Biggest projects landed in 20111. General Motors reinvestment in the former Saturn plant in Spring Hill; 2,350 jobs and $420 million in investment2. Amazon distribution centers in Rutherford and Wilson counties; 1,600 jobs and $139 million in investment3. TeamHealth, the Knoxville-based medical firm, is adding up to 700 jobs at an administrative facility being built in Alcoa, Tenn.4. C&F Group is building an automotive supply plant in Kingsport, Tenn.; 450 new jobs and $10 million investment.5. NYX Inc. is building an automotive supply plant in Linden, Tenn.; 400 jobs and $23 million in investment.Source: Tennessee Department of Economic and Community DevelopmentRead the annual report on state investment Follow this Link.
Tennessee boasted its best year for business recruitment in five years in 2011 during the first year of Gov. Bill Haslam's administration, state officials said Tuesday.
In its annual report, the Department of Economic and Community Development said Tennessee landed more than $4 billion of new investment last year. Those investments are projected to add an estimated 28,535 new jobs in Tennessee, 14.3 percent more than the previous year and the highest number since before the recession hit in 2007.
The 2011 investment total in Haslam's first year in office was slightly below the $4.4 billion average annual investment during the eight-year term of Haslam's predecessor, former Gov. Phil Bredesen. But Bill Hagerty, the commissioner for economic and community development, said the incentives offered for new and expanding businesses last year were less than half as generous as what was offered during the Bredesen administration.
In 2011, the average incentive cost per job was $2,640, compared with $5,586 when Bredesen was governor from 2002 to 2010.
"Tennessee transformed its economic development model in 2011, applying solid business principles to set the stage for long-term growth," Hagerty said in a statement accompanying his department's report.
Hagerty's department staff shrank by 40 percent last year as the state reduced its role in community planning and focused on key business sectors where Tennessee holds a unique advantage.
Haslam said the new strategy, billed as Jobs4TN, "is working" and "continues to be a top priority for this administration.
"I am convinced that Tennessee can compete with anyone when it comes to attracting jobs," the governor said in a statement released Tuesday.