Chamber staffers were watching for a press release to come by email that morning.  If the answer was, “Yes,” we would hold a press conference at 10:30 a.m. to announce the good news.  If the answer was, “No,” we would hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. to face the music.

In the weeks since then, remembering that moment of balanced potential when the decision could have tipped in either direction has become increasingly difficult.  The news of the decade has become a series of incremental developments, but the story of how local, state and federal officials worked with the support of regular citizens for nearly 15 years to make the project possible has yet to be told in detail.

There are literally hundreds of heroes and thousands of supporters who contributed to the Volkswagen project in one way or another.  There is no way to name them all, but understanding how a vision united so many people in working so hard for so long puts Enterprise South in the same context as the major milestones of our downtown revitalization.

Our region won this project through our community of efforts.  As citizens of Hamilton County and the state of Tennessee, we provided the funding for developing Enterprise South into an attractive industrial property. 
As citizens, we created the quality of place that Volkswagen found appealing.  As citizens, we prepared ourselves to be the kind of workers that could excel at high-skill jobs and elected the kind of leaders who could close a deal of this magnitude.
Many businesspeople in our community went beyond their duties as citizens by investing in Chattanooga CAN DO, the Chamber’s comprehensive economic development program (please see pages 16-17 for a complete list of Chattanooga CAN DO investors).  The support of these business leaders gave the Chamber the ability to engage in proactive marketing and recruitment as well as other critical economic development strategies related to encouraging new business start-ups and supporting growth among existing companies.

The following timeline highlights the major milestones in the development of Enterprise South and the recruitment of Volkswagen. 

1994-2000 Acquiring Enterprise South

In the early 1990s, there was a growing focus on identifying industrial property to attract a major manufacturer.  Anheuser-Busch considered the Chattanooga area in 1993 but could not find a large enough site for the plant, which they eventually established in Cartersville, GA.

The Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant (VAAP) site seemed a ready-made answer.  The site, which had been established in 1942 to make TNT, encompassed more than 6,000 acres, and it was already served by roads, utilities, and other infrastructure.

Talks about acquiring the VAAP property began to get serious in 1994 when Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey first took office.  Ramsey joined former Chattanooga City Mayor Gene Roberts in efforts to acquire the property, but ICI Americas, Inc. maintained a lease on the land until 1998.

Because the process of transferring the land was so intensive, three years passed and Jon Kinsey had assumed office as the mayor of Chattanooga before the U.S. Army sold the first 940 acres for $7.5 million in 2000.

Ramsey and Kinsey forged an agreement that the county and city would co-own and co-develop the property.  Ramsey provided continuity for that agreement and served as the chief advocate of holding the property for a major manufacturer that would create as many family wage jobs per acre of land used as possible.  Ramsey would eventually partner with two more city mayors in sustaining that vision until 2008.

April 2001
Bob Corker took office as mayor of Chattanooga with a strong mandate to focus on job creation.  He would hold office until 2005 when he left to pursue a successful bid for a U.S. Senate seat.  Both as mayor and later as U.S. Senator, Corker proved himself to be a relentless champion for job creation at the site.

2002
The Volunteer Army Ammunition Plant was re-branded as Enterprise South Industrial Park.  Tom Edd Wilson, who had just joined the Chamber as president and CEO, began the process of successfully raising $9 million.  That effort fueled the Chamber’s initiative to deliver a comprehensive economic development program over the next four years.  Marketing Enterprise South was a cornerstone of the Chamber’s job creation effort. 

2003
Ramsey and then-Mayor Corker convinced Gov. Phil Bredesen to continue the construction of a dedicated I-75 interchange to serve the site.  Gov. Don Sundquist had authorized the initial study money and pre-engineering funding for the project. 

2003 to 2004
Under Ramsey and Corker’s leadership site remediation, development and land acquisitions continued at a rapid pace.  Construction for the interchange began.  Congressman Zach Wamp played a major role in securing federal funding for the site’s planned “connector road” with support from Senator Lamar Alexander and former Senator Bill Frist. 

Sen. Corker with elected constituents in Hunter lobby

April 2005
Mayor Ron Littlefield took office with a continued focus on recruiting a major company to Enterprise South.

April to May 2005
The city and county acquired an adjacent parcel of land which “squared off” the site so that it had the necessary dimensions to attract a major user.  This removed the last barrier to the development of the site as an auto assembly plant.  McCallum Sweeney Consulting certified Enterprise South through TVA’s “Megasite Certification Program.”  Over the next three years, four auto assembly projects were announced in the U.S.  Enterprise South was a finalist for one and won the other.


