HANCOCK COUNTY — A Tennessee company that leases and sells semi-trucks and trailers plans to move its Marion County operation to a site near Mt. Comfort.
Transport Enterprise Leasing, whose headquarters are in Chattanooga, Tennessee, intends to set up shop on about 40 acres at 4753 W. County Road 300N, just west of Tsuda, Wesco and University Loft.
Briane House, a lawyer representing the project, said at a Hancock County Council meeting last month that the company is relocating and expanding upon its facility in Marion County and will employ about 30.
“They are proposing a significant maintenance and staging area in Hancock County,” House said.
Plans filed with the county show more than 800,000 square feet of outdoor display area on dustless compacted gravel and a 50,600-square foot building for activities like repairs, washing and painting along with a body shop, tool shop and administrative office. There will also be a 3,500-square foot retail office, paved access roads and detention ponds on the property.
John Moore, another lawyer representing the project, said at a county board of zoning appeals meeting late last year that the project represents a capital investment of about $4 million.
Randy Sorrell, executive director of the Hancock Economic Development Council, said at a county plan commission meeting late last year that the parcel had been marketed for several years.
“We’ve had difficulty finding the kind of project that would work here,” Sorrell said, referring to the regulated drain and power lines running through the property. “It’s a unique use that can utilize that property, and they have found it. They worked very hard on the site and found a way to put this site together.”
The plan commission gave a favorable recommendation to the county commissioners for rezoning the land to make Transport Enterprise Leasing’s project possible. The county commissioners then approved a rezone from Industrial Business Park to Industrial: Light, where the proposed use is permitted by special exception, which the county board of zoning appeals granted.
An 8-foot slatted fence will also span the property’s west boundary between its residential neighbors, and mounding will go along that boundary as well as along County Road 300N.
The county council unanimously gave preliminary approval of a 10-year real property tax abatement for the proposed development. If approved again next month, the abatement would be in full for the first year before taxes would phase in 10 percentage points a year until fully implemented.
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Transport Enterprise Leasing
- Semi-truck and trailer leasing and sales
- 4753 W. 300N, Hancock County
- 40 acres
- 800,000+ square feet of outdoor display area
- 50,600-square foot maintenance building
- 3,500-square foot retail office
- $4 million capital investment
- About 30 employees
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