Gov. Lee comes to Jackson to celebrate Georgia-Pacific

It was Nov. 30, 2021, when the Jackson City Council had to publicly name the entity that was interested in buying property on the western end of Jackson for a possible plant construction. That entity was Georgia-Pacific.

A little more than a year later, Georgia-Pacific leadership was in town for a celebration of the company bringing Dixie Jackson Georgia Pacific to the Hub City, where paper plates, bowls, platters and cutting boards will be made.

Coming with it are the largest capital investment in Madison County’s 201-year history at $435 million and more than 200 jobs.

“This is an exciting time for Jackson and Madison County with everything going on right now,” said Greater Jackson Chamber President Kyle Spurgeon. “And we’re excited to have a brand like Georgia-Pacific decide to come to Jackson, Tennessee to put their newest facility right here in Madison County.”

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee was on hand for the celebration as well.

“When you have global brands like Georgia-Pacific coming to Tennessee to put their new facilities, and they could go anywhere in the nation, and they come here, that says something about Tennessee,” Lee said. “And when those global brands are already here, it makes it easier to recruit more global brands to this state.

“So yes, this is a big win for Jackson and Madison County, but this is also a big win for all of Tennessee.”

Lee added that the state is looking at ways to pay for ways to improve roads and other infrastructure for all the industry preparing to move into West Tennessee.

Carrie Shapiro is Georgia-Pacific’s vice-president over Dixie operations. She was there on behalf of the corporation.

“This has been a great process so far of coming to Jackson, and the welcome we’ve received since we first began to discuss coming here has been great,” Shapiro said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do before we can start actual production, but we’re getting it done.”

The plant will be built on Highway 223 between the Tennessee Department of Transportation building off Exit 76 of Interstate 40 and McKellar-Sipes Regional Airport.

Spurgeon credited the work of Greater Jackson Chamber’s Mandy White and Jackson Energy Authority’s John Nanney – both of whom serve their employer in a role of industrial development and/or recruitment – for getting Georgia-Pacific to Jackson.

“Without John and Mandy, we’re not here today celebrating this,” Spurgeon said. “So while this is a team effort from a lot of people and a lot of different entities, those two played key roles to make this happen.”

Brandon Shields, brandon@jacksonpost.news