LG Electronics to Build $250M Plant in Tennessee

By Gail Kalinoski

Nashville, Tenn.—One month after beginning construction on its North American headquarters in New Jersey, South Korea-based LG Electronics said it will make another investment in the United States, announcing plans to build a $250 million plant to build washing machines.

LG Home Appliance Plant Clarksville, Tenn.

The 829,000-square-foot plant will be built on a 310-acre site in Clarksville, Tenn., about 40 miles outside Nashville. Located in Montgomery County, the new factory will bring at least 600 full-time jobs to the region. A groundbreaking has not been set but production of front- and top-load washing machines at the plant is expected to begin in 2019. LG said the site offers the potential to expand and produce other home appliances there in the future.

“Over the past six years, LG studied eight states for the location of this facility,” Dan Song, president of the LG Home Appliance and Air Solutions Co., said in a prepared statement. “Tennessee is the clear choice for LG’s latest major investment in America, due to the state’s excellent business climate, quality workforce and central location for distribution to our U.S. customers.”

The multinational electronics company will be receiving incentives from several entities to locate the plant in Clarksville.

“Under agreements with the State of Tennessee and Montgomery Country, LG will receive various grants, tax incentives and other types of programmatic support for construction, infrastructure improvements, job training and veterans’ recruitment,” a company spokesperson told Commercial Property Executive. “The project also includes Tennessee Valley Authority incentives.  If and when they are disclosed, specifics would be made public by the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. The Tennessee General Assembly must approve some capital grants.”

Gov. Bill Haslam said in a statement that LG’s decision “to establish new manufacturing operations in Tennessee is a testament to the business-friendly environment, ideal location and highly-skilled workforce we offer to companies around the globe.”

The site is near the location of another South Korean company—Hankook Tire—which is gearing up to launch its $800 million state-of-the-art tire plant next month. That 1.5 million-square-foot manufacturing facility, which is expected to provide about 1,000 jobs, was announced in October 2013. Google is also planning to build a $600 million data center nearby, according to The Tennessean newspaper.

LG’s decision to build in Tennessee, comes one month after construction began on its new North American headquarters at a 350,000-square-foot campus in Englewood Cliffs, N.J. That project, which had been planned since 2009, will cost about $300 million and allow the company to add 500 more workers, doubling its employment in the region where it has had its North American HQ for 30 years.

In November 2015, LG Electronics opened a new Air Conditioning Systems Headquarters in Alpharetta, Ga. The 40,000-square-foot facility was an expansion of its heating, ventilation and air conditioning business, which had been located in the Atlanta suburb since 2006.