Franklin and Simpson County continue to be a magnet for incoming industry as Trader Joe’s is building a distribution and warehouse facility there that will hire up to 900 people in a new industrial park.

City and county leaders have been proactive and aggressive in planning to lure jobs to the area and have seen their biggest success yet with Trader Joe’s.

Construction is underway at the site in Franklin’s new Stone-Givens Industrial Park on a three-building, 1 million-square-foot distribution and warehouse facility on 160 acres of the 187-acre park. The site is on Ky. 100 about a mile from Interstate 65.

It is the largest economic development project in Simpson County history, leaders say, and they should be commended for setting the groundwork to land such a facility.

Franklin, like its neighbor Bowling Green, is ideally situated on Interstate 65 and near Nashville, which is experiencing explosive economic and population growth. Franklin is poised to significantly grow in the coming years and it has much to offer. The downtown square, its parks, low cost of living and community feel provide a charm for employers to consider as a new home.

Kudos to Simpson County Judge-Executive Mason Barnes and Fiscal Court, Franklin-Simpson Industrial Authority Executive Director Denny Griffin and Franklin Mayor Larry Dixon and city commissioners, along with other city and county leaders for providing a landing spot for such a major jobs coup.

“Their investment in our community will be the largest to date in terms of size, dollars invested and employment,” Barnes said in a Daily News interview this week. “Trader Joe’s brings some much-needed diversity to our industrial base.”

The entire region is in a position of strength to various degrees. Simpson County is quickly becoming a shining star, along with Bowling Green, in becoming a place where people want to live and work.

We hope to see continued economic opportunity in the region and the state as others learn of what we have to offer as a place to live, raise families and grow in prosperity.