How Laying a Strong Foundation Helped Dublin, Georgia Land a Multimillion-Dollar Project
What does it mean when a community goes all-in to prepare a property for development? For Dublin-Laurens County, Georgia, it meant recognizing that speed-to-market matters, and the investment of time and money on the front-end would help land a project that will pay dividends in the long-run.
Recently, the community celebrated the positive results stemming from three years of planning and 15 months of site preparation (both ongoing). Automotive parts company Hwashin has announced it will build a new manufacturing facility in Dublin, creating more than 460 new jobs and investing more than $176 million.
“This is truly a great day for our entire community as we welcome Hwashin with open arms and they become the seventh international company to call Dublin and Laurens County home,” said Dr. Fred Williams, Chair of the Dublin-Laurens County Development Authority (DLCDA). “Hwashin will be able to build upon the strong foundation that we have laid here in Dublin-Laurens County, from a welcoming community that embraces new cultures and ideas, to strong education partners who ensure that our young people are ready to fill the talent pipeline to our local officials who find practical solutions to encourage quality growth. We couldn’t be more excited to have Hwashin as our newest corporate citizen!”
This success didn’t happen overnight. It took consistent, intentional efforts by the Authority and its Board of Directors, as well as partners at the city and county levels, to realize the potential of the 331-acre site at the intersection of U.S. Highway 441 and Georgia State Route 257. Sixty acres of the parcel is now spoken-for by Hwashin.
One of the first steps of site preparation the Development Authority took was getting the site prepared to undergo the development and reviews required for state-approved certification through the “Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development” (GRAD) Program. The GRAD program markets “ready for development” sites to business and site selectors in a one-stop shop. This portfolio of pre-qualified industrial sites requires that due diligence be complete, making those sites more marketable in today's competitive business climate. The Dublin site was the first GRAD site to also earn the "Select" status.
After that, the Authority hired an engineering firm to continue with improvements to the site.
“A company asked us some detailed engineering questions about the site that we didn’t have the answers to,” said DLCDA President Ryan Waldrep. “And we knew that the type of projects we would want to attract would be asking for that information early in the process.”
With a Board willing to do what it took to improve speed-to-market for the property, further steps have included obtaining permits for water access and working with the Georgia Department of Transportation to conduct traffic studies. A mass grading project moved enough cubic yards of material to fill a line of dump trucks stretching from the site in Dublin to the 17th Street Bridge in Atlanta - a distance of over 130 miles.
As these roadblocks and challenges were eliminated, interest in the property ticked up. One event that validated all of the work came during a site visit.
“The clearing was ongoing, trees were coming down, and there was a little bit of grading, but you could drive on the site and see the boundaries,” Waldrep said. “During the visit, the consultant with the company said, ‘It doesn’t take a lot to envision my facility here.’ It was proof that when you start to remove those visual obstacles, companies can imagine their facility being sited there.”
Work continues as the Authority and local partners work to satisfy requests from Hwashin. The DLCDA will add water, sewer, a road, and a retention pond, all of which will be able to service future developments on the acreage.
Waldrep’s advice to communities that want to attract high-value projects? Start today.
“Just because you start planning today doesn’t mean two weeks from now, you’ll have a location. It can take years.”
Completing due diligence and prep work in advance gives sites a competitive edge. GRAD Certified sites have been critical in winning key projects, including about half of Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America’s suppliers and numerous battery supply chain projects.
Get in touch with our GRAD Certification team to learn more and get sites certified: georgia.org/grad-certified-sites/application.
-Posted October 31, 2023