Authority courts 2nd German company

“The Germans are loving Georgia.”

So said Houston County Development Authority Executive Director Angie Gheesling. Back in early October, Gheesling talked about the authority hosting a 130-plus-year-old company based out of Germany as it looked to establish a North America operation. Whether or not that will happen is still to be determined, but on Wednesday at the authority’s monthly meeting, she said another German manufacturer was also showing interest (where her opening comment stemmed from).

“It’s in the aerospace industry,” she said. “In another ‘hot button’ for us (aerospace) and that’s good, because that’s where we want to focus our efforts to recruit.”

The “high investment” on it, Gheesling said, would be $94 million, with 142 jobs “over a period of time”. The request for information, she added, came in on Nov. 23, 2014. “We worked it throughout Christmas … It’s been very involved.”

The “Germans” haven’t been the only ones to show interest in Houston County, she also added. Reporting on just the activity from Nov. 12, 2014 on, she said an “international” company had also started showing interest “… in the U.S. and specifically in the Southeast,” she said. “They’re just on a preliminary search right now … trying to divert attention from where they’re looking, so they’re looking for letters from communities.” Houston County’s letter, she said, was to go out that day.

There is also a “large-scale tourism project” being worked, Gheesling said. Ten projects total make up the authority’s “new and active” list.

In a separate area/subject, Gheesling said a representative from the Department of Economic Development’s Film Division approached her and asked her to be the primary contact for film.

“It’s kind of logical,” she said. “Because that site process works a lot like the industrial process does. They needed someone – having two CVBs (Convention and Visitors Bureaus) – they needed somebody they could look to, to go county-wide on this.

“So that’s what we’re doing. Sandy (Smeltzer of Perry’s CVB) and Marsha (Buzzell, with Warner Robins’), they best know what the assets are. So we’ve met with the film industry representative (and) we’ve got a lot of interest from them. As you can imagine, most of this activity will go to Perry. Most of this activity will go to Guardian (Center). And I think the Fairgrounds will always have an opportunity.”

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