Georgia-Pacific manufacturing eyes Jackson land sale, city eyes millions in profit

The Jackson City Council approved a resolution Tuesday that will allow Jackson Mayor Scott Conger to enter into a purchasing agreement with Georgia-Pacific regarding over 200 acres of land for a future manufacturing site.

The anticipated sale is single part of an elaborate land deal the city proposed, which could see the city profiting a minimum of $3 million.

The deal, titled Project Cardinal, allows the city to purchase three separate property parcels that lie between Highway 223, Lower Brownsville Road and Anglin Lane at a total cost of $4.9 million.

The city will then combine two of the newly purchased parcels—“Parcel A,” a land parcel previously purchased from Tall Oaks Farms, and the “Freeman Property,” purchased from the Freeman family—with 121 contiguous acres already owned by the city, and sell the total 257 acres to Georgia-Pacific for a net profit of $3.86 million.

The city will then use that profit to purchase another plot of land—“Parcel B”—which is beside the 257 acres, and will cost $2.525 million, leaving the city with a total profit of $751,800.

However, although Parcel B is not yet ready for sale, the city expects to be able sell Parcel B in the future rather easily, with an estimated minimum price tag of $3 million.

Tuesday’s resolution, while not a bill of sale with Georgia Pacific, allows the city to enter into a good-faith agreement with the company that they will purchase Parcel A, the Freeman Property and the land previously owned by the city.

On the unlikely chance the deal with Georgia Pacific falls through, Jackson City Mayor Scott Conger said, the city council would need to make a budget amendment from the city fund balance, but the loss would be likely be “very temporary.”

“We would get that money back very quickly,” he said, describing the economic incentives of the land—most notable its location, size and railway access.

Due to the purchase having not yet been finalized, no details have been released on the number of jobs the manufacturing facility will bring.

The city became interested in the area in 2015 when the “chamber was targeting for future opportunities for the city and county,” according to Jerry Spore, an attorney from Spragins, Barnet and Cobb, who assisted on the project.

In 2016 the city acquired Parcel A from Tall Oaks Farms, totaling 115 acres with an option to acquire more land in the future, at the cost of $20,000 per acre.

The city is now selling that same land for $40,000 per acre.

Fiberglass Road, which Parcel A straddles, will be rerouted onto Highway 223 when future construction starts.

The Freeman Property will be sold to Georgia-Pacific at $20,000 an acre, totaling $794,600—the same for which it was purchased by the city.

In October, a purchasing sale agreement was negotiated between the city, the Jackson Chamber and Georgia Pacific, leading to Tuesday’s resolution.

“As far as industrial recruitment goes, the city and the county mayor give the Jackson Chamber the authority to act on their behalf to recruit companies—we call it Team Madison County, so I guess really the Chamber is the quarterback of that team,” said Mandy White, senior vice president of economic development of the chamber.

“We hope that (the land sale) will help make an already attractive land site even more so, and we’ll be able to recruit another company or more to the area.”

Have a story to tell? Reach Angele Latham by email at alatham@gannett.com, by phone at 731-343-5212, or follow her on Twitter at @angele_latham.

This article originally appeared on Jackson Sun: Georgia-Pacific manufacturing eyes Jackson land sale, city eyes millions in profit