Business Interest Growing in Johnson County
(photo courtesy Daily Journal)
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowOfficials in Johnson County are touting increased interest from businesses looking to locate in the area. Our partners at the Daily Journal report 17 businesses committed to investing a total of $104 million in 2017, up from $44 million the previous year.
Dana Monson, interim executive director of the Johnson County Development Corp. tells the publication the increase in business can be attributed to an improving economy, Indiana’s central location, easy interstate access, and investments made by local communities in infrastructure and recreational amenities. However, she says the biggest challenge is having a skilled workforce to meet the demands of companies locating in the county.
Monson says 137 businesses expressed interest in locating in Johnson County in 2017, compared to 118 in 2016 and 115 in 2015. She adds, in addition to to tax breaks and zoning rules, some of the initial questions raised by companies looking to set up shop in the county include how many parks and trails a community has and the quality of the housing market.
"That has been something we’ve heard for a while," Greenwood City Council President Mike Campbell told the Daily Journal. "Companies want places employees want to live."
Monson says she expects the number of companies expressing interest in Johnson County to increase further, especially with the availability of two 500,000-square-foot shell buildings in Greenwood and one 50,000-square-foot shell building in Franklin.