Chamber President Tom Edd Wilson, second from righ, enjoys Times Free Press special edition with Chamber VP's Trevor Hamilton and J.Ed. Marston

2006, 2007, 2008
Over three consecutive years, the Chattanooga team succeeded in pushing for more flexible state financial incentives that support both existing industry expansion and the recruitment of a major manufacturer to Enterprise South.  These advances resulted from concerted leadership by Commissioner Matt Kisber of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development, Commissioner Reagan Farr of the Tennessee Department of Revenue, and the strong support  of Chattanooga area state representatives and senators.  The Chamber’s Public Affairs Department drafted many of the initial incentive proposals, served as a point of coordination for winning passage, and took the lead on communicating the value of the measures to the local business community. Significant workers’ compensation reforms had been passed in 2004, positioning Tennessee to be more competitive with neighboring states on workers’ compensation costs to employers, while ensuring that Tennessee employees received fair coverage and compensation for on-the-job injuries.

February 2007
Chattanooga was a finalist for a Toyota auto assembly plant that went to Tupelo, MS.  Despite public pressure to change the Enterprise South recruitment strategy, local elected officials stood firm.  Ramsey and Littlefield fielded many questions on this point as did members of the Hamilton County Commission and the Chattanooga City Council (please see page 13 for a complete list of these bodies). 

Fall 2007
Rumors of a possible Volkswagen assembly project began to circulate.  The Chamber began researching the company and identifying points of entry. 

December 2007 to July 2008 – The Volkswagen Recruitment Process
During the last week of December, the State of Tennessee and the Chattanooga Chamber collaborated in responding to a Request for Information (RFI) for a project code-named Polar Bear.  This was the beginning of the Volkswagen project although the Chattanooga team did not know that at the time.  Over the next 12 weeks, the Chamber worked with the state and more than 20 local economic development partners (please see Local Economic Development Partners list, page 14) in delivering  over 3,000 pages of documentation in response to the company’s confidential requests for information via its consultant, the Staubach Company.

The local economic development team would continue to work holidays and odd hours throughout the project.  They were also joined by nearly 40 other companies and individuals who provided “Special Recruitment Support” ranging from the use of corporate airplanes to facilitate travel by Volkswagen officials to translation services.

January 21-23
Trevor Hamilton, Chamber VP of economic development, attended the Automotive News World Congress where Stefan Jacoby, president of Volkswagen Group of America, unveiled a five-point strategy, including the plan of building a new assembly plant in the United States.  Hamilton managed to introduce himself to Jacoby and presented him with a Chattanooga package including information about Enterprise South.

April 23
Volkswagen Group of America announced that unnamed sites in Tennessee, Alabama and Michigan were finalists for the project.

May 15-16
The Chamber coordinated over 100 state and local officials and business people for Volkswagen’s first official visit to Chattanooga.  State and local officials with expertise in topics ranging from workforce development and emergency services to site infrastructure made presentations and responded to questions.  The Chamber’s Chattanooga CAN DO investors sponsored a dinner hosted by Corker and his wife at their home with more than 80 business and community leaders in attendance to show their support.  The visit also included community tours and a panel discussion featuring the SimCenter and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
   
During a visit to Enterprise South, the leader of VW’s delegation said he was impressed with Chattanooga but expressed concern that the site was not clear enough to show well and that the site conditions would jeopardize the construction timeline.

May 16
As soon as the Volkswagen officials departed, Ramsey, Littlefield and Kisber hammered out a plan to share the cost of clearing the site and doing initial earthwork.  Crews worked a feverish seven-day-a-week schedule over the next three weeks to transform the site.  Web cameras and weekly aerial photography were used to communicate progress to the Volkswagen team.  This example of proactive leadership and “can-do” execution was a major turning point in winning the project.

May 30
The Chamber delivered a 10-minute video called “Welcome to Chattanooga” which communicated a Volkswagen-specific marketing message in German and English.

June 10-11
Volkswagen officials returned to Chattanooga for additional community tours and information-gathering sessions.  Members of the Volkswagen team verified the remarkable progress in clearing and preparing the site.  The Chamber delivered two customized presentations along with accompanying brochures.  The first entitled, “The Chattanooga Difference,” distilled the marketing message into four key points of comparison.  The second presentation was a take-off of Volkswagen’s current advertising campaign featuring a wise-cracking, classic Volkswagen Beetle.  The Chamber’s presentation focused on similarities between Chattanooga and Volkswagen such as a shared commitment to environmental sustainability.  In the Chamber’s presentation, the Chattanooga Choo-Choo locomotive (“Derr Choo Choo”) acted the part of community spokesperson in delivering quips to accentuate points made in the presentation.

June 19-20
Corker hosted a smaller gathering during which Bredesen and the top members of the Volkswagen delegation met along with Alexander, Wamp, Ramsey, Littlefield and Hamilton.

Late June to mid-July   
The Chamber acted as local liaison for constant communications among elected officials and company representatives.  State economic development officials and the Chamber continued to respond to requests for information on short deadlines. 



July 15
Volkswagen announced that Chattanooga would be the home of its new automotive assembly facility.  The company would invest $1 billion and create 2,000 high-paying jobs.