WASHINGTON COUNTY, Ga. — In the last year, multiple projects have kept the Washington County Development Authority busy despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
Now, the authority says their continued work has paid off, announcing their $83 million investments into three projects that have created about 90 jobs.
According to a release from the Washington County Development Authority Friday, Endurance Poly Producers, which opened in the building on Joiner Road that was formerly Premier Tire, has made an impact on the local economy. The release says the company has invested about $5 million and hired 21 full-time employees. They say at full capacity, EPP will employ 40 people.
Chris Massengale, owner of Endurance Poly Producers, said the company had planned to build a new facility, but when the Premier Tire location closed, they decided that they had an opportunity to build "personal relationships with the people in the community as well as the local government.”
Another of the development authority's projects is Fowler Flemister Concrete. The release says the Washington County location is one of seven around the state of Georgia. In 2019, the company bought the WCMS Concrete plant in Sandersville plant, which they say allowed them to have a rail spur that would help distribute to its other locations.
The county says WCMS Concrete's sale also put 16 acres back on county tax rolls.
CFO McKenzie Davenport said, “Concrete is a regional business. At most, the concrete needs to be 25-30 miles from where it is needed. Our family-owned business has been in Milledgeville for over 60 years, and Sandersville has been a good neighbor. The timing was right to make this move.”
The development authority's third project is the Mawson Infrastructure Group, the planning of which began in summer 2020 with a 1-acre lease agreement. The company says in February 2021, they decided to lease an additional 4 acres of land in accordance with their five-year growth plan. In April 2021, the Board of Directors for the Washington County Development Authority approved a project expansion to add another 10 acres, bringing the total site leased by Mawson Infrastructure Group to 15 acres. The data center, which is now located in the Fall Line Industrial Park, had certain requirements, according to Liam Wilson, COO for Mawson Infrastructure Group.
“As we began to look at Washington County, we found that this location ticked off all the boxes,” he said. “From the climate to the local infrastructure, the people to the power supply, every box was ticked off in Georgia, and then again when we looked at Sandersville.”
Judy McCorkle, Sandersville's city administrator, explained that Mawson Infrastructure Group is a "new and emerging type of industry developing in other areas across the state. The City of Sandersville is one of 49 participants in the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia (MEAG) where cities own and operate their own electric utility.”
She said the company is expected to be "one of the largest power users in MEAG."
The release says Mawson will make a $76 million investment in Washington County, making it Sandersville's largest electric utility customer.
