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EDA, CVEC Announce Groundbreaking for New Spec Building
TALLADEGA, Ala. – The Talladega County Economic Development Authority
(EDA) and Coosa Valley Electric Cooperative have announced plans to break ground
January 20 on a second speculative building in the Coosa Valley Industrial
Park.
The 100,000-square-foot building will be the largest speculative building ever
constructed in Talladega County (one of the largest in the state) and suitable
for industrial manufacturers or suppliers, including those serving Honda Manufacturing
of Alabama, since it will have 30-foot eve heights.
“Nearly 85 percent of development projects begin with a search for an existing
facility,” said Calvin Miller, executive director of the Talladega County
EDA. “This existing facility may or may not suit their specific needs,
but it attracts their attention to our area. Many times this interest is strong
enough that the industry will build its own facility here.”
Coosa Valley Electric partnered with the Talladega County EDA to provide $800,000
of the projected $1 million in construction costs.
“We at Coosa Valley Electric understand the need to attract industries
and good jobs to our service area and communities,” said Frank Kujawski,
CVEC general manager. “Through an aggressive economic development program
and our partnership with the EDA, we have been able to bring more than 1,200
jobs to our area. We hope many more jobs will result from this new project.”
The majority of the construction loan supplied by CVEC will come from its power
supplier, Alabama Electric Cooperative, and the US Department of Agriculture’s
(USDA) Rural Utilities Service (RUS) Rural Development program.
Once the Talladega County EDA sells the building, the construction loan from
CVEC will be repaid, making that money available for future projects.
The partnership between Coosa Valley Electric and the Talladega County EDA spans
10 years, and this is the second speculative building project taken on by the
two.
The partnership’s first success was the location and development of an
industrial park. Covering approximately 128 acres, what started as an undeveloped
and overgrown stand of pines now houses three industries, two of which are direct
Honda suppliers. Timber on the property was sold to pay for the first road to
be cut in and money from several sources paid for the remaining site preparation
and utilities.
The partners then looked at how to attract attention to the prime site, and the
result was the first speculative building, a 60,000-square-foot structure located
adjacent to the CVEC office on Alabama Highway 77 north of Talladega. This building
now houses PPG, which supplies windshields to Honda.
The new building is being constructed on a 13-acre site in the southeastern corner
of the park, adjacent to Allen Architectural Metals. Its completion will leave
vacant only 33 acres in the southwestern corner of the park.
“We would love to see this park full within the next five years,” Kujawski
said. “When this building is completed and occupied, we will look at the
best ways to fill the remaining acreage.”
The Talladega County Economic Development Authority was incorporated in 1989
to attract industry to Talladega County and to help Talladega County’s
existing industries expand. The TCEDA serves as the primary marketing arm and
contact for economic development activity for the county and its cities.
Coosa Valley Electric, which serves more than 15,000 customers in Talladega,
St. Clair, Shelby, Clay, Etowah and Calhoun counties, is a Touchstone Energy® cooperative.
Nationwide, some 1,000 cooperatives provide power to rural America, and more
than 600 of those operate under the Touchstone Energy umbrella.
Editors Note: The Coosa Valley Industrial Park is located on Alabama Highway
77 approximately three miles north of Talladega and 10 miles south of Lincoln.
The groundbreaking ceremony will start at 10 a.m. at the construction site.
For more information, contact:
Jon Cullimore 362-4180 or 1-800-273-7210, ext. 225, Fax: 256-761-2615, Cell:
256-299-0551
Barbara Edmondson 1-800-273-7210, ext. 224
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