for megasite certification and was frequently included in the marketing. I'm sure Ford plans to utilize it to the maximum possible extent.

The problem is that the CSX subdivisions between Nashville and Memphis are single-track. I'm pretty sure they run dark too, or at least one of the subdivisions (Bruceton or Memphis) does. So CSX is limited in how much freight they can move in this area and they are already pretty close to their limit.

RJ Corman (a short line, not a Class I) has their so-called Memphis line that runs from a CSX interchange at Bowling Green to Cumberland City. There is an old rail bed continuing from there that I think used to extend to CSX at Bruceton. (This is/was a former L&N line.) That's about a 40-mile gap. I don't know who owns that ROW now or how much trouble it would be to lay rails back down, probably more than it's worth. But it would also connect Clarksville, which as @MLBrumbymentioned is also the site of AtlasBX and future developments.

TDOT is in the process of widening I-40 to six lanes between Memphis and the Tennessee River; this was already on a much quicker timetable than the rest of I-40 through the state. Bids were just opened a couple of weeks ago for the first segment of widening for I-65 north of Nashville and the other segments won't be far behind. Maybe this news will speed it those projects up some, maybe as well they could look at widening Briley Parkway between I-40 and I-65 to the north/west or at least pointing more traffic in that direction (e.g., Interstate 465). 

16 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

I'm excited for the Memphis development, but is it just me or is a $500 million incentive pretty robust for a large company like Ford?  Can someone put it in context for me?

I don't know about the economics of it but the state and TVA have been trying to get that megasite developed for some time. State Route 222 in that area was widened to a divided four-lane in I think 2011 explicitly for the megasite, it only serves Stanton otherwise and has almost no existing traffic on it. Same for the I-40 interchange at SR 222 which was upgraded at the same time. There's also the West Tennessee Solar Farm which was built in part to draw attention to the megasite.

I'd be more interested to know what other sites Ford was considering; there are only so many that can support developments of this scale (which is why the megasite certification program exists in the first place). The problem is that TVA certifies megasites in multiple states so there's a weird thing going on there between a federally-owned corporation and state economic development agencies. Was Ford looking at the megasites in Mississippi and Alabama? If so, did Tennessee have to throw cash at them to land it?

[samsonh]

11 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

Yes... and I read something last night about a "mystery" plant going to Clarksville?  Anyone know anything about this?  Electric vehicle investments in Tennessee lead the southeastern U.S. (tennessean.com)  Mini rant:  The articles for the Tennessean are chock full of misspelled words, poor grammar and misstatements of facts (at best). Awful excuse for a newspaper. Look at how much this article says the new battery plant at Spring Hill costs (the largest investment to date).  

In Clarksville, Tennessee’s fifth-largest city, a nine-digit industrial investment is coming, part of the electric-powered automotive movement. Already, American-owned-and-operated Microvast Power Solutions selected Clarksville as the site where it will manufacture electric vehicle batteries primarily for commercial vehicles. The decision is expected to bring 287 new direct jobs and a $220 million investment to Montgomery County.  Microvast has executed a purchase sale agreement on a local site previously owned by  Akebono Brakes, and plans to transition the facility from brake manufacturing to a Li-ion battery manufacturing facility, officials announced earlier this year.  Microvast is expected to begin production next summer.

The article you linked was written by the Jackson Sun fwiw. 

[smeagolsfree]

15 minutes ago, MLBrumby said:

Yes... and I read something last night about a "mystery" plant going to Clarksville?  Anyone know anything about this?  Electric vehicle investments in Tennessee lead the southeastern U.S. (tennessean.com)  Mini rant:  The articles for the Tennessean are chock full of misspelled words, poor grammar and misstatements of facts (at best). Awful excuse for a newspaper. Look at how much this article says the new battery plant at Spring Hill costs (the largest investment to date).  

In Clarksville, Tennessee’s fifth-largest city, a nine-digit industrial investment is coming, part of the electric-powered automotive movement. Already, American-owned-and-operated Microvast Power Solutions selected Clarksville as the site where it will manufacture electric vehicle batteries primarily for commercial vehicles. The decision is expected to bring 287 new direct jobs and a $220 million investment to Montgomery County.  Microvast has executed a purchase sale agreement on a local site previously owned by  Akebono Brakes, and plans to transition the facility from brake manufacturing to a Li-ion battery manufacturing facility, officials announced earlier this year.  Microvast is expected to begin production next summer.

