A 16-acre industrial site located at the Shelton Industrial Park has been certified as Build-Ready, offering companies a streamlined process to rapidly locate, build and begin operations in in Russellville, Kentucky.

The Logan County site includes a pad for a 100,000 square-foot building. Electric, water, sewer and roadway extend to the site edge and the necessary permits, studies and renderings have been completed and filed.

“Build-Ready certification allows construction to start almost immediately,” said Erik Dunnigan, Acting Secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, which administers the program. “We know our corporate partners want a quick turnaround. Build-Ready gives our communities a leg up when competing with other states for jobs and investments.”

Build-Ready means a site includes a pad 50,000 square feet or greater, expandable to 100,000 square feet or more, utilities extended to an edge of the site, and the necessary permits and studies are in place including water, building, phase-1 environmental, archeological, historical and geotechnical.

An applicant, usually a city, county or economic-development group, must also provide preliminary design work, a total-cost projection, construction time-frames and a rendering of a potential building for the site.

Tom Harned, Executive Director of the Logan Economic Alliance for Development, which owns the site, said the Build-Ready certification increases the likelihood for development and growth in the Russellville-Logan County employment and tax bases.

“The Shelton Lane Industrial property was acquired by the Logan Industrial Development Authority to help grow and stabilize the employment base. This certification is a positive step in our strategy to further develop the park. We are especially interested in advanced manufacturing jobs. This site will help attract highly desirable employers, increasing family income and economic growth,” Harned said.

“I am pleased to announce Russellville now offers a Build-Ready site for a large-scale employer to locate and get its facility open swiftly,” Governor Matt Bevin said. “Logan County is a great place to work and live. This new certification cuts months off the pre-construction process for potential companies and represents a great economic opportunity for the community.”

At less than two years old, the Build-Ready program has certified seven locations across the state including the new Logan County site. Efforts toward certification continue on more than a half-dozen other sites.

Due to high levels of interest in Bowling Green’s two Build-Ready pads, local officials decided to advance one site further by building a speculative facility, according to the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.

Sen. Whitney Westerfield, of Hopkinsville said, “Combined with the fact the Shelton Lane Industrial Park is within a 60-mile drive from the Nashville International Airport and three major interstates, we believe this Build-Ready certification adds another competitive advantage for Logan County.”

Kentucky’s other Build-Ready sites include tracts in the Highland Glen Industrial Park in Barren County, the Bluegrass Crossings Regional Business Centre in Ohio County, the 4 Star Regional Industrial Park in Henderson, the Hickory Industrial Park in Graves County, and in Bowling Green’s Kentucky Transpark.