John Deere that brings 25 jobs,”Taylor reveals.“We’ve had another expansion at Titan Packaging adding another 50 jobs; that’s an $8 million investment there. We have a Walmart Distribution Center; they’re growing. (It currently employs over 900.) They have had a significant technology upgrade, adding several more high-paying jobs. We got a new company coming, I can’t name yet, bringing a hundred jobs. On top of that, we just recently took possession of 336 acres for industrial development, plus we’ve got another 50 acres.” Two legacy companies in Greene County are the American Greetings Corporation, the world’s second largest producer of greeting cards with 540 jobs; and Jarden Zinc Products in the city of Tusculum. Now known as ARTAZN LLC, the company began in 1880 making zinc lids for Ball Mason jars. Today, it is the sole supplier of zinc penny blanks for the United States mint, as well as those of more than 20 countries around the world, employing over 300 workers.“We have a very diverse manufacturing base here,” Taylor states,“from currency, to automotive to gift wrap, to John Deere lawn tractors, to logistics, to bottled water. And we continue to grow it.” GREENEVILLE BEGINS A VIRTUOUS CYCLE Several years ago, Greeneville decided to spend time, money, and energy developing its downtown core as a way to attract those new businesses and grow the older ones, while providing housing and amenities for the new residents who will both work for and patronize them. “I’ve always considered downtown the soul of your city,” says City Manager, Todd Smith. “Ours was a beautiful, historic downtown with a lot of great buildings. In the 1960s and ‘70s, the town leaders at the time did not go for that type of urban renewal that a lot of cities went through where they took down historic buildings and put up ugly concrete façades. We didn’t do that. So, we had the benefit of these great historic homes downtown, but not a lot of activity. Part of that was because we didn’t have the infrastructure capacity there. So, as part of our strategic plan, our community and our leadership said that we needed to make some investments downtown – those invisible, underground investments, like water, and sewer, and power, and natural gas, as well as visible ones 4 CIVIL AND MUNICIPAL VOLUME 05, ISSUE 10
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