Tennessee is among a half dozen states that are being recognized by Site Selection magazine with its annual Gold Shovel award for attracting the most new business investment in 2015.
Tennessee won the top development honor from the business publication for the second consecutive year. The Volunteer State also won Gold Shovel honors in 2009 and in 2012.
Five other states – California, Nevada, Ohio, South Carolina and Utah – also are recipients of the magazine’s 2016 Gold Shovel Award in recognition of projects undertaken in 2015 creating a significant number of high-value-added new jobs, as well as investment.
“The states and their communities receiving 2016 Shovel Awards not only have the right combination of factors to attract and retain business, they also display a pro-business attitude and marketing savvy,” Geraldine Gamble, editor of Area Development, said in a statement Tuesday. “They deserve to be recognized for winning high-impact economic development projects.”
The major projects lured to Tennessee last year included the $180 million of expansion in Chattanooga by the Spanish automotive supplier Gestamp, a VW supplier that is adding 510 jobs in Chattanooga. Other automotive expansions by Denso Manufacturing in Athens and Nissan in Smyrna are helping to expand Tennessee’s growing automotive industry.