Industrial Realtors Market Land, Buildings To Volkswagen Suppliers, Others

Auto parts suppliers serving Volkswagen's new plant will create thousands of jobs.  But, will those jobs be in the Tennessee Valley?

Marketing local sites and buildings to prospective companies just got a boost.  "It doesn't cost a thing, someone can come in and search all kinds of properties in geographic areas from Athens, TN down to Rome, GA and Fort Payne, AL.  They can target it on industrial, office, retail," says Joe Pleva, Past President of the Commercial Investment Council of the Chattanooga Association of Realtors.

Earlier this year, industrial and commercial realtors banded together to launch tnvalleycls.com.  The site consolidates the search for buildings and land for manufacturers and other businesses.  "The chambers have access real time to this data so if they have someone in town looking to place jobs in Chattanooga for say 25,000 sq. feet they can do a search and they have real time access and know broker, the location," says Pleva.

The site currently lists over 500 properties available in the Tennessee Valley, detailing things like zoning, number of loading docks, and available office space...  matters residential real estate listings don't consider.

Timing for this resource couldn't be better with Volkswagen coming to town. Realtors say this site gets their product out on an International stage.  Pleva says "we've had a few more calls to the office, there's been a lot of excitement, but I can't say I've seen a big spike yet."

As Volkswagen releases more details about its production line at Enterprise South, realtors expect interest from auto parts suppliers to pick up.