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The development authority
passed two bond resolutions, one for construction of the building
for $9 million and another for equipment for $4 million. But like
the $100 million bond for Target, the development authority won't
bear any responsibility for the bonds.
Unlike Target, the deal with The Tire Rack (online
www.tirerack.com) was on a much faster schedule. Tire Rack
specializes in high performance tires and auto accessories. Products
are delivered to a location of the customer's choosing for
installation. The company also provides a list of recommended
installers, based on a customer's zip code, through its Web site.
"We've been working with them since last summer," LCDA Chief
Executive Officer Ron Tolley said. "They are on a fairly fast
track."
He said the company has an aggressive schedule for opening,
perhaps as early as September or October. The deal with Target was
more than two years in the making and the 1.5 million square foot
distribution facility will take 2-1/2 years to build.
Tolley and development authority Chairman Allen Brown toured
Tirerack's headquarters and came away impressed with the building
and the company.
"We look forward to having them come in," Tolley said.
Landing another tenant for the Liberty Ridge parcel of the
sprawling MidCoast Business Center, in Target's wake, also helps
keep the east end project's name afloat, Tolley said.
Tire Rack opened its first retail store in Indianapolis, IN,
in 1979. It began offering its line of products online in 1996.
The development authority also may have found someone to move
into the vacant eMotion building in the Hinesville Industrial Park.
BioAgra, a firm that makes nutritional supplements for animal feed,
is interested.
One of the first things the firm will produce is a chicken
feed supplement and chickens are more than chicken scratch in
Georgia's economy. The state is the nation's No. 1 producer of
broilers, according to the National Chicken Council, at more than
6.3 million pounds of live chickens per year.
"They have worked with various poultry groups and they say
there is a tremendous demand for their product," Tolley said.
Neil Bartoletta, BioAgra president and chief executive
officer, said his company's product is natural and Georgia's stature
as a chicken-growing state helped convince the company to come here.
"About 80 percent of our production will be here," he said.
European countries don't allow chickens that have been fed
antibiotics or growth hormones, Bartoletta said. Those chickens that
have had BioAgra's supplement will meet European requirements. The
proximity of the port of Savannah also was a plus, if BioAgra is
successful in exporting its product to Europe and South America.
"It also gives poultry producers the ability to market their
products in the European Union," Bartoletta said. "This will open up
markets to Georgia chickens."
It also can be used by swine farmers, he said.
Bartoletta said the company needed to move into a building
quickly because their almost all sold out of their allotment.
"We didn't have time to build," he said.
BioAgra will be moving into the vacant eMotion building -
empty since the company opted not to begin production of its
electric cars and then disbanded. Some minor adjustments will be
made to the building to accommodate BioAgra's equipment and to
extend a natural gas pipeline to the building. The company will
spend about $2 million in renovations and should be up and running
in 90 days, Bartoletta said.
BioAgra will start off with a workforce of 30 and could grow
to 60 workers within 3-5 years. Tirerack will have 25 workers to
start and could grow to 50. The first phase of the Tirerack building
will be 241,000 square feet and could reach 500,000 square feet
eventually. | 
