VW welcome center still searching for downtown Chattanooga home

Automaker likely won't meet July 1 deadline stated in agreement with city, Hamilton County

Three men walk into the BMW Zentrum Museum before a tour of the Greer, S.C., manufacturing facility. That center opened in conjunction with a BMW plant in 1993.
Three men walk into the BMW Zentrum Museum before a tour of the Greer, S.C., manufacturing facility. That center opened in conjunction with a BMW plant in 1993.

Volkswagen still is in the hunt for a site for its downtown Chattanooga welcome center even in the wake of the diesel emissions scandal, officials say.

But it appears unlikely VW can meet a July 1 deadline to set up the welcome center as provided in a mid-2014 agreement with Chattanooga and Hamilton County.

VW Chattanooga plant spokesman Scott Wilson said the carmaker is still in the site selection process for the center, and several locations are under consideration.

"No decisions have been made at this time," he said in an email.

Wilson would not address the possibility of locating in the Regional History Museum space near the Tennessee Aquarium. History Museum officials have cited financial issues as they now look to open an exhibit at the Chattanooga Public Library.

Kim White, who heads the nonprofit downtown redevelopment group River City Co., said she understands VW is looking at "new construction" in which to house its center.

She noted VW has said it wants to locate its facility between Fourth Street and the riverfront in Chattanooga's downtown.

"They want to do something really first class," White said, adding the July 1 date appears impossible to meet.

She said conversations about the proposed welcome center have slowed since the emergence last September of VW's installation of defeat devices to fool emission testing equipment on many of its diesel-powered vehicles.

While the agreement with the city and county called for the VW center to be up by mid-summer, there's no language that would punish the company for not doing so by that time.

VW continues to expand the Chattanooga plant to produce a new sport utility vehicle by the end of 2016 in a $600 million project. Also, the company is staffing up a new North American engineering and planning center at Enterprise South industrial park.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said in Chattanooga on Thursday that he's not hearing VW "backing up at all" from its commitment to the Scenic City.

"More than ever they're saying North America matters to us." Haslam said. "Chattanooga is the critical piece."

In September, VW admitted it installed software in more than a half million vehicles in the U.S. designed to cheat on government emissions tests. Worldwide, the company said about 11 million vehicles aren't meeting standards.

In the U.S., the company still is trying to find a fix to which government regulators will agree. In Europe, the automaker already has an approved remedy and is working to implement it.

Nick Wilkinson, Chattanooga's deputy administrator for economic development, said the city remains in contact with VW in terms of helping it identify a welcome center location.

"We want it to be a great project," he said.

Bob Doak, the Chattanooga Convention and Visitors Bureau chief, said the VW center needs to be "an attractor" of people to the area.

Doak said the center should be "world class" and complement what already is in the riverfront.

A welcome center gives an automaker a chance to show off its vehicles and tell its story.

BMW has such a facility located next to its auto assembly plant in Greer, S.C. Its museum, or Zentrum, also is seen as a unique destination for conferences and large events.

The National Corvette Museum is located about a mile away from the Bowling Green, Ky., plant where the vehicles are produced. Chevrolet allows Corvette buyers to take delivery of their new vehicles at the museum with a VIP tour of the plant and museum.

In Germany adjacent to Volkswagen's big factory in Wolfsburg, the automaker maintains the Autostadt, which is a visitor attraction with a prime focus on automobiles.

Chattanooga Mayor Andy Berke pushed for bringing the welcome center downtown during conversations about VW's expansion. The center was planned for a site near the plant.

City and county government would match VW's costs, up to $6 million, according to the agreement between the parties. Also, local government would provide the needed land for the center, the agreement said.

The welcome center money was part of the financial incentives that the state, city and county provided VW.

The state is providing about $166 million in incentives for the VW plant expansion. The city and county also earmarked $52.5 million for the project.

That package comes on top of the $577 million of incentives offered to VW in 2008 from federal, state and local governments to initially convince the German automaker to build in Chattanooga.

Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.

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