Wiregrass Economic Development Looks to Fund Enterprise Commerce Park

The City of Enterprise, its Industrial Development Board, and the Wiregrass Economic Development Corporation recently requested SEEDs funding to purchase and improve 296 acres for its proposed Enterprise Commerce Park. With the site’s low risk development profile, Enterprise would be well-positioned to attract a variety of high-quality industrial entities to the area.
The project cost is roughly $8.5 million and the requested SEEDs funds would cover $5.7 million with the City of Enterprise matching $2.8 million. The Enterprise Commerce Park is well-located to take advantage of the existing Genesee & Wyoming Railroad infrastructure and direct access to U.S. Highway 84. “Availability of rail and direct, four-lane highway access makes this site attractive and marketable to a broader audience and will allow the community to continue to grow and diversify its industrial base,” said Wiregrass Economic Development Board Executive Director Jesse Quillen.
The topography of the Enterprise Commerce Park is gently rolling allowing for quicker and less costly site development. This site offers all utilities within close proximity. Natural gas service is adjacent to the site and available through Southeast Gas. Electric service could be provided by either Alabama Power or Covington Electric. Water, wastewater, fiber and electricity are also all reasonably close or adjacent to the site. This provides a competitive speed to market site with known development costs.
“The regional demographics for this site are also very positive and attractive,” said Enterprise Mayor William E. Cooper. Statistics prepared recently by AIDT show that within a 45-mile drive time of the site the population is 367,209. More importantly, the labor force within a 45-mile drive time is 155,895. Within this same drive time, the Alabama Community College System has three community colleges that are within the service area of the property.
Quillen says, “Funding through SEEDs will provide us with property that is perfect for attracting targeted sector companies to our area. This site would likely be developed with one large parcel and possibly a few smaller parcels.” Current industry sectors represented in the community include advanced manufacturing, warehouse & distribution, aviation, agriculture, automotive as well as military and defense.