Walker County Sole Commissioner Bebe Heiskell is hoping for a merry Christmas – economic development wise.
The county’s Development Authority recently acquired a new $150,000 eight-acre piece of property adjacent to the county’s industrial park that it’s hoping may help bring in some announcements between now and the holiday.
“It opens up some new opportunities,” said Walker County Economic Development/Resource Coordinator Larry Brooks. “The acquisition opens up property so these trucks [belonging to businesses already operating in the industrial park] have better access to railroad. Of course if ‘Project Eagle’ does land, they’ll have 100 rail cars sitting in Walker County at any time. This will give us more opportunities to support what they’re looking at and providing.”
Project Eagle is the code name the Development Authority has been using for approximately a year now to reference a global company that’s been considering growth opportunities in the Southeast, particularly in Walker County.
“It’s been told to us we’re now the only location in Georgia [that company is considering] and the top candidate for any type of Southeast buildout they do,” said Brooks. “If Project Eagle lands, what we’ve been looking at is it’ll probably fill up most of that park. With us picking up those extra acres, it won’t allow them to add anything grand as far as manufacturing, but it will give them the opportunity of having more rail availability.”
If the project doesn’t land in Walker County, he said the new acquisition is still a score for the county and its development authority.
Two current businesses within the park, Nissin Brakes and Old Mill Kettle Corn, have both undergone expansions this year and are looking at the possibility of expanding again.
“The diversity [of industry] really has helped us,” said Brooks. “We hope we continue to see diversity come this way.”
This most recent purchase was made possible through funds the Development Authority has garnered from economic development deals that it then reinvests for economic opportunities, which help foster even more development, Brooks said.