MACON, Ga. — A vacant Macon cigarette plant will soon have a new purpose when a Korean car-part manufacturer moves in.
The Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority announced Wednesday Boogook Industries will move into part of the giant facility that once housed Macon's largest employer, Brown and Williamson Tobacco.
The whole place is about 2,000,000 square feet, but Boogook will use around 130,000, according to Stephen Adams with the industrial authority.
"My brother worked here. And he's the one that kind of helped me get on. Bless his soul, he's already passed on now. But he helped me get on here. I loved it here. It was a great place to work," former Brown and Williamson employee Tracy Harris said.
Harris first donned the gold Brown and Williamson shirt in 1997. Sure, the first-day jitters were there, but Harris was ready.
"We had heard all the stories, you know, 'If you don't get through training, they're going to fire you,' and all that stuff," he said.
Harris made it through training, and worked for eight years in the east Macon plant in the maintenance department. He mostly repaired the packing machines.
About 18 years ago, Harris walked out for the last time when B&W packed up, merged with another company and moved to North Carolina. Since then, the building's been empty.
Now, Boogook will build car parts in their area of the building.
"A supplier to the Hyandai project, which is locating near Savannah. So, with that big investment has come a lot of other suppliers that want to be close," Adams said.
The Boogook folks won't make cigarettes or wear the trademark gold shirts, but Harris says development at the plant is a welcome sight.
"The new employees that come here will get to enjoy these walls just like we did," Harris said. "The memories still live."
If these walls could talk, maybe, the newest folks would hear whispers of a Macon legacy nearly 20 years removed.
Adams says the building's owners want to make it more attractive for smaller businesses, so they're working to split it up.