2013 record-breaking year for Roane County and Roane Alliance

Submitted by Roane Alliance

$150 million worth of new development opened

KINGSTON—To The Roane Alliance—and to many across Roane County—2013 will be remembered as one of the busiest years ever, with record-setting activity in major grand openings, business expansions, and in state-wide, national, and international recognition and awards.

“Most impressive were grand openings of more than $150 million worth of new development projects,” said Leslie Henderson, president and chief executive officer of The Roane Alliance, “including the new $76 million hospital in Midtown, the $35 million carbon fiber manufacturing research facility in Oak Ridge, and the $40 million Volkswagen 460,000-square-foot distribution facility along I-40 in east Roane.”

Henderson said in the report that in 2013 Roane County also saw records set in numbers of announced expansions of existing industry and also in a record number of recognitions and awards for Alliance programs’ accomplishments.

“It was a year full of celebrations, accomplishments, recognitions and a whole lot more,” she said.

Among some of the highlights of the report which was released in February at a quarterly board meeting were:

• The per capita income in Roane County continued to climb—increasing 3.1 percent;
• The unemployment rate continued to beat the state’s average, with Roane County’s averaging 8 percent for the year;
• Prospect activity was up 50 percent, and total jobs numbers remained steady;
• Roane County was named a silver-level sustainable community, an exceptional honor, by the Tennessee Valley Authority;
• The Alliance’s highly-successful Education Matters! program received a top award for excellence by a highly-regarded international association of economic developers;
• A shuttered steel mill announced it was reopening, adding 61 jobs in the next two years; and
• Three Roane industrial sites became certified through Tennessee’s Select Tennessee Certified Program—making them shovel ready and much more marketable.

“I think you will see once you read through this year’s annual report, the year 2013 was full to overflowing with reasons to celebrate,” Henderson said, “with the increased activity and positive momentum in the second half of the year—2013 was all in all a very good year.”

The complete 2013 Roane Alliance Annual Report—which provides highlights of the Roane Industrial Development Board, Visitor’s Bureau, and Chamber’s programming and accomplishments throughout the year—can be found at www.roanealliance.org/report.

The Alliance is Roane County’s economic development organization and consists of both public and private organizations, including the Roane County Chamber of Commerce, the Roane County Industrial Development Board, and the Roane County Visitors Bureau.