North Alabama's cotton fields go automotive

Alabama has been building its position as a regional center of auto industry investment for the past 25 years. Lately, thanks to major interest around Huntsville, the spotlight has shifted to the state's northern edge.

The 13-county area represented by the North Alabama Industrial Development Association is seeing automotive companies invest in plants to support the $2.3 billion Mazda Toyota Manufacturing USA project in Huntsville, as well as to support ongoing expansions at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance and Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama in Montgomery.

Brooks Kracke, 59, CEO of the association, spoke with News Editor Lindsay Chappell about the surge in projects. Here are edited excerpts.

Q: A lot of things are happening with the auto industry in north Alabama. What's driving it?

A: It's many different interests all working together in automotive, trying to get a piece of that pie. We're made up of 13 counties. The city of Huntsville. The railroad. The state is working on it. Our U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby is working on it. The auto industry has been moving south for decades. But north Alabama kind of got passed over on all those projects. That's changing now.

How many automotive projects have come into the 13 counties?

We have seen 16 projects come into this area as a result of the Mazda-Toyota investment. We expect more to come. Those are a combination of both companies on new sites and those co-locating on the Mazda-Toyota site.

Is it just the Mazda-Toyota project that's driving activity?

No, we're also seeing suppliers come in to supply Mercedes, Honda, Hyundai and others in the region. After all these years in Alabama, Mercedes still has suppliers moving in. Dura Automotive just located in our area to manufacture aluminum battery trays for Mercedes. Another company, from Germany, is coming here to make aluminum castings.

The Mazda-Toyota project started well before the pandemic, and it continued during it. Did COVID-19 complicate things?

There were no real problems. Maybe some travel challenges. There were a couple of hundred project people who needed to come here to the site from Japan, but COVID prevented them from entering the country.

Is economic recruitment for north Alabama a new effort?

No, no. We were formed in 1949. It's been on our minds for a long time. We've just upped our game.

How?

We were always a good location with good infrastructure, good logistics, good people and an attractive cost of living. But we offered a certified megasite. And it brought Mazda-Toyota into Huntsville. You're talking about what was mainly big cotton fields, and I believe at the center of it was a little barbecue joint. If we hadn't offered a certified site, you and I wouldn't be having this conversation.

The site also required the construction of a new interchange on Interstate 65, a reworking of the interchange on I-565, the expansion of a two-lane road into five lanes, a couple of new bridges built, and the creation of a new five-lane to connect them.

Megasite certification makes an industrial location more or less shovel-ready. But there must have been challenges in getting the site certified.

The most glaring thing was the identification of the little pygmy sunfish, and a lot of environmental groups were very interested in it. It was not actually on the plant site proper, but in a creek adjacent to the site. But Toyota and Mazda would settle for nothing less than having it handled properly. So we took care of that, and the little fish is going to be fine.

Will there be a limit to the region's growth anytime soon?

We've had that conversation. Last year, before the economy shut down because of COVID, we had a really low unemployment rate. And today, it's even lower. Statewide, we're at 3.9 percent unemployment. Here in north Alabama, 10 of our 13 counties ended the year in the 2 percent range. The other three were at 3 percent.

But people are still looking for opportunity. And our mission is to help get them the advanced training to move up to better jobs.