By James Brown
Glasgow News 1
The Barren County Economic Authority had a ground breaking ceremony Thursday morning for its next speculative building.
When built, it will be third spec building in the South Cooper Industrial Park off of U.S. 68/Ky. 80 in Glasgow. The other two buildings have been sold. Union Coating and Chemical closed on the second speculative building in June. Bluegrass Ingredients bought the other one last year.
“We’re very excited about the job growth here that’s already taking place,” said economic authority board chairman David Peterson after the ceremony. “With the new speculative building, we’re going to start out with 60,000 square feet, but it also can be expanded to 240,000 square feet.”
Peterson explained that there are probably 500 industrial parks in Kentucky, but maybe only five that have vacant buildings in them.
He said having the building shell in place allows for companies looking for a location to envision their business in the building. It also removes one of the hurdles for economic development.
Scott, Murphy and Daniel President Todd Matthews, a Hiseville native, speaks during the ground breaking ceremony for a new industrial speculative building in South Cooper Industrial Park in Glasgow. James Brown/Glasgow News 1
“We work with Scott, Murphy, and Daniel, you know, they come in and build the building and they’ll actually hold the paperwork for a year, giving us a chance to sell it,” Peterson explained. “I can’t thank Todd Matthews and all his crew and staff enough for doing that.”
Matthews is a Hiseville native and Barren County graduate who is president of Scott, Murphy and Daniel.
“We hold this near and dear to our hearts because we have about 40-plus families that live, work and play here,” Matthews said during the ceremony. “We just appreciate the trust that the county, and the city and the economic development authority has in us.”
He explained the speculative building allows businesses to “… get in in a hurry. They don’t have the traditional long lead times for the building itself.”
The building is expected to be finished in Spring 2027, but the construction timetable depends on weather.
“If we have a lot of snow, rain, that hinders a lot of the beginning of the construction,” Peterson said.
He added having the solid Barren County and Glasgow school districts, and the local Western Kentucky University and SKYCTC postsecondary campuses makes locating an industry in Glasgow more attractive.
“We’re very fortunate in this community to have that education level to train people to actually work in new type of industries,” Peterson said
The speculative building has already circulated to perspective companies, and Peterson said economic authority Chief Executive Officer Maureen Carpenter has received inquiries.
“[Maureen advertised] it as soon as the board voted to build it” several months ago, he added. “She’s already received calls.”
Peterson said one thing people don’t realize is that Barren County receives interest from industries from across the world, not just in the United States.
“We have German companies come and look, [they come] from Sweden,” he said. “I mean, it’s amazing the different companies come in here to look at this. They’ll come to the industrial park. They look at the community as a whole. We’re very fortunate that Kentucky is a very friendly state. They’re impressed with that.”
Hard hats sit atop shovels during a ground breaking ceremony for a new industrial speculative building at South Cooper Industrial Park in Glasgow. James Brown/Glasgow News 1
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