A wholesale alcohol distributor plans to buy a seven-acre tract at Enterprise South industrial park to build a new warehouse and offices, investing $2.7 million.
Empire Distributors of Tennessee plans to buy the site off Hickory Valley Road for $560,000, according to a resolution slated to go before the Hamilton County Commission and Chattanooga City Council.
Empire plans to relocate to the new site from its existing facility on Tag Road, according to documents. The company currently has 44 employees and plans to grow to 56 within five years.
The new facility will have 7,000 square feet of office space and 6,000 square feet of shipping space, the documents show.
Sybil Topel, vice president of marketing and communications for the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, said no incentives were offered to the company.
She said Empire Distributors isn’t the first company to expand operations to the massive industrial park that’s home to Volkswagen’s auto assembly plant, Amazon’s Chattanooga distribution center and other companies.
Topel noted that Archer Daniels Midland in 2011 announced it was consolidating three area locations into one at Enterprise South. At the time, officials said it represented a $24 million to $27 million investment.
ADM has a facility where it transfers corn syrup, starch and sugar products from rail cars to trucks for delivery to food producers within 150 miles.
Construction on the Empire Distributors facility is slated to start late this year and take about six months to build.
The company declined to comment on the project.
According to city documents, sales representive, sales manager and delivery driver jobs are planned for the new location. The jobs will range in starting annual wages from $40,000 for the drivers to $67,000 for the sales manager post, documents show.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.