State announces first Select Tennessee Certified Sites, including Horizon Center area

NASHVILLE—The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development announced on Tuesday the first six Select Tennessee Certified Sites.

As previously reported on Oak Ridge Today, one of the sites is at Horizon Center in west Oak Ridge.

The Select Tennessee program was launched in June 2012 with the goal of helping Tennessee communities prepare available sites for investment and expansion. The program sets a consistent and rigorous standard upon which companies can rely in making critical location decisions.

The first six sites are:

• State Road 111 Industrial Park in Overton County (310 Oak Hill Rd., Livingston);
• Centre 75 Business Park, Lot 7, in Loudon County (1600 Centre Park Drive, Loudon);
• Horizon Center, Development Area 6 in Roane County (Renovare Boulevard, Oak Ridge);
• Langley Hall Industrial Site “East” in Sumner County (Airport Road, Gallatin);
• Langley Hall Industrial Site “West,” also in Sumner County (Airport Road, Gallatin); and
• Timberlake Industrial Site in Henderson County (Kirby Drive, Lexington).

“We believe Tennessee is the best place to do business in the Southeast, but beyond our state’s ideal location, high quality workforce, low tax rate, and business-friendly environment, we know having an attractive site ready to go may make the difference in attracting new investment or expansion,” ECD Commissioner Bill Hagerty said. “By choosing one of this initial group of six Select Tennessee Certified Sites, companies can feel confident about doing business in our state. This certification to international standards has been performed by world class leading site selection firms Austin Consulting and The Foote Consulting Group. Any company locating in our certified sites can be confident on their project’s ultimate success.”

The program acknowledges that companies looking to expand or relocate their operations often eliminate less prepared sites and addresses this issue by ensuring sites meet a specific standard. Among the qualifications needed to become certified, a site must have at least 20 developable acres, proper zoning in place to allow for ease of development, all utilities at the site or a formal plan to extend to the site, and truck-quality road access.

A hallmark of the program is ensuring that Tennessee sites are ready for development, whether through marketing those ready for a prospect or providing guidance for uncertified sites to achieve a higher level of preparedness.

ECD has partnered with Austin Consulting and The Foote Consulting Group to administer the program.

“The thorough due diligence process that these sites have undergone removes risk and uncertainty by uncovering and addressing potential obstacles that can delay a project,” Austin Consulting Location Consultant Brandon Talbert said. “This assures prospective companies and consulting organizations that development can commence quickly at these sites and provides Tennessee a competitive advantage for attracting new business investment.”

“Companies looking to expand and site selectors representing these companies are often on very tight time lines and, therefore, want to see sites that are ready to go right now,” said Deane C. Foote, president and chief executive officer of Foote Consulting Group LLC. “The Select Tennessee Certified Sites program assures expanding companies and site selectors alike that they are seeing some of the very best sites in the nation, sites that meet rigorous standards and that can be developed right away in order to meet strict corporate objectives of getting product to market. The result will be more successful project locations, more jobs and more capital investment for Tennessee.”

The Select Tennessee program accepts applications twice a year. The next round of applications can be submitted July 10-Aug. 9. Communities interested in applying to the Certified Sites program can visit www.SelectTennessee.com.