White House Business Park Meets Needs of a Growing Community
The new White House Business Park is creating all kinds of business opportunities in Robertson County.
Sponsored by: Sponsored by Robertson County Economic Development Board
If you build it, they will stay. That is the thinking behind the new, 200-acre White House Business Park, a partnership between the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Robertson County Economic Development Board and the City of White House in Robertson County, TN.
Located approximately 25 miles north of Nashville, White House is the fastest-growing community in Robertson County and one of the fastest-growing in all of Tennessee, with a population increase of nearly 30 percent over the past 10 years. Yet, two-thirds of the workers in Robertson County leave the county for their jobs.
White House City Administrator Gerald Herman says the new business park, located just off Interstate 65, will help keep some of those workers in their home county. He says it also will spur additional business opportunities in the area, which can tap into a labor force of more than 500,000 people living within a 45-minute drive of White House.
We’re a small community, but we’re definitely growing,” Herman says. “Since 2020, we’ve already built more than 1,000-single family homes in our city. We have three new apartment complexes of more than 200 units each going up right now and nearly 10 new subdivisions in various stages of construction.
“But a lot of people leave during the day to work in Nashville or someplace else,” he continues.
“There is a need to bring more jobs to White House, so people can live and work in the same community. We see the opportunity to have more than 1,000 jobs in that new park.”
In addition, the area around the park is seeing growth as well, including the construction of a 300,000-square-foot warehouse.
“We have the potential to add four or five other industries in that area,” Herman adds.
While the Tennessee Valley Authority initiated the business park project, Herman says the Robertson County Economic Development Board and Chief Economic Development Officer Margot Fosnes took the lead in turning the idea into a reality. The board completed due diligence on the park site with funding through the TVA Invest Ready Grant.
“Margot and her team brought a level of experience and knowledge,” Herman says. “They helped set the groundwork of everything that was needed to get this started, like funding and environmental studies. Flat out, we wouldn’t have been able to do this without the Robertson County Economic Development Board helping us out.”
The TVA provided $100,000 in initial funding, with matching $50,000 contributions from the City of White House and Robertson County Economic Development funds.
A second phase of development was established with the help of a Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Site Development Matching Grant.
“This business park is a testimony to the partnerships,” Robertson County Economic Development Director Vonda Gates says, “and the importance of all entities working together in a project like this.”