They are probably dealing with a shortage of editors to read all of the stories and counting self editing. Publishing is a tough business and when you are trying to still do a failing model like print media there is room for more errors. I really don’t know if there will even be a printed newspaper 10 years from now.

I am unsure about the Clarksville plant. I can barely keep up with Nashville.

[bnacincy]

2 hours ago, Bos2Nash said:

I sure hope not. Why wouldn't rail be a viable option to pass between the two? We always talk about how CSX has a ton of ROW through this region, why would we extend a highway for manufactured goods like this when the rail is honestly a more efficient way to move those goods?

I'm excited for the Memphis development, but is it just me or is a $500 million incentive pretty robust for a large company like Ford?  Can someone put it in context for me?

While Middle Tennessee booms and East Tennessee is seeing steady growth, West Tennessee has been losing ground. It is the poorest of the 3 Grand Divisions and has lost population as its young people seek better opportunities elsewhere.

A half a billion dollar incentive package for a company like Ford may not have been appropriate for the rest of the state but in the case of West Tennessee I think it is.

[nashvylle]

4 hours ago, Bos2Nash said:

I'm excited for the Memphis development, but is it just me or is a $500 million incentive pretty robust for a large company like Ford?  Can someone put it in context for me?

Ford does not need $1. However, if you want 6K jobs in Tennessee, you need to outbid your competing states. That's the context. And like Oracle and Amazon, there will be a ROI for the state and local communities over an above the incentive package. 

[Bos2Nash]

36 minutes ago, nashvylle said:

Ford does not need $1. However, if you want 6K jobs in Tennessee, you need to outbid your competing states. That's the context. And like Oracle and Amazon, there will be a ROI for the state and local communities over an above the incentive package. 

Oh absolutely I understand the context from the necessity standpoint based on competition. But I am more looking at when compared to other incentive packages handed out. Like the State handed out $65 million to Oracle to relocate to a booming area, so I was just looking for context of a $500 million incentive in a depressed area. Not having a knowledge of the area I just don't know if an incentive package that was almost 8x larger than a package that brought 2.5K more jobs is a "fair" use of the limited tax dollars the state has.

[nashvylle]

1 minute ago, Bos2Nash said:

Oh absolutely I understand the context from the necessity standpoint based on competition. But I am more looking at when compared to other incentive packages handed out. Like the State handed out $65 million to Oracle to relocate to a booming area, so I was just looking for context of a $500 million incentive in a depressed area. Not having a knowledge of the area I just don't know if an incentive package that was almost 8x larger than a package that brought 2.5K more jobs is a "fair" use of the limited tax dollars the state has.

yeah... I have no idea. Haha

[MLBrumby]

Looking like it's approximately 8-12% of the planned total investment. Just an observation. I suppose that hinges on what they plan to build and/or use to train employees.  Oracle's deal may not be the best yardstick as it looks like they're taking a lot of the expenses up front. That may be because they're wanting to move quickly. 

Edited September 28, 2021 by MLBrumby

[markhollin]

The state is planning on building a new Tennessee College of Applied Technology at the Memphis Regional Megasite adjacent to the Blue Oval development.  The state's Board of Regents operates 40 other technical and community colleges in Tennessee.
 

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/education/tennessee-will-open-technical-college-at-new-ford-campus/article_9df463c4-2087-11ec-b1be-0757dd28b82e.html

[tragenvol]

3 hours ago, markhollin said:

The state is planning on building a new Tennessee College of Applied Technology at the Memphis Regional Megasite adjacent to the Blue Oval development.  The state's Board of Regents operates 40 other technical and community colleges in Tennessee.
 

More behind the Nashville Post paywall here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/business/education/tennessee-will-open-technical-college-at-new-ford-campus/article_9df463c4-2087-11ec-b1be-0757dd28b82e.html

As they did for Nissan with the TCAT Mufreesboro campus in Smyrna...along with a very nice training center at Volkswagen in Chattanooga for TCAT Chattanooga (State).

[jmtunafish]

Haywood County has lost 15% of its population since 1980 which is pretty typical of rural West Tennessee counties.  I am very excited for rural West Tennessee which will hugely benefit from this, maybe even more than Memphis will benefit from it.  This megasite is closer to downtown Jackson than it is to downtown Memphis and will likely employ people from all over the western third of the state.