I enjoy pondering what our beloved town will look like in 5, 15, or even 25 years and beyond. If you’re like me, then the town’s comprehensive “2040 Plan” is a good place to start, as it lays out a roadmap for our growth over the next 20 years while considering design, location, appropriateness, product types, building materials, infrastructure, and other key development elements (www.colliervilletn.gov/2040Plan). With the announcement of the Ford Motor Company/SK Innovations electronic vehicle facility in Stanton, TN, a mere 40 minutes from our historic Town Square, I’ve gathered some additional thoughts on the impact this site will have on our town, as well as what life might look like with this new, disruptive technology.

Putting the Ford Blue Oval City concept and impact into perspective is challenging, but I’ll try. Ford will be making a $5,600,000,000 (that’s billions with a “B”) investment at the Memphis Regional Megasite. This will be a capital investment in land, facilities, and equipment. For an idea of the size of this investment, the Nissan auto plant in Jackson, MS, General Motors in Spring Hill, TN, and Volkswagen in Chattanooga would all fit inside the Ford Blue Oval City footprint. This will create 5,800 well-paying jobs, 27,000 direct and indirect (Tier 1, 2, and 3 suppliers) jobs, and 32,000 short-term construction jobs. 

At the end of the day, these economic development projects are all about workforce, and West TN, including Collierville, will see an abundance of well-paying, sustainable jobs for the region. An auto worker making $25 an hour equates to an annual salary of approximately $50,000; once accounting for healthcare, life insurance, pension and so on, the total compensation package pushes $70-$75,000 annually. The direct jobs will represent approximately $300,000,000 of new wages pouring into the area—a good thing for West TN and our community.

What about Tier 1, 2, and 3 suppliers? Imagine a polyolefin car seat company setting up shop nearby to service Ford. Foam seats for the new Ford F-150 EV truck are made in the morning at a plant in Collierville, Fayette County, Millington, or Arlington, for example, shipped at 10:00am and installed that same day during the third shift. Just-in-time manufacturing with nice jobs connected to Ford. They are expecting 30,000 truck movements per week in and out of Ford Blue Oval City. 

What about Collierville? The crossroads of I-269 | SR-385 | US 72, approximately 40 minutes from Ford and SK, offers an abundance of developable land for potential EV truck parts assembly, warehouse and logistics organizations, technical and sales support offices, restaurant and retail development, and hotels. I would imagine that the intersection of I-269 and US 72, at our southeast border, could see a facility like a Buc-ees®, with accompanying hotels, restaurants, and other services. 

Our office market could continue to accelerate if strategic suppliers to Ford desire having key support personnel nearby. I could see a new 10,000-25,000 square foot regional office in town. A 40-minute commute from our town to the plant is short by most commute time standards today. Executives, managers, technical specialists, floor leaders, and other team members will need a place to live, and our housing market will continue to thrive.

What does future mobility look like with the emergence of the EV and lifestyle changes? The introduction of electric vehicles could be as technically disruptive as mass-produced cars (think Ford Model T), the wide distribution of electricity (Niagara Power & Westinghouse), and the extraction and refinement of oil (Rockefeller’s Standard Oil). In many ways, I think people are going to reimagine how they use cars, and what mobility looks like in their lives. Shared mobility, from ride sharing and car sharing to “micro mobility” services like scooters, will impact how we get around. Maybe there will be fewer cars, and the cars that are around will be predominantly electric? Do consumers forego individual car ownership for a variety of on-demand options? Does it make sense to keep an expensive, “gas guzzler” SUV in your garage, or when that trip to Destin rolls back around, maybe you simply rent a car for a week? 

In addition to this technical disruption, everything I read now indicates that people will want to live closer to work, closer to their schools, closer to their friends, and closer to amenities. How will the reliance on a vehicle play into this new, “mixed-use” living lifestyle? I believe that we will see more Schilling Farms type developments, where one can live, work, dine, exercise, educate, worship, see the doctor, dentist, lawyer, and enjoy open space, all outside their back door and within walking distance. 

As we look to 2040, the future is bright in Collierville, and we remain perfectly positioned and organized to strategically take full advantage of the trends continuing to unfold. I look forward to seeing the many ways Ford Blue Oval City will positively impact our town for years to come. 

John D. Duncan

Director of Economic Development

500 Poplar View Parkway

Collierville, TN 38017

901-457-2200 General

901-457-2213 Direct

901-457-9325 Cell

www.AccessCollierville.com