FRANKFORT, Ky. (Nov. 21, 2023) – Today, Gov. Andy Beshear highlighted continued momentum of the commonwealth’s site development efforts with the announcement of a new Build-Ready location in Rowan County, putting the area in a position for future economic success.
The John Will Stacy MMRC Regional Industrial Park, located at 100 Industry Road in Morehead, adds to the state’s growing list of properties certified by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development as Build-Ready. These sites are available statewide for companies looking to locate in the commonwealth and start construction and operations quickly.
“The Build-Ready program has continued to grow over the last several years, and I’m excited to see that momentum continuing in Rowan County,” said Gov. Beshear. “The work we are doing right now is paving the way for companies to choose the commonwealth as a home for their business, bringing with them quality jobs and opportunities for communities across the state. I want to thank local leadership in Morehead and Rowan County, as well as regional and state officials who helped make this site in the MMRC Regional Industrial Park certified and ready for business.”
The site, Lot 10, includes a 150,000-square-foot graded building pad on 22.4 acres. The MMRC Regional Industrial Park has over 280 acres available for development. The industrial park is less than 1.5 miles from Interstate Highway 64 and about 65 miles east of the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky.
Utilities include a 10-inch force main sewer line, as well as an 8-inch gravity sewer line. The property also includes the availability of a 16-inch waterline, and the site offers electric, gas and fiber internet utilities.
In April 2022, Gov. Beshear announced that the MMRC Regional Industrial Park would see $425,000 in upgrades, with support from a $212,500 state grant through the Kentucky Product Development Initiative (KPDI) and a local match from the MMRC Regional Industrial Development Authority. KPDI was created through a partnership between the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and the Kentucky Association for Economic Development (KAED) to provide competitive grants to Kentucky economic development organizations and local governments to supplement site and building improvement projects.
Rowan County Judge/Executive Harry Clark spoke on the benefits of the KPDI program: “The Kentucky Product Development Initiative Program has provided counties like Rowan County with the opportunity to make these critical investments necessary to attract jobs and economic growth to Eastern Kentucky. For us, KPDI has been one of the most forward-thinking and game-changing programs to come about in the last decade, and we are thankful to Gov. Beshear and the legislature for providing us with the opportunity to make Rowan County and the region a better place to live, work and do business.”
Morehead Mayor Laura White-Brown talked about the site’s potential: “This initiative will keep Morehead and Rowan County on the map. Having a site like this keeps our community ready to grow and attractive to new and innovative industry. Morehead is excited to help the commonwealth keep moving forward. This is a small piece with huge potential for our region.”
Jason Slone, president and CEO of the Morehead-Rowan County Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development, mentioned the future investments and jobs the site will spur: “The construction and certification of this site provides us with a shovel ready site to potential site selectors seeking to locate in the commonwealth and here in the MMRC Regional Industrial Park in Rowan County. The Kentucky Product Development Initiative program has proven instrumental to the commonwealth, Morehead and Rowan County to spur investments and the creation of future good paying jobs.”
With a Build-Ready site, much of the work – aside from construction – has already been completed. That includes controlling the land to be developed, completing archaeological, environmental and geotechnical studies, constructing a building pad, finishing preliminary design work, obtaining approved site plan permits and putting necessary infrastructure in place. On a Build-Ready site, construction can begin immediately.
To be Build-Ready-certified, a site must include a pad ready to accommodate a building of 50,000 square feet with the ability to expand to 100,000 square feet or more – and utilities extending to the site. Applicants – usually a city, county or economic development group – must have previously filed the necessary permits, as well as preliminary building plans, cost estimates and schedule projections. Applicants also are asked to provide a rendering of a potential building for the site.
Including the new site in Morehead, the commonwealth is home to roughly 21 available Build-Ready sites. Multiple other locations across the state are currently working toward certification.
To date, eleven former Build-Ready-certified sites, including tracts located in Barren, Butler, Christian, Graves, Hart and Laurel counties and five sites in Warren County, have been selected by companies for new location projects, allowing companies to bring their operations online in a cost-efficient manner while creating jobs for local Kentuckians.
The new Build-Ready site in Morehead builds on recent economic momentum in the commonwealth.
Earlier this month, Gov. Beshear reported that General Fund receipts for October 2023 totaled over $1 billion, marking the 14th straight month with revenues over $1 billion. The Governor also recently announced that his administration secured the largest General Fund budget surplus and Rainy Day Fund, as well as the most jobs filled in state history.
The General Fund budget surplus at the end of fiscal year 2023 was more than $1.55 billion. Nearly all of the $1.55 billion surplus will go into the commonwealth’s Rainy Day Fund, bringing the fund to a record balance of $3.7 billion – a 2,700% increase since Gov. Beshear took office in 2019.
This year, the Governor announced that Kentucky set the record for the longest period with the lowest unemployment rates in state history.
Since the beginning of his administration, Gov. Beshear has announced 903 private-sector new-location and expansion projects totaling nearly $27.8 billion in announced investments, creating approximately 48,700 jobs. This is the highest investment figure for any governor in state history.
The robust job creation has been accompanied by rising wages across the commonwealth. The average incentivized hourly wage in 2022 was $26.78 before benefits, the second-highest mark since 2010 and an 11.5% increase over the previous year.
The Governor also secured the best two-year period in state history for economic growth and announced the two largest economic development projects in state history. In September 2021, Gov. Beshear and leaders from Ford Motor Co. and SK On celebrated a transformative $5.8 billion investment that will create 5,000 jobs in Hardin County. In April 2022, the Governor was joined by leadership at AESC to announce a $2 billion investment that will create 2,000 jobs in Warren County. These announcements solidify Kentucky as the EV battery production capital of the United States.
That position was strengthened even further in May 2023, when the Governor and leaders at Toyota announced a $591 million investment across multiple projects as the company’s largest manufacturing operation in Georgetown introduced its first battery electric vehicle. Growth within the EV sector continued into June as Gov. Beshear joined INFAC North America to break ground on the company’s $53 million investment to support EV-related production in Campbellsville.
Over a two-month period this year, Kentucky secured two credit rating increases from major agencies. On May 12, Gov. Beshear announced that his administration obtained the first state-level credit rating upgrade in 13 years and the first-ever upgrade from Fitch Ratings. On June 29, Gov. Beshear announced the commonwealth received its first-ever rating increase from S&P Global Ratings. Recently, Moody’s Investors Service upgraded Kentucky’s credit outlook from stable to positive.
Site Selection magazine placed Kentucky first in the South Central region and top-5 nationally in its 2023 Prosperity Cup ranking, which recognizes state-level economic development agencies for their success in landing capital investment projects. The publication also placed Kentucky second nationwide and first in the South Central region for its annual Governor’s Cup ranking for 2022, which recognizes state-level economic success based on capital investments.
Gov. Beshear announced a new “Supply Kentucky” initiative with the goal of boosting job growth, reducing costs and providing more security in the supply chains of our Kentucky companies.
For more information on Build-Ready sites in Kentucky, visit CED.ky.gov/BuildReady.
A detailed community profile for Rowan County can be viewed here.
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