Volkswagen Group of America is giving up an option on a large vacant tract near its Chattanooga production plant, and an official said plans are to market the land potentially to a company involved in the electric vehicle space.
"We're actively kind of marketing that," said Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce Chief Executive Charles Wood on Monday. "Ideally it aligns with what VW is doing over time in the EV sector and that sort of thing."
Jermaine Freeman, interim chief of staff for Chattanooga Mayor Tim Kelly, told the city's Industrial Development Board at a meeting that VW agreed to release its option on a 182-acre tract at Enterprise South industrial park.
"This allows for the chamber and the city and county to work together to continue to pursue economic development activity on this property," he said.
The board, which officially holds title to the sprawling industrial park where VW has major operations, approved the request.
Wood said in an interview after the meeting that the property is generally along Highway 58 near Ferdinand Piech Way. That road was recently completed to run from Highway 58 to Interstate 75 through the industrial park.
Wood said the concept of the release of the option on the land was part of an agreement with VW a few years ago. But, he said, the city and Hamilton County recently approved work on the site.
"They're demolishing some existing structures and doing some clearing," Wood said.
Staff file photo by Olivia Ross / Volkswagen employees work on a vehicle inside the company's Chattanooga production plant on May 16.Novonix, a maker of materials for batteries for EVs that already has a manufacturing operation in Chattanooga, has indicated that it's looking for a site for a second facility that could ultimately employ 1,000 more people.
To aid that effort, Novonix in November won approval for $150 million in project funding from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Daniel Deas, president of the company's anode materials division, said in an earlier interview that the Chattanooga area is in the running among other locations for the new plant.
Novonix was expected to have had 100 employees by the end of 2022 at its existing site at The Bend on Riverfront Parkway, in the former Alstom plant.
Wood said Monday the Enterprise South parcel that VW is releasing has water, sewer and electricity.
"There's a significant amount of infrastructure on the site," he said.
VW, which employs about 5,000 people in Chattanooga building the ID.4 electric SUV and the conventionally powered Atlas and Atlas Cross Sport SUVs, still has several hundred acres of land next to the factory.
Company officials have said they could mirror the existing plant should VW decide to make the investment.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.