Rutherford County Doesn’t Sit Still In Attracting New Jobs, Investment
Published Jun 12, 2009
Interactive marketing company George P. Johnson picked La Vergne for a fabrication facility after looking at 28 other locations.
The smart money doesn’t sit still and neither are Rutherford County business and government leaders. They continue to meet with site consultants and court potential companies to grow and diversify the region’s economy and land new business.
The ongoing efforts paid off even in 2008, a difficult year that still saw creation of 1,000 jobs in the county.
ClaimTrust, a medical data processing center, moved its corporate headquarters from Florida to Murfreesboro. Meiko, which makes commercial dishwashers, relocated to La Vergne. Ideal Tridon,
an auto industry supplier, expanded its Smyrna plant, which created 75 to 100 jobs.
Chromalox, a Michigan-based maker of industrial heating elements, added more local jobs after consolidating elsewhere in the United States.
“We are still out there marketing. We are not sitting in our offices waiting for things to get better,” says Holly Sears Weber, vice president of economic development at the Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce.
In September 2008, The Milken Institute/Greenstreet Real Estate partners ranked the Nashville-Davidson-Murfreesboro MSA the 15th best market for business and careers.
George P. Johnson, a multimedia marketing firm that represents IBM, General Motors, Cisco Systems Inc. and other major clients at trade shows and customer events, set up its third U.S. manufacturing center in La Vergne.
Dan Patterson, senior vice president and general manager, says the company employs up to 40 people now and expects that to at least triple.
“Our plan is to be a full-service operation,” he says.
The company picked Rutherford County after looking at 28 locations. Swaying its decision was proximity to Southeast markets, skilled workforce and overall business climate.
“It’s been great,” Patterson says.
Hans Ott, chief executive officer of Franke USA, also is pleased. The company makes commercial cooking equipment and helped McDonald’s refit 7,000 restaurants with cappuccino and specialty coffee machines. The business came to Tennessee in 1995 and business has expanded sixfold, Ott says.
“When we originally relocated here, it was to be in a much more central position to distribute east of the Rocky Mountains,” Ott says. “We also find the people here are very friendly. We have
a very loyal and good workforce, with good schools and reasonable traffic.”
Franke invested $40 million in a new, 250,000-square foot headquarters complex. The move means more space for R&D, prototype manufacturing and distribution. The building is LEED-certified and features a 168-panel solar roof array installed by LightWave Solar Electric in Nashville and exterior charging stations for electric cars.
Aiding the cause is Destination Rutherford, a chamber-led public-private partnership that promotes economic development. The Rutherford County chamber also offers or administers a number of incentive programs to help businesses relocate, grow and expand.
“We aren’t going to sit around and wait on the economy to get better,” says Bill Jones, Destination Rutherford chairman and area executive for Pinnacle Financial Partners. “We are out talking to site consultants and relocation consultants. The work we are doing now will pay big dividends for us.”
Story by Pamela Coyle
Photo by Antony Boshier
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