One of the tenets of our organization is to serve our community. Although we keep a constant ear to the ground on all things happening within our community, we are always open to receiving any insights, press, and highlights for all things related to Newton County and the City of Covington.
Financial Audit
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Accountant RFP 1st Addendum
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Audit RFP
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Auditor RFP 1st Addendum
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By: L.A. Dison
Word count: 683
Why is so much industry moving to Covington, Newton County, and the surrounding area?
In February, Atlanta Business Chronicle explored why the area along Interstate 20, around 45-minutes east of downtown Atlanta, has been attracting so much interest from business, and how organizations like NCIDA are grappling with the stress this explosive growth has put on land use, infrastructure and the tensions it has created among those who want to preserve the small-town charm of this exurban community.
Last month, NCIDA listed some of the major business announcements in its 2021 review, and in February, the “Boom Town” reputation was further defined by continuing significant developments.
Sixty-one members of the Newton County business community met for breakfast at Georgia Piedmont Technical College on Friday, January 21 – the first breakfast meeting of the new year and the first in-person meeting since October 2020. NCIDA hosted the breakfast, and NCIDA Executive Director Serra Hall spoke to the group, highlighting the past year’s business accomplishments for both the city and the county and offering some predictions for 2022. Attendees were united in their excitement to be together again and meeting in person. Many also voiced support for a “Stop the Commute” campaign, encouraging NCIDA in its continuing efforts to bring employers and jobs closer to home and help residents quit long, costly and stressful commutes to Atlanta-based jobs. See The Video From The Breakfast
Hwy 278 CID and the City of Covington will soon begin Phase I of the Highway 278 Master Plan with the award of a Surface Transportation Block Grant for Preliminary Engineering (PE). The initial grant in the amount of $464,800 was awarded through an Atlanta Regional Commission (ARC) Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) 2019 solicitation, and is funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) and Georgia Department of Transportation (GDOT). Read full details of the plans for Turner Lake Road to Emory Street, the grant and the work leading up to it in this article from The Covington News.
The Be Pro Be Proud Mobile Workshop, a 40-foot rig that showcases numerous technical professions through gamified simulators, returned to Newton County in January to visit Eastside High School, showing students the path to high-tech, high-paying careers right here in their community. NCIDA also partnered with the Newton County School System to host a Next Steps Webinar, giving 100 families of high school seniors the opportunity to meet virtually with local and statewide employers, like Delta, Georgia Power, Takeda Pharmaceutical, Nisshinbo Automotive, and UPS, as well as collegiate partners and military representatives, to help them navigate the high school career path both during and after high school.
With workers nationwide quitting at high rates and companies finding it hard to fill vacant jobs, it’s more important than ever to make sure your company’s practices, pay, and benefits are competitive with your regional marketplace. NCIDA, in partnership with the Walton County Development Authority, is supporting local industry by once again conducting a Newton/Walton regional Culture, Wage, and Benefits survey focused on the manufacturing and logistics sectors in the two-county region. In addition to traditional topics such as wages and benefits, the survey covers progressive topics around hiring screenings, consideration of returning citizens as workforce, and employee development support so that industries can better understand best practices to be competitive in the region.
If your industry has not completed the survey, or has had any complications in completing the survey, please reach out to NCIDA Vice President of Economic Development Asher Dozier, adozier@selectnewton.com.
Cinelease has announced a major expansion of its Three Ring Studios in Covington. Opened in 2020, Three Ring currently has six stages and 109,200 square feet for production as well as plenty of space for offices and set construction. The new plans will more than double the sound stage space, with fourteen stages and 276,000 square feet of production space when completed in 2023, making it one of the largest film and television production studios in Georgia.
The NCIDA team continues to be a strong force in the development of business opportunities for Newton County, Covington and the surrounding areas.
Stay tuned for more exciting announcements in the coming months!
Word count: 962
By: L.A. Dison
2021 – The Year in Review
The continuing pandemic disrupted much of the global business world over the past year, but it didn’t stop NCIDA from growing jobs and encouraging investment in Newton County. The pandemic caused many businesses to close, but it also spurred new business creation, both in terms of entrepreneurial startups and new products and services at existing firms. What’s more, firms that outlive the pandemic may end up more resilient and prosperous in the future because they will better cater to home-based lifestyles, new digital habits and other societal shifts that took place over the past year. NCIDA kept the growth momentum going as we adapted our strategy to leverage these new opportunities and continue to pitch Covington and Newton County as the place to do business in Georgia.
There were a lot of major announcements in 2021, especially as we wrapped up the year.
The Newton Data Center continued to create connections, around the world and close to home. Supported through a partnership between Newton, Jasper, Walton and Morgan counties, the data center was opened in 2019, employs over two hundred workers, and is an integral part of the infrastructure that connects people through Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and more across the globe. In 2021, NCIDA and the Data Center helped promote Facebook Community Action Grants, which addressed critical needs in our community by harnessing technology, connecting people online or off and improving STEM education.
