Community leaders burn Mallard Fox bond note, break ground on Hartselle site

HARTSELLE — Former state Sen. Tommy Ed Roberts walked proudly with a duplicate copy of a bond certificate for Mallard Fox Creek Industrial Park in his hand.

“Didn’t know if I would be around to see this day,” mumbled the man who as then-head of industrial development guided creation of the park.

With a long line behind him, Roberts dropped the certificate in a fire.

“There goes about $8.5 million,” he said proudly.

On Wednesday, state and local officials gathered for a note-burning ceremony and to break ground on Morgan County’s new business park.

The new park is on Byrd Road and in the center of Morgan County and North Alabama, Morgan County Economic Development Authority President Jeremy Nails said.

County and municipal leaders started talking about a new park in January 2005 because they knew the debt on Mallard Fox would be paid in 2007.

Continued pledge

During those meetings, the elected officials agreed to continue to pledge part of their Tennessee Valley Authority in-lieu-of tax payments to fund the project.

In September, the Morgan County Industrial Park and Economic Development Cooperative District approved issuing $16.7 million in bonds to pay for 166 acres and infrastructure improvements.

The land is on both sides of Interstate 65 near Thompson Road.

Unlike Mallard Fox Industrial Park, the new park will focus on the aerospace, biotech and defense industries in Huntsville.

While he didn’t know of any immediate clients for the new park, Hartselle Mayor Dwight Tankersley said he was aware of more than one plant interested in the property.

“They were looking for something that was already developed,” Tankersley said.

Hollie Pegg of the Alabama Development Office said the park gives Morgan County a competitive advantage because of its location.

“Highway accessibility is the No. 1 priority on the list (for new businesses),” she said at Wednesday’s ceremony.

Pegg said she has brought prospects to the site and looks forward to returning with them when infrastructure is in place.

Nails said the cooperative board will be signing contracts for infrastructure such as sewer, water and gas in a couple of weeks.

“The big issue is sewer because it takes the longest to develop,” he said.

Like Tankersley, Nails said he has shown the site to a variety of prospects, but noted the lack of infrastructure kept them from looking seriously.

Former Decatur Mayor Lynn Fowler was on the first Mallard Fox Creek board.

He said lack of infrastructure on the Tennessee River in Decatur led to Mallard Fox.

Need for a park

Fowler said he, Roberts and the late publisher of The Decatur Daily Barrett Shelton Sr. tried to lure Borg Warner to Decatur.

“We traveled to their headquarters in West Virginia,” he recalled on Wednesday.

Fowler said the company planned a $200 million to $300 million investment and wanted to come to Decatur.

“We were not ready,” he said.

“But this was the impetus for Mallard Fox.”

Persuading leaders

A few months after the West Virginia trip, Fowler said, they met in Decatur with the mayors and commission chairman of Morgan County.

“We convinced them to borrow $8.2 million and pledge part of their TVA money to repay the bonds,” Fowler said.

That was the note Roberts burned Wednesday.

“In 20 years, who would have thought we would be in the steel and rocket-making business,” Fowler said.

He said 13 companies have invested more than $1.2 billion in Mallard Fox.

“It’s been a huge success, and I think this park will be too,” Fowler said.