By Jamie Gardner
Baxley and Appling County seem to be in great shape for potential industrial growth. Why? At the present time the community has two industrial-size buildings available for potential lookers.
The first of the two buildings is located in Industrial Park West, just off Highway 341. It is a new building that has been constructed by the Baxley/Appling County Development Authority. Development Authority Executive Director Dale Atkins reported that the new building is 60,000 sq. ft. After receiving eight competitive bids from local construction companies, the development authority accepted the low bid and invested approximately $500,000.00 in building the shell of the new building and has yet another $500,000.00 to customize the building for an industry that is looking to locate in Baxley. The money to build the speculative (or spec) building was provided by the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST).
General housing/contender boat building.
Buildings ready to be packed with local jobs
“From an industrial recruitment standpoint, it’s just about impossible to attract an industry to a community without a spec building,” said Atkins. “It’s good bait in recruiting industry.”
A unique feature of the new spec building is the fact that the ceiling height is 32 ft. Atkins stated that most industrial buildings in the community are around 22 – 24 ft. in height.
Adjacent to the new spec building is the General Housing/Contender Boat building. This building has now been turned over to the development authority. General Housing built the building several years ago and the development authority gave the company 25 acres in Industrial Park West as an incentive to get the manufactured housing company to locate and build here. Following a downturn in the manufactured housing industry, General downsized and closed the plant in Baxley leaving the building vacant.
Then came news of Contender Boats. Contender had planned to move a major portion of its operations to Baxley following a visit to the building by the owner of the company. Contender did employ approximately 40 people in Baxley for a limited amount of time at the facility. However, the boating industry also took a turn for the worse. Contender went from building 10 – 12 boats per week in Homestead, Florida, to building 2 – 3 boats per week. Contender employed approximately 400 employees in Homestead when it first looked at locating in Baxley. Last report was that the company is down to 60 employees at present.
But Atkins points out some positives about this building that may have Appling on the fast track to finding a tenant for the facility. Through cooperation with the development authority, Sen Tommie Williams, Rep. Tommy Smith, Contender and the state of Georgia, funding from One Georgia (tobacco lawsuit settlement funds) was allotted to Contender for making upgrades and enhancements to the building. One million dollars was provided by One Georgia to make improvements to the building. In addition, One Georgia also agreed to another $1,000,000.00 investment into the facility as long as the company would agree to a 60/40 match (meaning Contender would pay 60 percent on the additional million dollars and the state would pay 40 percent). The $2,000,000.00 in upgrades was performed on the building that included making changes to the building’s foundation, a new crane system, a new testing pool for boats and ventilation improvements.
As part of the funding, One Georgia set some expectations for Contender. One of the expectations was employee growth. Contender was not able to meet the expectations, even with several extensions, and eventually turned the building back over to the development authority.
“We’ve got a nice building with minimal investment by the county,” said Atkins. “In addition, the state is partnering with us in trying to find a good fit for the facility since One Georgia money was invested. From a community standpoint, I know that we would have rather had jobs in the community by now, but all was not a loss due to the investment in the building by the state and Contender. I feel confident that in the near future both of these buildings will produce a number of jobs.”
A unique feature of the new spec building is the fact that the ceiling height is 32 ft. Atkins stated that most industrial buildings in the community are around 22 – 24 ft. in height.
Adjacent to the new spec building is the General Housing/Contender Boat building. This building has now been turned over to the development authority. General Housing built the building several years ago and the development authority gave the company 25 acres in Industrial Park West as an incentive to get the manufactured housing company to locate and build here. Following a downturn in the manufactured housing industry, General downsized and closed the plant in Baxley leaving the building vacant.
Then came news of Contender Boats. Contender had planned to move a major portion of its operations to Baxley following a visit to the building by the owner of the company. Contender did employ approximately 40 people in Baxley for a limited amount of time at the facility. However, the boating industry also took a turn for the worse. Contender went from building 10 – 12 boats per week in Homestead, Florida, to building 2 – 3 boats per week. Contender employed approximately 400 employees in Homestead when it first looked at locating in Baxley. Last report was that the company is down to 60 employees at present.
But Atkins points out some positives about this building that may have Appling on the fast track to finding a tenant for the facility. Through cooperation with the development authority, Sen Tommie Williams, Rep. Tommy Smith, Contender and the state of Georgia, funding from One Georgia (tobacco lawsuit settlement funds) was allotted to Contender for making upgrades and enhancements to the building. One million dollars was provided by One Georgia to make improvements to the building. In addition, One Georgia also agreed to another $1,000,000.00 investment into the facility as long as the company would agree to a 60/40 match (meaning Contender would pay 60 percent on the additional million dollars and the state would pay 40 percent). The $2,000,000.00 in upgrades was performed on the building that included making changes to the building’s foundation, a new crane system, a new testing pool for boats and ventilation improvements.
As part of the funding, One Georgia set some expectations for Contender. One of the expectations was employee growth. Contender was not able to meet the expectations, even with several extensions, and eventually turned the building back over to the development authority.
“We’ve got a nice building with minimal investment by the county,” said Atkins. “In addition, the state is partnering with us in trying to find a good fit for the facility since One Georgia money was invested. From a community standpoint, I know that we would have rather had jobs in the community by now, but all was not a loss due to the investment in the building by the state and Contender. I feel confident that in the near future both of these buildings will produce a number of jobs.”
New spec building located on highway 341 w.
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