At a ceremony today to celebrate the beginning of a large-scale project to develop the Regional East Alabama Logistics (REAL) Park, which aims to accelerate economic growth in the Tuskegee area, Governor Kay Ivey was joined by executives from Farpoint Development and the Macon County Economic Development Authority.
The groundbreaking event takes place as Farpoint starts work on the first building in REAL Park, which is situated on 683 acres off Exit 42 of Interstate 85 in Macon County and is an expandable, 169,000-square-foot spec building.
The project’s initial phase will cost about $20 million to complete.
“I’m tremendously excited by the transformational potential that the Regional East Alabama Logistics Park represents for rural Macon County, and the elevating opportunities it can create for the hard-working citizens of the Tuskegee area,” Governor Ivey said.
“This project is a game-changer, and I look forward to seeing the impact the park will have as it grows over the years.”
The spec building will be constructed by Birmingham-based Doster Construction, and Farpoint expects construction to be finished in the first quarter of 2023.
It will be the only “Class A” warehouse/manufacturing building available for lease in a 40-mile radius when the project opens.
‘POWERFUL ECONOMIC ENGINE’
Once the three phases of the project are finished in seven to ten years, REAL Park could potentially house as many as 13 buildings with a combined 5 million square feet of space.
“We think REAL Park can become a powerful economic engine for the Tuskegee region, sparking large-scale job creation and generating broad opportunities that lift communities around Macon County,” said Justin Patwin, managing director at Farpoint.
“At the same time, the park will become a hub for global commerce, building on the commercial gateway that is the Port of Mobile to benefit the entire state of Alabama.”
Fairpoint and the neighborhood Basset family collaborated on the REAL Park project. It is supported by Opportunity Alabama, a nonprofit organization that links investors with investable assets in the state’s Opportunity Zones, and the Macon County Economic Development Authority (MCEDA).
“The development of REAL Park has the potential to become a milestone in the history of Macon County and a real tipping point for the growth trajectory of our community,” MCEDA Director Joe Turnham said.
“This project will give us an asset that we can use to open doors and pursue growth opportunities that will make a real difference for decades to come.”
ECONOMIC IMPACT
According to estimations made by the University of Alabama’s Center for Business and Economic Research, REAL Park will draw $386 million in new economic capital investment when it is fully constructed, signaling that it might have a significant influence on the area.
According to the report commissioned by Farpoint, which has its headquarters in Chicago and an office in Asheville, North Carolina, the project will also produce over 1,000 new direct jobs and 863 indirect jobs.
“As its footprint expands, REAL Park can put Macon County in the driver’s seat to capitalize on the increasingly robust levels of economic activity along the I-85 corridor,” said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce.
“The logistics park will position the area for opportunities that can add new dimensions to the county’s economy.”
The automotive, aerospace, manufacturing, and forest products industries, among others, could be attracted to REAL Park, he claimed.
RURAL CATALYST
Opportunity The REAL Park project’s primary equity backer is Alabama’s OPAL Fund, a commercial real estate investment firm. The OPAL Fund is a Qualified Opportunity Fund established to make investments in state-wide high-impact initiatives based in Opportunity Zones.
According to Alex Flachsbart, founder and CEO of Opportunity Alabama, “this investment is a great example of how OZ investment can be leveraged to support meaningful projects while seeking risk-adjusted return for investors.”
“Situated between major Hyundai and Kia plants, this site is an ideal location to expand advanced manufacturing to a rural county that’s home to one of Alabama’s oldest HBCUs.”
The park is around 50 miles from both the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama facility in Montgomery and the Kia auto assembly plant in West Point, Georgia. It is situated two miles north of Tuskegee and 15 miles south of Auburn.