NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Nashville Metro Council and Metro Industrial Development Board have approved Bridgestone Americas' plan to move its North American headquarters to downtown Nashville from a site near the airport.
Bridgestone said these are the final approvals it needed on the local level for its plan to move its headquarters staff to a larger structure downtown. The move will affect more than 1,700 jobs, including as many as 600 at three other business units located elsewhere.
The project is valued at $232.6 million, according to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development. Bridgestone could benefit from as much as $100 million in economic incentives from state, local and regional sources, according to published reports in Tennessee.
Groundbreaking ceremonies are planned for January; the firm anticipates occupy the 30-story building by the third quarter of 2017.
“This process…affirms for Bridgestone that we have built a deep and mutually beneficial relationship over the past 20 plus years between our company, the city of Nashville, the state of Tennessee and all our neighbors in the Middle Tennessee region,” Bridgestone Americas CEO Gary Garfield said.
Mr. Garfield said the investment “illustrates our faith and confidence in the bright future of this community. We look forward to meeting our continued commitments as a great neighbor and corporate citizen.”
The jobs to be relocated in Nashville are at Bridgestone Retail Operations L.L.C. in Bloomingdale, Ill., and Firestone Building Products Co. L.L.C. and Firestone Industrial Products Co. L.L.C. in Indianapolis.