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Fox Toyota starts work on car wash; 3M project continues

Vehicles of the customers of Fox Toyota in Clinton will be getting some extra care soon, as the dealership off Interstate 75, Exit 122, has begun construction on a $723,000 car wash and detailing shop.

While the new facility will focus on preparing Fox’s new and used vehicles for delivery to customers, it will also be used to wash customers’ vehicles when they come in for servicing, said Fox Marketing Coordinator Molly Laughlin.

Work began last week after the city of Clinton issued a building permit to Fox Toyota in the amount of $723,000 on Aug 15, according to city records.

Construction workers were busy on the site Monday. The location is in the back of the building, along Fox Family Lane.

The contractor for the project was listed as BCMG LLC.

Also receiving a building permit from the city recently was 3M, which is expanding its facilities in the Eagle Bend Industrial Park at 400 J.D. Yarnell Industrial Parkway.

This newest permit, issued Aug. 22, is for a $9.1 million commercial interior for the 3M Project Falcon, which already has received several other multi-million-dollar building permits over the past two years.

The Christman Company is listed as the contractor for this newest phase of the project.

Overall, 3M Company’s filtration-products division plans to spend about $470 million to expand the Clinton plant, which is expected to add up to 600 jobs at the site by 2025, the company and state officials have announced.

3M has been working on the expansion plans for more than two years, having obtained its first building permit from the city of Clinton for the project in March 2020 for a total of $16.5 million.

The sprawling 772,000-square-foot plant, which 3M purchased for $14.4 million on a 160-acre site at 400 J.D. Yarnell Industrial Parkway in December 2014, had about 125 employees as of late 2019.

Company officials have not publicly given a head count for the plant’s workforce since then, but obviously the massive expansion will more than triple the job numbers as last reported.

3M took over the building and property formerly used as a Food Lion distribution center, and went on to get a total of $120.5 million in building permits for building expansions and renovations for use as a manufacturing facility.

Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee, Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bob Rolfe and 3M Company officials made a joint announcement of the new expansion in Nashville last year.

The delay in announcing the expansion plans from when the most-recent building permits began to be issued in March 2020 were in part because Minnesota-based 3M was working with the state to secure tax and training incentives from the governor’s office and the Economic and Community Development department. The COVID-19 pandemic also is believed to have played a role in the delay.