In September, city officials and developers broke ground on a 167-acre development project. Ashley Capitalintends to construct up to four industrial buildings to anchor Covington Logistics Park off Hazelbrand Road.
In October, city and county officials held a ceremonial groundbreaking for the first of three national hotels planned for mixed-use development Covington Town Center. The Residence Inn will eventually be joined by Courtyard by Marriott and a Staybridge Suites, totaling a combined nearly $100 million investment. Officials expect construction to begin soon for the Courtyard hotel.
November was a busy month for NCIDA, with two business announcements and an employment event. The Be Pro Be Proud Mobile Workshop, a 40-foot rig that showcases numerous technical professions through gamified simulators, visited Newton High School, Newton College & Career Academy, and Alcovy High School, showing them the path to high-tech, high-paying careers right here in their community. NCIDA realizes that a strong, skilled workforce is integral to attracting high-powered technology companies to the area, and much of its work is in connecting young people to potential careers in the area.
SKC, the film and plastics subsidiary of South Korean conglomerate SK Group, announced in November it will invest more than $473 million in a new facility in Covington to manufacture glass-based substrates for semiconductor chips. The project is expected to create more than 400 jobs. In addition to the SKC location in Covington, SK Innovation is investing nearly $2.6 billion in developing two battery manufacturing facilities in Jackson County to supply electric vehicles. SKC has operated in Newton County since 1996, and throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, the facility pivoted manufacturing to produce face shields and other PPE safety products.
Cinelease Studios/Three Ring Studios, established in Covington in 2020, announced in November plans for a massive expansion, increasing it to over half a million square feet, making it one of the largest film and television production studios in Georgia.
Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceuticals has operated a production facility in Covington since 2013, manufacturing plasma-derived therapies to treat primary immune deficiency diseases. The company employs 1,500 in its $1 billion, million-square-foot facility, and continues to expand its product offerings and employment opportunities. In December, at the 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) held in Atlanta, the company presented 23 abstracts on its latest research on treatments for hematologic diseases, many developed at the Covington facility.
The biggest economic news arrived just in time for Christmas when Rivian, one of the hottest electric vehicle startups, announced that it will begin construction in summer 2022 on a 2,000 acre production plant in Walton and Morgan counties. The California company is already valued more than Ford Motor Company, and Amazon has committed to buying 100,000 of Rivian’s electric delivery vans. The $5 billion plant will be the largest economic development deal in the history of Georgia, and it will eventually employ more than 7,500 people.
Battery Resourcers Makes New Year’s Announcement with NCIDA
Lithium-ion battery recycler Battery Resourcers helped NCIDA kick off the New Year with the announcement of its newest facility, planned to open in Covington in August 2022. The 30,000-metric-ton-per-year facility will be North America’s single largest battery recycling operation to extract lithium, cobalt and nickel from discarded lithium-ion batteries and scrap. The opening of the 154,000-square-foot facility marks the first phase of Battery Resourcers’s strategic expansion; plans are already in motion to open an additional facility for precursor and cathode-active material production in 2023. Battery Resourcers is investing $43 million in the Covington facility, which will bring at least 150 jobs to the community. The site is strategically located near several EV manufacturing hubs and lithium-ion gigafactories, adding to Newton County’s and Covington’s growing reputation as a global center for high technology and innovation.
Happy New Year from Your NCIDA Team
The NCIDA Team is comprised of hard-working individuals with the expertise and dedication to build Newton County into an economic powerhouse. Serra Hall (executive director) has spent a large part of her career promoting business development in Covington and Newton County; she has been with NCIDA for eight years, and before that with Main Street Covington for almost three. Asher Dozier (vice president of economic development) came to NCIDA in June after sixteen years with the City of Covington. Kathy Morgan (CID/278 administrator) has been with NCIDA for six years, and manages the Master Plan of the Highway 278 Corridor Project.
Happy New Year from the team – we look forward to having our results exceed your expectations!
For almost seventy years, NCIDA has been focused on attraction, retention, and workforce development needs for Newton County and its five municipalities. We recruit global companies in four areas: bio, pharma and tech; advanced manufacturing; film, tv, music and gaming; and commercial. 2021 saw the rewards from our many months (and often years) of hard work. Now as we move into 2022, look for even more announcements to come!
https://www.thehour.com/news/article/43M-battery-recycling-plant-set-for-Georgia-16751386.php
https://valdostatoday.com/business-2/2020/11/fibervisions-creates-ga-jobs-in-48-million-expansion/
https://www.waltontribune.com/business/article_41b71d44-3137-11eb-bca3-db1e6e07b3dd.html
https://www.covnews.com/news/georgia-deemed-best-business/
https://www.covnews.com/news/georgia-deemed-best-business/
