Roane County Cuts Ribbon on Third Spec Building at Roane Regional
Thursday June 26, 2008
Kingston, TN. - A crowd of local officials gathered Thursday afternoon to cut a ribbon and officially open the third spec building to be built in the Roane Regional Business and Technology Park.
The event marks the completion of the basic shell of a 23,000 square-foot industrial building -- the newest building to be completed through the Roane County Industrial Board's spec building program. The first two have already been sold and are already home to two new industries.
"It is with great pleasure that I cut the ribbon on this our newest industrial building in Roane County," said Roane County Industrial Development Board Chairman David Webb. "It is a high-quality addition to our Roane Regional Park and has proven already to be quite popular with prospects."
Leslie Henderson, President and CEO of The Roane Alliance, said, "Our spec building program has been a major contributor to making Roane Regional Park the hot property it is today. Since 80 percent of the industrial prospects today are looking for existing buildings, this has put us back into the industrial recruiting game in a big way."
The first two buildings are now home to Diesel Engine Parts (DHPS) - which performs final machining of engine parts manufactured at their plants overseas -- and Saginaw Control & Engineering (dba SCE) - a Michigan-based manufacturer of electrical equipment and supplies.
The series of three industrial buildings has been financed and built by the private sector. Roane County contributed the costs of an additional sewer line needed to serve the development. DEKD -- a private-sector partnership managed by Gerry Eastman, the president of Joseph Construction - built the buildings. Eastman is an experienced industrial developer who has done a number of spec building projects in industrial parks across East Tennessee, most recently in Blount County.
"Gerry has a good track record," Henderson said, "not only with building high-quality industrial facilities, but also with aggressively marketing those buildings, so that they are often sold or leased quickly, sometimes even before completion. We all certainly appreciate his investment in Roane County"
Each of the three buildings was built on five-acre tracts along Sam Rayburn Boulevard. The first one was roughly 46,000 s.f., expandable to 100,000 s.f. The second was approximately 33,000 s.f. This third building -- which is located at 230 Sam Rayburn Parkway -- is 23,000 s.f., expandable to 36,000 s.f.
Eastman has already launched phase two of the spec building program in another agreement with the industrial board that provides options for another series of three spec buildings to be built in Roane Regional in the future.
"Roane County is becoming the next Blount County as far as industrial growth," Eastman said. "The prime industrial site in this region right now is right here at the Roane Regional Business and Technology Park."
Roane Regional Business and Technology Park is one of Roane County's newest industrial parks. It is located in East Roane County along I-40. It will soon be served by its own interchange. The H.T. Hackney Company anchors the park with a 330,000 square foot regional distribution facility. Other industries also already in operation in the park include Red Diamond Ceramics, which is designing an advanced composite ceramic product to be used in ceramic armor; Dienamic Tooling Systems (DTS), a tool-and-die maker; Pegasus Technologies, a high-tech company that makes custom-designed wireless technology and Protean, a manufacturer of alpha beta counters.
Several other industries have also purchased property in the park and have already begun construction. They include: Blue Bell Creameries; Best Roofs and C.R. Barger & Sons.
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