By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–There’s no way to go but up with the creation of the Blue Oval City megasite in West Tennessee.
That was the message Wednesday to over 100 people who gathered to hear Kyle Spurgeon, President and CEO of the Greater Jackson Chamber of Commerce; and Mark Herbison of HTL Advantage.
The pair were instrumental in Ford Motor Company choosing West Tennessee as the destination for Blue Oval City, which will be the largest electric vehicle campus in the U.S., largest project in the state of Tennessee and largest Ford Co. project in the company’s history.
Blue Oval City will produce some 6,000 jobs and Ford is spending at least $6 B to develop the megasite. The site is some 4,100 acres.
The message was even sweeter since Spurgeon and Herbison are both Henry County natives, with Spurgeon hailing from Paris and Herbison from Cottage Grove and both graduates of Henry County High School. The pair were college roommates at Murray State.
At the outset of their presentation, Henry County Mayor John Penn Ridgeway presented a proclamation, declaring December 7, 2022 as Kyle Spurgeon and Mark Herbison Day. Both Spurgeon and Herbison joked that their former classmates would not have believed anyone would have proclaimed a day for them.
Ridgeway noted the ‘selfless dedication’ by the two which resulted in the creation of Blue Oval City and said, “You deserve all the accolades you receive”.
The program was held at the Krider Performing Arts Center and Janna Hellums of the Tennessee Department of Economic Development was also at the podium. Herbison could not attend in person, but gave his presentation on the video screen and narrated a video which showed the size and scope of the megasite. The program was sponsored by the Paris-Henry County Chamber and Leadership Henry County.
Spurgeon presented the history on the project, noting its development “has not been an easy ride.” It was begun in the early 2000s and has involved a lot of work, which began with locating the site and developing the infrastructure. “It’s a long process”, he said. “But without infrastructure in place, industries will not come to your community.”
When “Ford came calling”, he said, the site was ready. “When the Ford people started visiting the site, we had already built a new EMS building on the site so we had a nice facility for meetings. The Ford people fell in love with the site” and the West Tennessee area.
The Ford Motor Company is patterning Blue Oval City after Henry Ford’s model at the River Rouge plant in Michigan, which created not only a manufacturing facility, but all the suppliers on the same site.
Spurgeon and Herbison knew a key area was supplying a local workforce, without which they said industry will not want to locate here and another key element emphasized to the Ford people during a tour of West Tennessee communities was the quality of life here. Ford has “put all its chips on the table” in locating here, they said, noting that they also are working with local school districts and universities to develop curricula for students interested in working there. “They will be developing a $45M TCAT on the site,” they said.
Automobile manufacturing plants have transformed other American communities, they said, noting that this one will be the most eco-friendly and sustainable project in the world.
Peak construction should be underway by the middle of next year, they said. Blue Oval City is located just outside of Memphis.
The pair fielded questions from the audience, covering a range of concerns from the agricultural impact to how much impact it will have on Henry County itself.
Herbison said, “Henry County will be in the epicenter of suppliers. You will be doing good things here. You have one of the prettiest cities in the state and you have the asset of Kentucky Lake. You are going to see great success here from this.”
Photo: County Mayor John Penn Ridgeway, at podium, honored Spurgeon and Herbison with a proclamation. Shannon McFarlin photo.