Executive Director’s Message
From the desk of G.C. Hixson...
"Upon further review, the decision on the field..."

Wouldn’t it be nice to go back and look at our “2009 calls”? While football officials have this option we as individuals do not. Probably if we learned anything about the year 2009 it was that it was a very uncertain time. This month I thought I would take a look at what did occur in 2009 and what we might expect in 2010.

What track do you think the economy will take? The year 2009, while painful, finally brought some stability to the financial and housing markets. GDP was an overall minus 2.5 in 2009. The good news was that in the last 6 months it saw a 3% increase. GDP means more productions and more productions mean more job opportunities. Consumer and business confidence along with GDP will drive the recovery in 2010.

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CU Nursing Program Opens Satellite Campus in Mt. Juliet

Cumberland University President Dr. Harvill Eaton has announced that in January, 2010, Cumberland University will open an expanded adult education nursing school satellite in Mt. Juliet. The satellite site will be located in Shiloh Plaza. To start, the program will offer evening and weekend classes.

Ozburn Hessey Logistics leases facility

DCT Industrial Trust, a leading industrial real estate company that owns the 325,000 sq. ft. distribution facility on Aldi Blvd. in the Nashville East Logistics Center, has leased the facility to Ozburn Hessey Logistics (OHL), a leading provider of supply chain management and logistics solutions for companies worldwide.

"Working with DCT enabled us to quickly expand into Wilson County," commented Bob Spieth, President of Contract Logistics for OHL. "The Nashville metropolitan area is a key region for our business and the building provides an ideal layout and infrastructure for our customers' needs."

Randy Wolcott of ProVenture represented the tenant in the transaction and Doug McDowell and Jeb Atkinson of ProVenture represented DCT Industrial.

Based in Tennessee, OHL is one of the largest 3PLs in the world, providing integrated global supply chain management solutions including transportation, warehousing, customs brokerage, freight forwarding and import and export consulting services. With three business units--Global Freight Management and Logistics, Contract Logistics and North America Transportation--OHL operates more than 120 value-added distribution centers, offers comprehensive transportation management services, employs nearly 6,000, and has offices worldwide. OHL has expertise in direct to consumer fulfillment, serves a wide range of business sectors from specialty retail to manufacturing, and specializes in the apparel, electronics, printing, food and beverage, and consumer packaged goods industries.

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Permobil Breaks Ground for New Facility

Permobil, Inc., an international company that is the world’s leading manufacturer of custom-made powered wheelchairs, will build its new $12 million North American Operations Center in Lebanon on a 17-acre site located in Park 840. The project is the largest, single capital investment that Permobil has ever made since it was established more than 40 years ago. Permobil’s new 120,000 square foot building will be the company’s second largest and most technically-advanced manufacturing facility. It will include over 80,000 square feet of manufacturing space and nearly 40,000 square feet of corporate office space. Construction of the new building will begin in late October 2009 and is slated for completion in summer 2010.

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Southern Skillet Opens in Watertown

The Southern Skillet Restaurant held its grand opening December 4th. The restaurant, located at 8484 Sparta Pike (Hwy 70), will be serving southern home cooked meals. They will be open Monday-Saturday 6am to 2pm. On Friday and Saturday the restaurant will reopen for supper starting at 5pm and will be open til 9pm. Their Sunday hours will be from 11am-2pm.

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Providence Commons

Located on South Mt. Juliet Road (Hwy 171), Phase I of Providence Commons has been completed. Phase I consist of 100,000 sq. ft. of retail space and is anchored by Publix which opened December 16th. Currently, others tenants to come onboard include: Mt. Juliet Dentistry, Heritage Cleaners, Hacienda Del Sol Mexican Restaurant, Nails First, and Precision Eyecare.

Providence Commons also includes seven (7) outparcels. Two outparcels have been taken by Sonic and Wilson Bank & Trust, with high interest in the remaining sites.

Providence Commons is a Boyle Investment Company development.

