Finishing second to Akron, Ohio in an effort to bring Bridgestone’s technology center from the northern city to Murfreesboro must feel like finishing second in the Super Bowl for Rutherford County Chamber of Commerce officials.
When Bridgestone announced last week it would say in Akron and relocate its tech center there instead of coming to our Middle Tennessee location, all the achievement of the chamber and other area officials in getting Murfreesboro into the final two pretty much became mute.
Unfortunately, much like football, industrial recruitment is all about finishing first.
On the other hand, also like football, a strong showing against a home team, indeed with home officiating, portends well for the future.
Chamber and Murfreesboro officials, and others, did a superb job in getting our community into consideration with Akron.
In essence, Murfreesboro beat out all comers, but wasn’t able to overcome the obvious from the start huge advantage Akron had as home to Bridgestone, and before that Firestone, for more than 100 years.
Still, a concerted, months-long effort almost paid off.
Officials were working behind the scenes on this opportunity for a long time, prevented by strict confidentiality requirements from providing any specific information except for intentionally vague references to a blue ribbon prospect with the exact white-collar jobs the community has been vigorously seeking since the formation of Destination Rutherford.
Seeing exactly the price they sought, some 600 jobs paying in the neighborhood of $60,000 annually and thereby pumping $36 million into the local economy each year, chamber, city and other officials went all out to land the Bridgestone center.
City Manager Roger Haley, who has served on the Industrial Development Board since modern recruitment efforts were established, called the incentive package for Bridgestone “the most aggressive one we’ve ever put forward.”
The city offered free a prime 41-acre headquarters site in the Gateway development area.
That level of enticement was warranted because of the direct payback in annual salaries and other economic boosts, but also because of the likelihood of such projects helping to attract others.
Ohio officials also saw the value of the tech center, coming up with incentives estimated at $68 million to hold onto what they had.
Those deep and wide community ties undoubtedly played a huge role for Akron, giving it eventually an insurmountable edge.
Future possibilities may likely not hold such strong inherent advantages, and area officials have proven they can and will make a compelling case for this community.
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