Builder group endorses May Town

ABC calls project 'strategic step' and 'smart step'

Email | Print By Kyle Swenson

In an unprecedented move, the local chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors has issued an endorsement of May Town Center, urging civic leaders to take the initiative to make the planned $4 billion development a reality.

The ABC, which normally does not weight in on private development issues, decided to add its voice to the May Town debate at a special member meeting on Monday night.

“Our members believe the May Town Center project is of such tremendous importance to Davidson County that we must speak up in support,” the Middle Tennessee chapter chairman Dan Brodbeck of American Constructors Inc. said today in a release.

In a letter addressed to Mayor Karl Dean, the Planning Commission and other civic leaders, Brodbeck stressed his organization's opinion that May Town is a “strategic step – and in our view, a smart step – toward creating the sort of economic growth necessary to ensure Davidson County's vitality and to enhance its tax base to achieve the school system we want and need, and to ensure delivery of city services at a strong level.”

The letter goes on to highlight that the project will give a significant boost to the local building industry, with an estimated 50,500 construction jobs created over the 25-year building period. These jobs are estimated to rack up $2.3 billion in industry wages once the project if completed.