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Giles County EDC reports potential major investments, job leads and site-development progress
Summary
EDC Director Philip Reese reported several business leads—including inquiries for a critical‑minerals enterprise, a sterilants manufacturer and a transformer assembler—outlined land and facility needs, and said site‑development grading should be complete mid‑August; he also announced a Career Expo on Oct. 3.
Philip Reese, director of the Giles County Economic Development Commission, delivered the August director’s report to the commission on July 29, outlining several active business prospects and local site updates.
Reese reported the county’s June 2025 unemployment rate at 4.8 percent and said the total labor force is “steady ~13,000.” He described multiple prospects in the pipeline: Project Hidden Spring, described as an integrated critical‑minerals enterprise needing 400–600 acres with a potential 500 jobs and an estimated $500 million capital investment (status: did not submit); Project Newey, an Australian manufacturer of sterilants and professional cleaning supplies seeking heavy industrial zoning and 10–25 acres or a 30,000–50,000 sq ft industrial unit for about 70 jobs and $30 million in investment (status: did not submit); and Project Prime, an Italian foreign direct investment firm assembling medium‑voltage transformers seeking 20k–40k sq ft (40 jobs and $365,000 in personal property investment), which Reese said had submitted a site proposal for the Edelmann building.
Reese also said grading work on a site‑development grant is underway with completion expected in mid‑August. He noted the 114,000 sq ft manufacturing portion of the Richland Industries building at 450 Bennett Drive is on the market and that a public auction for the Sutton estate (Exit 14) is scheduled for Sept. 20. Reese announced a Career Expo moved to Oct. 3 at the request of Giles County Schools.
County Executive Graham Stowe read a citation recognizing Jackie Morgan of Giles County EMS as Employee of the Quarter; the citation praised Morgan’s billing work and said a “complex Medicare audit that saved the county $30,000.” Stowe also read a letter from the late Third District Commissioner Tim Risner, whose death on July 19, 2025 the commission acknowledged.
What’s next: site‑development grading expected mid‑August; county staff continue to market available industrial space and follow up on the leads Reese described.
