The Development Authority of Bulloch County’s reasons for shopping for more land for industrial sites hit home Monday with the announcement that Ajin USA plans to build its Joon Georgia plant on the last industry-sized tract in the Bruce Yawn Commerce Park.
Benjy Thompson, the development authority’s chief executive officer, said that Joon Georgia, a supplier of formed metal parts for Hyundai Motor Group vehicle bodies, is expected to occupy about 83 acres in the industrial and business park on U.S. Highway 301 at the I-16 interchange. After a closed session during its 9 a.m. Monday meeting, the DABC board unanimously approved a letter of intent with Joon Georgia Inc.
Neither a final agreement nor an offer, the letter only committed the company and the development authority to negotiate in good faith for a memorandum of understanding, or MOU, concluding by Nov. 15.
“If we don’t have an MOU by that time, the (letter) is not binding, doesn’t constitute an offer and doesn’t become binding on us or the company,” Thompson told the board. “But again, we feel confident that we will come to terms.”
The current name of the commerce park, honoring Bruce Yawn, who was chair of the development authority when he died suddenly in January of a heart attack at age 74, was revealed just two weeks ago. The renaming of the former Southern Gateway Commerce Park was approved by the DABC board with support from the county commissioners before being announced Oct. 24 during the State of the Region and Business Expo, organized by the Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce.
But the roughly 200-acre commerce park within the county’s I-16 Tax Allocation District had been in preparation for more than a decade before hitting pay dirt with a commercial business announced in fall 2021 and now two industries within a year.
Three wins
First, TravelCenters of America purchased 19.4 acres of the commerce park outright from the DABC for $1.36 million and broke ground one year ago for a TA Express fueling center and travel store, which opened last month.
Second, Aspen Aerogels broke ground in February on a $325 million factory, expected to employ at least 250 people in manufacturing roles.
And now, at midday Monday, Gov. Brian Kemp made the announcement – coordinated with Ajin USA and local officials – that the Joon Georgia factory will be built here to supply parts to Hyundai Motor Group’s massive electric vehicle manufacturing Metaplant America in northern Bryan County. Hyundai executives were joined by Kemp, both of Georgia’s U.S. senators and the Republic of Korea’s ambassador to the United States at the groundbreaking ceremony for that plant Oct. 25.
Although just a fraction the size of the Hyundai Motor Group facility’s expected 8,100 jobs and projected $5.54 million capital investment, the Joon Georgia plant’s announced 630 jobs and $317 million investment are big economic development news in Bulloch.
Aspen Aerogel’s $325 million project, Thompson said in February, appeared to be the largest dollar-value investment for any manufacturing facility in Bulloch County’s history.
While apparently requiring a slightly smaller investment to build and equip, the Joon Georgia plant would be the largest new job creator here in at least 20 years, he said Monday.
Tax abatement?
Joon Georgia, or its parent company Ajin USA, is not expected to buy the site but would receive it in exchange for the job creation and will probably also get a tax abatement, Thompson said. The usual arrangement is for the Development Authority, a tax-exempt public entity, to hold the property for a period of years and in effect lease it rent-free to the industry.
Aspen Aerogels is receiving a 10-year, 100% abatement of county-government property tax but is paying the Bulloch County Board of Education property tax in support of the local public schools.
Joon Georgia’s site “will be titled in the name of the Development Authority for the period of tax savings,” Thompson said. “We’re negotiating that now.”
The length of the abatement is subject to the negotiations.
The expected Joon Georgia acreage, the Aspen Aerogels tract and the land previously sold to TravelCenters of America add up to about 192 acres. Smaller areas in the commerce park were taken up by public infrastructure, including a city water tower to serve the area and a county communications tower.
Of the original 200 or so acres in the commerce park, only four to five acres will remain after the Joon Georgia deal, Thompson said.
As reported in detail Saturday, the DABC purchased one 52-acre tract in June and an adjoining almost 53-acre tract last week, both about 1.3 miles north the interchange and commerce park, from private landowners. The county rezoned these last week to LI, for light industry, and the authority also has Hyundai suppliers interested in the new site.
“We’re trying to get property every day to accommodate the new industries that are interested in our area, and we’ve been successful thus far,” DABC Chair Billy Allen said Monday. “We’ve got a lot of Hyundai suppliers that are looking at this area, so we want to make sure they come to enhance the growth of this area and the long line of industries that we have here, all of them world-class.”