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Ribbon Cut for “The Reverse L”

State and local dignitaries gathered for ribbon cutting ceremonies of Mt. Juliet’s Eastern Connector (Phase 3), which is also known as “The Reverse L”. The 1.2 mile, $2.93 million road project will provide a safe and efficient route to the new Mt. Juliet High School and is now open for travel. Due to weather conditions, the final paving will take place in April, 2010.

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UMC to open Health Services office in Mt. Juliet

Lebanon’s University Medical Center announced they will be leasing space in Mt. Juliet expanding their health services operations. UMC has leased 3,000 sq. ft. of space in the Caldwell Building located across the street from Mt. Juliet City Hall. A board certified internal medicine doctor has been hired for the facility and will reside in Mt. Juliet. At some point UMC expects to have three new primary care positions for Mt. Juliet.

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The Pavilion Cuts Ribbon

Ribbon cutting ceremonies were held to mark the opening of The Pavilion at Clermont Village, a 30,000-square-foot, 60 bed facility located at 1406 Medical Center Drive (behind UMC). The new facility was developed by the not-for-profit Community Progress Committee and replaces CPC's Pavilion on College Street, formerly Mitchell Manor.

The new "skilled care" nursing home includes wings built with the "greenhouse concept." It’s an at-home feel with larger rooms and each wing has kitchen and dining areas, family meeting spaces and living rooms

"Greenhouse is a new design for new nursing homes, something the family members want to see more of…with an at-home feel. The rooms are larger and in each wing, there's a kitchen and dining area. The Pavilion also has a library, outside courtyards and an open dining facility.

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CVB Releases Economic Impact of the Wilson County Fair

Visitors to the Wilson County Fair, held in Lebanon from August 21st-29th, were responsible for an estimated $12 million in travel-related expenditures to the local economy, according to findings released by Randall Travel Marketing, a travel industry market research firm based in Charlotte, NC. New records were set this year for attendance and economic impact, despite the current recession. The event promoter, Wilson County Promotions, saw a record for total attendance of 505,434 people, an increase of 39,915 over last year's attendance. A new daily attendance record was set on Saturday, August 22nd, with 105,779 people. That's 5,441 more than the old record.

"Tourism means more than dollars and cents to local residents. Visitors pay taxes and contribute to the economy, which equates to tax relief for local residents," says Ricky Rodriguez, Director of the Wilson County Convention & Visitors Bureau.

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Site Selection Magazine ranks TN 5th in Business Climate Rankings

Corporate real estate executives surveyed by Site Selection Magazine ranked Tennessee at No. 5 for business climate in the overall ranking. The top ten included: 1-North Carolina, 2- Texas, 3-Virginia, 5-Tennessee, 6-South Carolina, 7-Alabama, 8-Georgia, 9-Indiana, and 10-Kentucky.

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Spotlight on Industry: Lojac

LoJac, Inc. – LoJac Safety – LoJac Materials – LoJac Enterprises – Monterey Sand

A minority-owned company since being chartered in 1983, the LoJac Companies today are a diverse but related group of entities specializing in providing both materials and services to the construction industry throughout the Southeast. They have extensive experience in major highway and road construction, including grading, the production and placement of asphalt pavement, sign fabrication and installation, as well as concrete paving and rehabilitation. In addition to these services, we also produce and supply a wide range of high quality masonry products including block, brick, and sand. Projects successfully completed include shopping centers, airport runways, and major private projects, and range in scope from construction of new highways to overlay or repaving of city streets. Each project is approached as a separate job to ensure that the on time completion and the overall quality of the project is met. Their overall goal is to provide results that are of excellent quality, timely, and completely satisfactory to their customer.

LoJac is located in Lebanon at 1401 Toshiba Drive. For more information about LoJac go to their website at www.lojac.com

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Become Our Fan on Facebook!

The Joint Economic & Community Development Board of Wilson County has launched a Facebook Page and we’d like to invite you to become a fan. Visitors will discover features that include photos, discussion boards and links to news articles.