SK UPDATE:...

SK UPDATE:

https://www.onlineathens.com/news/2...n-company-to-make-batteries-in-jackson-county

A South Korean business announced Tuesday it will construct a billion dollar manufacturing plant in Jackson County that will eventually create more than 2,000 jobs.

The announcement that SK Innovation, which builds lithium-ion batteries for hybrid electric vehicles, will locate in Georgia was made through the office of Gov. Nathan Deal.

The decision came as good news for officials in Jackson County.

“It will have a huge economic impact for us,” Jackson County Authority Economic Development Director John Scott said Wednesday.

“The company has been looking for a location for a while now across the Southeast United States,” Scott said adding that other locations in Georgia and other states were attempting to lure the plant.

“SK Innovations has been actively looking for a production base to secure competitiveness in the battery business in the major global market,” Kim Jun, chief executive of SK said in statement released Tuesday.

Jun said he expects the company to become “a top player in the battery business.”

SK employs about 6,500 people worldwide and makes batteries for Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai-Kia motors, according to the news release.

The plant will be constructed in two phases with each phase adding about 1 million square feet of manufacturing space. The company expects to invest about $1.67 billion in the project, according to Deal.

The location for the plant is along Interstate 85 between Georgia Highway 98 and Ridgeway Church Road in Commerce.

“We’ll move quickly on the project. We anticipate breaking ground in January 2019,” Scott said.

Construction will take place between now and 2025 and the company expects to start hiring employees in 2021 and 2022, he said.

Jackson County Commission Chairman Tom Crow said Wednesday that the county’s economic development and chamber of commerce “worked hard on getting everything together for this company. We are fortunate to end up with it.”

“There was stiff competition from other states as there is with all manufacturing facilities,” Crow said. “We’ve been impressed with the people from the company and our interaction with them has been good.”

Jackson County Chamber of Commerce President Jim Shaw said Wednesday the effort was a “a great collaborative effort” among local officials as well as a partnership with the state of Georgia.

“We believe this will be a project that will have a positive regional impact. It’s not just Jackson County that will benefit, it will be northeast Georgia,” Shaw said.

Chamber of Commerce board member Andy Garrison said he was pleased upon hearing the news.

“I think it will be an economic boost to the county.,” he said. “I don’t see a downside to it as more jobs in the area will help our unemployment numbers.”