Media Room

Longtime Blount County Economic Development board member Fred Lawson was installed as chair emeritus for his more than five decades of service to the board, and for his leadership, fiscal responsibility and strong economic development commitment. Lawson has been instrumental in recruiting and aiding high profile companies such as Amazon, DENSO, Arconic, Cirrus Aircraft, Rubbermaid…

NAI Koella | RM Moore announced today that, Vital at Springbrook Farm (“Vital”), a new Class A, resort-style multifamily project is expected to break ground in the fourth quarter within Springbrook Farm, a large mixed-use development in Alcoa, Tennessee. Vital will feature 300 luxury apartment units and will be located on the corners of Tesla…

Twenty-four students from five area high schools took part in Blount County Job Signing Day activities at the Airport Hilton as they inked with 13 local companies to begin their careers. These seniors either took career and technical education (CTE) courses on a career pathway, earned an industry certification in school, or participated in work-based…

Before she worked at Amazon, Kimberly was stuck working the overnight shift. The hours were long, and she felt like she had no time to spend with family. Her pay—$11 an hour—wasn’t enough to keep up with the cost of living in south Florida, let alone save money. She knew she needed to try to…

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) expects to phase out its coal generation by 2035, but achieving net-zero carbon emissions without raising power prices or adversely affecting reliability will require substantial investments in energy storage and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). TVA also will need to extend the lifetime of its nuclear power, and adopt the…

AESSEAL® recently received the Queen’s Award for Enterprise in the Innovation category for a specialized mixer seal of the type required in vaccine manufacture and other complex industrial operations. This is the 12th Queen’s Award received by AESSEAL and the 14th for the AES Engineering Ltd. Group.  The Short Canister Mixer Seal, which is the subject of the latest…

“Gather Around”—a new distillery is about to be uncorked. The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development and the Blount Partnership announced today the launch of Tennessee’s newest distillery Company Distilling, set to open in the fall of 2021 in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee. When it comes to making spirits, Company Distilling’s know-how…

The U.S. Economic Development Administration (EDA) today announced that it has updated its investment priorities. EDA’s investment priorities provide an overarching framework to ensure that our investment portfolio – ranging from planning to infrastructure construction – contributes to local efforts to build, improve, or better leverage economic assets that allow businesses to succeed and regional…

The Tennessee Department of Transportation is hosting a virtual design public meeting from April 15-29 to gather public input on the proposed Pellissippi Parkway (SR-162) project from SR-33 to SR-73 (US-321). The proposed project consists of developing a new controlled-access four-lane highway with a concrete median barrier wall and grade-separated interchanges. Show Your Support This…

Which lessons learned are here to stay? Eileen Sweeney, Industry Week One year into the pandemic, the manufacturing industry has undergone significant disruption and transformation. For a sector that works primarily on-site in physical spaces, the workflow and production changes were abrupt and highly impactful. Leaning on technology, adapting quickly to new demands and supply…