In 2016, Rhea County suffered the loss of thousands of jobs with the closing of the Goodman Manufacturing plant and the completion of the Watts Bar unit 2 nuclear reactor. As a result, the jobless rate rose to the highest of any of Tennessee's 95 counties through most of the past year.
But 2017 brought better economic news for Rhea County which should generate hundreds of new jobs in 2018.
Dayton landed the biggest foreign investment in Rhea County history - and the biggest new business investment announced in 2017 in the Chattanooga region - with the decision by Nokian Tyres to build a $360 million tire plant in the 330-acre industrial park built along a rail line just north of Dayton. The Finnish tire maker plans to hire 400 workers for the first phase of the project, which could eventually grow on the available site to up to 1,600 jobs.
Also this year, Huber Engineered Woods said it is spending $50 million to reactivate its Spring City, Tenn., plant, adding at least 132 jobs, and La-Z-Boy is adding an R&D facility in Dayton with a pledge to add 115 jobs.
"From an economic development standpoint, we've seen the highs and we've seen the lows in the past couple of years and we're on a hot streak right now," Dennis Tumlin, executive director for the Rhea County Economic and Tourism Council. "We see bright days ahead as this industrial growth drives both residential and retail growth."
Biggest expansions in the region
› Nokian Tyres to build $360 million plant in Dayton, add 360 jobs› Textile Corporation plans $27.1 million plant in Pikeville with 1,000 jobs› Huber Engineered Woods undertakes $50 million upgrade to reactivate its Spring City, Tenn., plant, and create 132 jobs› FedEx opens $30 million distribution center along I-75 in Apison, employing 300 workers› Scenic Land plans $100 million resort hotel, conference center and development on the site of the former Canyon Ridge in Walker County.› HomeServe USA making $5.7 million expansion of Chattanooga customer service facility, adding 192 more jobs› M&M Industries begins $42 million expansion in Chattanooga, adding 110 jobs› Erlanger Health System and its partners are building a $32.6 million hospital in Dunlap, a $40 million children’s outpatient hospital near its main campus, a $25 million rehabilitation hospital on Holtzclaw Avenue and an $18 million medical office building in East Brainerd, adding a total of about 120 more jobs at the four locations.› REI plans to open its first Chattanooga store and Publix is adding another supermarket as part of $40 million addition to Waterside development off Shallowford Road.› The 10-story, $30 million Market City Center on the 700 block of Market Street opens.
The Rhea County rebound reflects the outward growth in the Chattanooga region as the economic recovery entered its eighth year since the Great Recession.
Business deals
› Engineered Floors buys Beaulieu Group (two years after buying J&J), to create the third biggest carpet maker just eight years after Bob Shaw started the company.› Mohawk buys Beaulieu plant in Bridgeport, Ala., saving 300 jobs slated to be lost with the plant closing in the first quarter of the year.› Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) parent of Memorial hospital, merges with Dignity Health to create a single Catholic health system comprising 139 hospitals across 28 states.› Shaw Industries buys the Anderson Family of Companies based in Clinton, South Carolina.› SmartBank buys Capstone Bank for $84.8 million and Southern Community Bank for $31.8 million.› Kordsa North America buys Invista plant in Hixson, formerly operated by Dupont.› Rock Creek Outfitters is sold to two of its employees› Forrest Preston buys Tallan, Krystal buildings from Henry Luken› Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway buys share of Pilot Flying J› Skuid gets $25 million in new funding› City sells Chattanoogan hotel for $32 million› CVS Health plans to buy Aetna insurance for $69 billion› Southern Heritage and Reliant bank both expand into Hamilton County with local offices.› New York equity firm Court Square Capital Partners buys Playcore, which itself added three purchases in 2017 — Playcraft Systems, APC Brands and Worlds of Wow.› Bolts and Nuts buys Challenger Component Services in Nashville and Industrial Fastening in Macon, Ga.› Sequatchie Concrete buys Cleveland Ready Mix› Amazon buys Whole Foods for $13.7 billion› Bass Pro Shops buys Cabelo’s for $4 billion› Pinnacle Bank buys Bank of North Carolina for $1.9 billion› First Horizon, parent of First Tennessee Bank, buys Capital bank for $2.2 billion
The past year didn't match the dollar volume of previous years over the past decade, which included the $2.5 billion Wacker Chemical plant in Charleston, the $5 billion reactor at the Watts Bar Nuclear Plant in Spring City and more than $2 billion of projects by Volkswagen in Chattanooga and its suppliers.
But even with the biggest construction projects in the region completed in previous years, builders are still staying busy with new projects announced or under construction during 2017.
Chattanooga added its biggest hotel project ever with the November opening of the Westin Hotel as the anchor to $88 million of projects in the redeveloping West End of downtown. Several existing businesses, including M&M Plastics, Lodge Manufacturing and HomeServe, expanded operations this year to collectively add nearly 400 jobs.
Chattanooga's biggest hospital, Erlanger Health System, is building or partnering with others on nearly $100 million of medical expansions in the biggest capital spending initiative in Erlanger's 128-year history. Erlanger is building a new Children's Hospital and Heart and Lung Institute on its main campus and other new hospitals along Holtzclaw Avenue and in Dunlap, Tenn., and hospital planners have scoped out $1.5 billion of projects they want to build in the future.
Even some rural counties where the jobless rate has remained above state and national averages are seeing new projects and more job growth.
In Pikeville, the newly formed Textile Corp., is planning a $27.1 million renovation of the shuttered Dura Automotive into a textile and apparel mill that could eventually employ 1,000 workers. The project being undertaken by Chattanooga businessman Ed Cagle is the biggest industrial project in Bledsoe County history.
To the south, the Chattanooga develoment firm Scenic Land announced plans for the biggest single investment ever in Walker County - a $100 million resort hotel, conference center and mountain-top development on the site of the former Canyon Ridge atop Lookout Mountain.
While the big projects capture the headlines, the improving economy is boosting activity at nearly all businesses.
"What we're seeing now is consistent, incremental growth across all of our industries," said Doug Berry, vice president of economic development for the Cleveland/Bradley County Chamber of Commerce. "The challenge we have now is building the qualified workforce to fill the types of jobs that we have coming online, especially as we grapple with having an aging skilled workforce that is retiring in many areas."
The Chattanooga region added nearly 10,000 jobs during the past year, cutting the jobless rate to a 17-low in metro Chattanooga and an all-time low in metro Cleveland, Tenn., according to the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development.
Berry said the labor market is as tight as he has seen in his 30-year career.
"Most of my career we've had very healthy economies in East Tennessee, but we've not seen unemployment this low before," he said. "We're having us to temper ourselves when it comes to attracting new industry because we first need to pay attention to the existing industry base and make sure that we can supply their labor needs over the next five to 10 years. We're certainly not out of the business attraction business, but we do have the privilege at this point in time to look more critically what a business prospect is and what they can add to the business diversity of our economy."
Contact Dave Flessner at dflessner@timesfreepress.com or Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepess.com