New jobs announcement expected Wednesday in Jonesboro, Rogers
by March 20, 2016 9:50 am 268 views
Details on a $10.5 million economic development project in Jonesboro will be announced Wednesday, with Gov. Asa Hutchinson set to be in Jonesboro for the “Project Timesquare” reveal.
Scott Hardin, a spokesman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the announcement will be made at 2:30 p.m. Wednesday (March 23) at the Arkansas State University Convocation Center Hames Room.
However, the process on the project begins at 3 p.m. Tuesday when the Jonesboro Metropolitan Area Planning Commission reviews a site plan for the project.
According to the Jonesboro city website, Jackson, Tenn.-based H+M Design Services is requesting the plan for 25 acres of land on the southwest corner of Barnhill Road and Highland Drive in the Jonesboro Industrial Park. A 195,000-square foot facility will be built on the property, which is near the Frito Lay and Butterball factories along Arkansas 18.
“This building will be owned by H+M Development Company and will be leased to the tenant to be used as a manufacturing facility,” Allen Brown, vice president for project management for H+M, noted in a Feb. 24 letter Jonesboro Zoning Director Otis Spriggs. “As you are probably aware, the tenant is confidential at this time and the public announcement has been planned sometime in the future.”
H+M is a general contractor that has built facilities for companies like General Electric, Nike, Pirelli tire, Thyssen Krupp and Tractor Supply. H+M officials did not respond to calls. Jonesboro Regional Chamber of Commerce President Mark Young also declined to comment about the project.
According to the AEDC website, the property is about four miles from the new Interstate 555 and a Union Pacific railroad line, and three miles from a Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad line. The land also has access to electricity, natural gas, water, sewer, telephone and fiber optics lines, the website noted.
Gov. Hutchinson is also expected to make a jobs announcement Wednesday morning at 10:30 a.m. in Rogers, according to his public schedule.