Northeast Louisiana
Strategically located with a ready labor supply
Louisiana has become a hotbed for auto industry manufacturing with more than $1 billion in total investment. It is a richly diverse region, with a wealth of resources, tremendous transportation infrastructure and a high quality of life. The Northeast part of the state, including the parishes of Caldwell, Catahoula, Concordia, East Carroll, Franklin, LaSalle, Madison, Morehouse, Lincoln, Ouachita, Richland, Tensas, Union and West Carroll, offers many advantages to help automotive companies succeed.
Investing in the future
Recently, the creation of the state-owned, “shovel ready” Franklin Farm site has brought a great deal of attention to Northeast Louisiana in particular.
The site offers 1,440 acres of prime real estate for development along Interstates 20 and 80, with dual rail access and with excellent access to the area’s wealth of automotive suppliers and manufacturers. Serving the site is an additional 4,500 acres of contiguous land available for suppliers.
“As we look to the future and see Toyota in San Antonio to our west and Nissan in Jackson to our east, we’ve located attractive land and we think we are an outstanding candidate for consideration,” says Don Pierson, assistant secretary at Louisiana Economic Development.
In fact, the site is so strategically located that it is within 125 miles of more than 100 auto suppliers and a potential workforce of more 250,000 is within an hour commute. The site is also less than 50 miles from the Port of Lake Providence and the Madison Port on the Mississippi River, which provides access to 31 states and two Canadian Provinces.
“We have plentiful labor to support a well over 10,000- person auto assembly plant,” says Mary Jo Hanover, business development services coordinator for Louisiana Economic Development.
And there is room to grow. The area includes an additional 4,000 acres for expansion or to serve the needs of suppliers.
Plenty of reasons to be here
Northeast Louisiana is home to a wide variety of industries, including International Paper, ConAgra Foods, State Farm Insurance and Chase Manhattan Mortgage Corporation. More than 21 percent of the population of the United States lives within a 500 mile radius, as well.
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