Effingham County is out of the running for Project Arx, but Industrial Development Authority officials are working to keep their name out there for similar big projects.
IDA CEO John Henry and project manager Ryan Moore met last week with site selection consultant Ed McCallum, a Greenville, S.C.-based advisor who helped get Mercedes-Benz to Alabama and BMW to South Carolina.
“He was very complimentary,” Henry said. “He has high expectations for the area because of the capabilities we have. He seems to think we are in the catbird seat.”
While the location — and nature — of Project Arx hasn’t been announced, it is believed to be going to South Carolina. Effingham had been competing for months but has been eliminated as a destination.
Henry said McCallum told him and Moore why Effingham wasn’t chosen had nothing to do with the county. The project, in fact, was extended six weeks in order to include Effingham as a prospect. Project Arx is expected to have a $600 million investment with 1 million square feet in construction.
According to a study by the University of South Carolina’s Moore School of Business, BMW’s plant in Greer has infused the South Carolina economy with $8.8 billion over the last 16 years. BMW has a workforce of more than 4,700. The Mercedes plant in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, employs more than 3,800 workers and has annual economic impact of $1.5 billion.
Meanwhile, Volkswagen’s announcement that will locate a manufacturing facility in Chattanooga, Tenn., will have an impact on northwest Georgia and perhaps could have an effect on southeast Georgia because of the port. McCallum told Henry and Moore that many of those facilities have pre-assembly pieces, where four or five components are brought in and assembled.
The relationship between the Euro, the currency of the European Union, and the dollar also could be a factor.
“He thinks we’re going to see a lot more European interest,” Henry said, adding McCallum advised him and Moore to meet with Volkswagen officials, even if it means going to Germany.
