Volkswagen Leads Massive Investment In Chattanooga

Do you remember what you were doing this time last year?

Chances are you were watching NewsChannel 9 as Volkswagen made it's big announcement that it's building a car plant in Chattanooga.

A lot has happened since that historic day for the Scenic City. While VW has gotten the lion's share of publicity 16 other companies have spent millions of dollars to create new jobs in Chattanooga.

That's great news for the region considering the deep, world-wide recession and massive job cuts.

Of course many people remember that electrifying day last July 15 at Chattanooga's Hunter Museum, when Volkswagen executives announced they chose us over Huntsville, Alabama. The excitement may have worn since then but the activity to build VW's billion-dollar plant is as hot as Chattanooga's July weather.

The plan was to build a 2-million square foot plant that will produce a four-door sedan engineered for drivers in the United States by early 2011.

Volkswagen spokesperson April Wortham said "with the help of our partners here in Tennessee we've been able to quickly put that plan into action."

Wortham said in the last 12-months $436-million has been invested in local and regional contracts. About $300-million has gone into developing the car that will be built in Chattanooga.

"We've come a long way in a year, and that was a very significant announcement that continues to pay dividends and will for many years to come," according to Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey.

Mayor Ramsey has worked since 1994 to turn the old Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant into a new home for major manufacturers at a re-branded Enterprise South Industrial Park.

It's an ironic twist of fate, luring German car maker Volkswagen to a site that once produced the bombs dropped over Germany during World War II. The companys' flagship plant at it's Wolfsburg, Germany headquarters still has steel support beams inside that are peppered with holes from Allied forces bombing missions.

12-months ago there wasn't anything out at Enterprise South except for some thick brush, trees and bulldozers that started clearing a massive 1,300-acre site. There were hills, ravines and creeks meandering through the site. Kia and Toyota had expressed interest in building their new plants there but chose other sites in Georgia and Mississippi, respectively. But last summer Volkswagen chose the site over Huntsville, Alabama to help it achieve a  goal of becoming the world's number-one carmaker by 2018.

12-months later a white and silver steel structure towers up to 10-stories high from a flattened and cleared site.

The VW plant is expected to create $12-billion in income growth and thousands of new jobs over the life of the project. It's leading a wave of major investment in Chattanooga during the last year, with at least 16 other new or expanding companies together spending $1,241,750,000 to create more than 3,100 local jobs.

"All of these are nationally recognized companies that say we're doing business in Chattanooga, Tennessee by choice and we're expanding and growing in Chattanooga, Tennessee," mayor Ramsey said.

The investments by Volkswagen and other companies during the last 12-months was the topic of a speech Mayor Ramsey gave to the Hamilton County Commission Wednesday.

"In a tough economic time this community has a bright future," Mayor Ramsey said.

Mayor Ramsey released a list from the Chamber of Commerce showing companies with announced projects from July 2008 to July 2009. They are:

- Chattanooga Group, investing $1,500,000 in an expansion to create 48 new jobs.

- Volkswagen AG, investing $1,000,000,000 for a new project creating 2,000+ jobs.

- Adaptive Methods, Inc., investing $4,000,000 for a new project creating 100 jobs.

- Lookout Industries, investing $1,000,000 for an expansion creating 15 new jobs.

- Greenbriar Cove at Chickamauga Creek, investing $75,000,000 creating an unspecified number of jobs.

- N. American Credit Services, expanding to create 50 new jobs.

- Convergys, expanding to create 200 new jobs.

- T-Mobile, expanding to create 100 new jobs.

- Parkway Professional Center, investing $2,000,000 for a new project to create an unspecified number of jobs.

- Chattem, Inc., investing $7,000,000 for an expansion to create 33 new jobs.

- Chattem, Inc., investing $35,500,000 for an expansion creating 70 new jobs.

- Orlandi Laboratories, investing $2,500,000 for an expansion creating 13 new jobs.

- Chalmers & Kubeck, Inc., doing a $1,750,000 expansion.

- Arch Plastic Packaging, investing $10,000,000 for an expansion creating 60 new jobs.

-  Burns & Roe Enterprises, investing in a new business to create 40 new jobs.

- Dixie Industries, investing $5,500,000 for an expansion that creates and saves 120 jobs.

- Mountain View Nissan, spent $6,000,000 for a new dealership creating 30 new jobs.

- Gestamp Corporation, investing $90,000,000 as a VW supplier creating 230 jobs.

The region is fortunate to see this kind of job creation when it and the world is stuck in a recession with job cuts, furloughs and salary reductions.

So what will we see at the Volkswagen site this time next year?

Wortham said a lot of people will be in training to work on the equipment that will build new cars.

"We really feel that when we chose Chattanooga we saw something special in Chattanooga and obviously we aren't the only ones to see that," Wortham added.