Automotive suppliers helped drive some of the biggest business investments in the Chattanooga area during 2015 as companies positioned themselves to ride the Volkswagen assembly plant expansion.
At the same time, downtown Chattanooga continued to see new housing developments as the central city benefited from a rental housing boom.
Spanish auto supplier Gestamp announced in June it will invest another $180 million and add 510 jobs to supply parts for VW’s new sport utility vehicle. The decision came a year after VW decided to add a second vehicle to its Chattanooga assembly plant as part of a $900 million expansion for the German auto maker in the U.S. market.
“This fulfills a vision we have that Chattanooga would be a major manufacturer and supplier hub,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said during an announcement of Gestamp’s plans to triple its Chattanooga operations. Over the next two years, Gestamp plans to add the employees to the nearly 300 who already work for the company in Chattanooga. It’s the biggest single investment ever by a VW supplier in Hamilton County.
Gestamp, which started operating at Enterprise South industrial park in 2009, makes stamped parts and welded assemblies for the Passat sedan. The new plant will press body sheet metal and chassis components for the SUV VW will produce late next year.
In July, Yanfeng Automotive Interiors unveiled plans to invest $55 million into a Chattanooga facility to supply parts for VW’s assembly plant and hire 325 people. Yanfeng has leased a site off Bonnyshire Drive near the VW plant for its operations.
Schnellecke Logistics USA, a German company that handles and manages the auto parts used in VW’s assembly plant, also plans to hire 300 more employees by the end of next year. The company’s American subsidiary already employs about 350 workers in the city and is ramping up for the SUV, says Jens Kappei, the company’s chief executive in Chattanooga.
In Athens, Tennessee, Denso Manufacturing plans to hire 400 more workers and invest $85 million into its plant. The company already employs more than 1,450 people in Athens and will expand to support the growing need of gasoline direct injection in North America as automakers are turning to the technology to help meet fuel-efficiency and emissions regulations.
While VW suppliers comprised some of the biggest job gains in 2015, other local companies and suppliers also helped boost the local economy this year.
McKee Foods Corp., the maker of many popular snack cakes, plans to whip up a $102 million investment at its Collegedale production plant for new equipment and office space, according to the company. Hamilton County’s largest manufacturer also is slated to add at least 50 more jobs over five years, putting its head count here at about 3,000 people.
Vanguard National Trailer Corp., a leading semi-trailer manufacturer based in Monon, Ind., will invest $30 million in a new manufacturing facility in Dade County, Ga. Once operating at full capacity, the new location will create 400 more jobs.
Work on most of the new or expanded plants announced this year for Chattanooga is just getting started. But a pair of other major construction projects are nearing the end of their construction phases.
Among the big projects completed in the area in 2015, federal regulators have approved an operating license for TVA’s Watts Bar Unit 2 in Spring City, Tenn., allowing the first new American nuclear plant to begin operation in nearly two decades.In addition, Wacker’s polysilicon production plant is in the commission phase. At $2.4 billion, the plant is the largest single private construction project ever in Tennessee, according to Wacker.
The German manufacturer plans to ramp up to 650 employees by early 2016 when the plant is at full production, says Konrad Bachhuber, who has overseen its construction.
In downtown Chattanooga, an array of new apartments have been built and more are planned.
The former Loft restaurant site on the North Shore is to hold 185 apartments in a $37 million development, according to Franklin, Tennessee, developer Bristol Development Group.
Also, a 10-story tower, the tallest building slated for downtown Chattanooga in at least two decades, is to hold 125 apartments along with retail and office space.
The $28 million structure is proposed for a long-vacant site on the 700 block of Market Street, according to the Atlanta-based The Simpson Organization.