Of all the business and industry stories published by The News Courier in 2019, more ink was devoted to the future Mazda Toyota Manufacturing U.S.A. plant than any other venture.

The News Courier published 113 articles that referenced the project, whether it was a status update or a look at what schools and local governments are doing to prepare for what’s to come.

Anticipation about the plant’s opening remained high throughout 2019. The plant’s first steel column was installed in April, and as many as 2,500 construction workers were on site during the summer.

An aerial photo posted in December to the official MTMUS Twitter account shows significant work on the site has been completed, though much is left to be done.

“We did have a pretty exciting year,” said Bethany Shockney, president of the Limestone County Economic Development Association.

She said new and expanding industries in Athens and Limestone County aren’t just automotive, however. That diversification, Shockney said, makes it easier to find workers. She also credited what the Athens-Limestone area has to offer.

“There’s something for everyone, but that’s a real plus for us,” said Shockney, who was hired by the LCEDA board in January 2019. “Our geographic location is unmatched, being halfway between Nashville and Birmingham, and you can get to anywhere on the east coast within eight or 10 hours. Plus, the cost of living is excellent.”

One other plus going for the Athens-Limestone community, she said, is the spirit of cooperation between regional officials.

“Everybody has such a positive attitude, and they’re very forward-thinking,” she said. “I look forward to improving our relationships with Huntsville, Madison and Decatur in the new year.

She anticipates more positive economic development heading this way in 2020. She said her office responded to several requests for information from industries in December, which is typically a slow time.

“I just see things continuing to pop,” Shockney said. “I’m hearing all sorts of things about people looking at our area for different entertainment venues, residential and shopping developments.”

Related projects

While work continued on the MTMUS campus, related efforts were underway elsewhere. One of the biggest MTMUS-related stories of the year was Gov. Kay Ivey’s announcement that Interstate 565 would be widened from County Line Road to Interstate 65. She also announced improvements to the Interstate 65 interchange at Tanner, including widening of Huntsville-Browns Ferry Road from the off-ramp back to U.S. 31.

The city of Huntsville announced it would carry the widening of Huntsville-Browns Ferry Road east from the off-ramp to near Mooresville Road, where it will meet the Greenbrier Parkway now under construction.

Reed Contracting is continuing work on interchange improvements at the Greenbrier Parkway exit off Interstate 65. Like the planned improvements to Interstate 65 and the Tanner exit, the interchange improvement is designed to ease traffic flow for workers going to and from the MTMUS plant.

The project is scheduled to be completed early this year.

In October, MTMUS officials invited members of the media to tour the plant’s assessment center, a vital tool in the hiring process. About 40,000 applications will be sought as part of its goal of hiring 3,000 production workers.

At the center, potential new hires perform a series of tasks on Toyota Corolla shells painted by students at the Limestone County Career Technical Center.

Construction on the MTMUS plant continued through 2019, though an issue that temporarily halted the project in 2018 — the discovery of the endangered spring pygmy sunfish — still loomed over the project.

In May, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would protect 1,330 acres and 6.7 stream miles of critical habitat for the fish. An effort to protect the fish was the subject of a 2018 lawsuit filed by the Center for Biological Diversity against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

In December, the Forever Wild Land Trust announced it had purchased 497 acres of property to protect the habitat of fish.

Significant announcements

The following represents an overview of industry-related headlines as reported by The News Courier in 2019:

January

Decatur annexes RTP

The Robotics Technology Park, which operated within unincorporated Limestone County, was annexed by Decatur in January. The move helped guarantee police and fire protection for the state-of-the-art facility, which provides workforce development training.

March

Remington loses incentives

In March, state officials announced Remington in Huntsville had failed to meet hiring and payroll targets and would lose $3 million in incentives. Alabama promised more than $38 million in incentives to Remington, which emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in 2018.

April

Athens lands Toyota supplier

The governor and a host of state and local officials announced Toyota Boshoku America would invest more than $50 million to open a manufacturing facility off West Sanderfer Road in Athens. The plant will hire up to 414 workers when it reaches full production.

In September, Toyota Boshoku announced it had joined forces with AKI USA to create Toyota Boshoku AKI USA LLC.

The factory, which is set to be completed in mid-2020, will produce seat systems for vehicles built at Mazda Toyota Manufacturing U.S.A. Inc.

May

DNUS announces Limestone project

MTMUS supplier DaikyoNishikawa US announced it would invest $110 million in an auto parts manufacturing facility on the MTMUS campus. The company, called DNUS for short, will create approximately 380 jobs at the new facility, which will produce large resin parts like bumpers and instrument panels.

DNUS was the first on-site supplier to announce a manufacturing facility, though others would follow. Production is set to begin when MTMUS operations start in spring 2021.

Steelcase celebrates anniversary

One of Athens’ largest employers, Steelcase, celebrated its 40th anniversary in Athens with a big celebration at its Durham Drive facility. Steelcase Director of U.S. Operations Bob Hendriksen said the Athens plant is a “good portion of Steelcase’s total revenue.”

Second on-site supplier announced

Coming just a week after the announcement of DNUS, auto supplier Y-tec Keylex Toyotetsu Alabama announced it would invest $220 million to open a manufacturing facility on the MTMUS campus.

YKTA, a new joint venture formed between a trio of Mazda and Toyota suppliers, will produce structural body stampings and assemblies, as well as functional and chassis parts, for MTMUS. Officials said the project would employ 650 workers when it opens.

Like DNUS, production is set to coincide with the spring 2021 startup of MTMUS.

July

Production shift announced

When the MTMUS plant was first announced, officials believed the plant would build the next-generation Toyota Corolla and a yet-to-be-determined Mazda crossover vehicle. However, it was announced in July that a new Toyota SUV would instead be built at the facility, along with the Mazda crossover.

Consumers’ tastes prompted the change. Of the 17 million vehicles purchased in 2018, 68 percent were trucks and SUVs.

August

Third MTM supplier announces

In late August, Vuteq USA announced it would build a $60 million manufacturing facility just outside the MTMUS campus on the Greenbrier Parkway. The facility, which is set to hire 200 workers, will manufacture exterior plastic-injected parts and various sub-assemblies produced at the MTMUS plant.

Construction is set to be completed in September, with production set to begin in 2021.

November

Indorama announces expansion

Indorama, a producer of PET (polyethylene terephthalate, the most common thermoplastic polymer resin), announced it would hire 60 new workers as part of a $40.4 million expansion of its Wilkinson Street facility.

As part of the expansion, the company will grow by 100,000 square feet on the same site.

December

CTC opens new facility

Carpenter Technology Corporation opened its $52 million Emerging Technology Center next to the main CTC campus off Thomas L. Hammons Road in Tanner.

The ETC, which will create 60 jobs over the next five years, will serve as a research and development facility for Carpenter. Officials said it would provide the capability to atomize a range of specialty alloys into metal powder and then use 3D printing technology to create parts using the powder.