Originally appeared in The News-Enterprise | May 15, 2024
In a tongue-in-cheek way, Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation President and COO Andy Games reported the organization didn’t have “very much” going on.
That’s if you don’t count the multiple projects nearing completion in the T.J. Patterson Industrial Park, the recruiting of companies to its limited vacancies and the search for other prospective properties as inventory runs low.
“I feel like it’s been a different busy this year,” Games said in referencing the year before that brought the development of BlueOval SK in Glendale, still under construction, and the announcements of multiple ancillary projects in the city. “We’re still trying to wrap up all we have in 2022 and the beginnings of 2023.”
As part of his report Monday to Elizabethtown City Council, Games updated members on multiple projects to include three of the newest — Kentucky Whiskey House, Lotte Aluminum USA and Advanced Nano Products Enertech — in the industrial park.
“Take (BlueOval SK) out of the equation and we still have three-quarters of a billion dollars that is currently under construction in the park,” Games said referencing those three companies. “We are continually working with all those to get them finished and up and running.”
Kentucky Whiskey House will be the first of the three newest projects to come online, with a start date expected July 1, Games said.
“That has been an extremely quick, that was August 2022 first meeting,” Games said.
The facility is expected to have between 13 to 16 rickhouses with its first currently under construction.
“They are moving quickly with Phase 1 to start July 1,” Games said.
While its manufacturing facility still is under construction, Games said Lotte Aluminum, which will produce 36,000 tons of cathode ultra-thin aluminum foil for electric vehicle batteries to supply BlueOval SK, has been occupying its administration building on site since April.
“They have a temporary occupancy on some of the first phase, which is the left side of the building to do some test products by the end of the year,” Games said. “They also are on board for the third-quarter 2025, just like BlueOval.”
Games reported Lotte leadership said they are “throughly enjoying Elizabethtown.”
Advanced Nano Products, which hosted Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in March in its near completed facility, moved its first patch of dirt a year ago, Games said Monday.
“It’s a beautiful facility,” Games said. “They’re still inputting equipment and testing things. They’re on board for third quarter 2025.”
The goings on in the industrial park are not just limited to these three companies, Games said.
Flex Films and Fischbach USA, both in the industrial park, recently finished multi-million dollar expansions, WL Plastics finalized a land purchase on West Park Road and has plans for another factory and Soudal and Altec are considering expansions as well.
On the closure of Akebono, Games said the company is committed to finishing its business locally in December 2025 but has been working closely with the foundation to market the building, which he expects to ramp up next year.
Games said he has spoken with several employees about options for jobs following the closure to which he promised multiple options to be available to them when the time comes.
As far as land to offer companies looking to locate in Elizabethtown, Games said the foundation is limited. He reported the foundation acquired a 20-acre tract at the end of West Park Road last year and another 46-acre tract near the Western Kentucky Parkway. The industrial park has one unoccupied 26-acre lot behind Metalsa.
“We’re actively looking and hopeful that we will have some other in our hands here soon,” Games said.
The foundation also launched a new website, madehereelizabethtown.com, which Games described as an “A to Z one-stop shop” with a comprehensive look at careers in manufacturing and “a central place to promote our region as a place to live and raise a family.”
Games also took the opportunity to thank city leadership and its department heads for their continual cooperation in easing logistics when it comes to business locating to the Elizabethtown.
“You guys are amazing,” Games said. “I get this from all three projects going on now, things don’t work like they do everywhere else. So when we say our city employees do great things, they do great things. Not everybody gets to get in a room with every department head and hash out their plan in one meeting in an hour.”
In other businessTwo ordinances to amend the zoning map for three properties were approved. The property at at 806 N. Miles St., a vacant lot at the intersection with Joan Avenue, was changed from urban residential, general to urban residential, mixed and the properties at 1203 and 1206 St. John Road was changed from urban residential, mixed to high-density residential.
Council approved four Downtown Redevelopment Grants for local developer Kevin Addington. The grants went to Briley Enterprises for 35 Public Square, the office of Icon Engineering, in the amount of $2,585.42; 1:17 Properties for 117 N. Main St., which is now home to the Hardin County Attorney Office, in the amount of $2,000; WD Holt for 110 S. Main St., former home of the Hardin County Board of Education and now called The Assembly that houses Social on Main and other ventures, in the amount of $45,984.50; and Addington for 220 W. Dixie Ave., the Gregory Building, in the amount of $43,538.10.