Limestone County Commission Chairman Mark Yarbrough, right, joins other officials Wednesday at a press conference in Montgomery announcing a joint Toyota/Mazda plant in Huntsville-annexed Limestone County. Joining him from left are Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corp.; Masamichi Kogai, president and chief executive officer of Mazda Motor Corp.; Alabama Gov.Kay Ivey; Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield; and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.

For generations, thousands of acres of rich Limestone County farmland along Powell Road yielded an abundant supply of cotton and other crops. In the years to come, it will be cars, not cotton, produced there.

Officials with Toyota and Mazda joined Wednesday with officials from the state of Alabama and Limestone County to confirm whispers from the day before — a $1.6-billion automotive assembly would be built in Huntsville-annexed Limestone County.

The automakers’ joint plant will be constructed on about 2,600 acres in the city limits of Huntsville in Limestone County near the Greenbrier community. The plant will hire about 4,000 workers when it reaches full capacity. The average salary will be $50,000.

Locally, Cullman officials are optimistic the massive manufacturing facility will not only yield jobs for Cullman residents in Limestone County but also generate more business and new jobs here with existing auto suppliers.

“Anytime a vehicle manufacturer opens a new facility, they look at existing companies in their area and region first for just-in-time suppliers, and we’re fortunate to have several Tier 1 suppliers with Yutaka, Topre and Rehau in our community,” said Dale Greer, Cullman Economic Development Agency executive director.

“It’s going to be a couple of years because of the scale of the facility Toyota is building, but there will certainly be opportunities ahead.”

Details of what the companies will receive in incentives had not been released as of late Tuesday, though the state Department of Commerce has offered an incentives package worth about $379 million. Despite those incentives, the result could be what Limestone County Commission Chairman Mark Yarbrough referred to as having a “multigenerational impact” on North Alabama.

The main campus is anticipated to provide up to 4,000 jobs, but thousands more could be added through a mix of automotive suppliers and new homes, retail and restaurant developments necessitated by an influx of new workers. Yarbrough estimated the construction of the plant would also lead to the creation at least 2,000 new construction jobs.

“It will end up being about 20,000 jobs before it’s all said and done,” he said. “We already have interest from 35 to 40 Tier 1 and Tier 2 manufacturers who will be required to be located within a 30-mile radius of the (Toyota and Mazda) plant.”

Limestone County won’t ante up cash for the deal, but the commission could approve a 20-year tax abatement agreement during its next scheduled meeting at 10 a.m. Tuesday. That abatement would include property taxes and one of the 1-cent statutory sales taxes that provides revenue to local school systems. A 1-cent constitutional sales tax that funds Athens City Schools and Limestone County Schools won’t be abated. Yarbrough said sales tax related to the construction of the plant would provide untold millions to the school systems over the next few years.

Once the 20-year abatement expires, Limestone County stands to gain $6 million to $7 million each year in ad valorem taxes from the plant.

Attraction to Limestone

As with most industrial projects, Yarbrough and other officials are quick to point out how luring projects are as much about numerous entities working together toward a common goal, though luck can be just as important as incentives.

Having a shovel-ready site — or at least the prospect of one — was likely another consideration for Toyota and Mazda. There’s a 1,500-acre Tennessee Valley Authority-certified megasite off Powell Road, but the plant isn’t expected to be located squarely on that property. The remaining farmland the plant will be built on needed additional infrastructure improvements.

A Huntsville City Council will learn more about a seventh tax increment financing district, or TIF, that would fund those improvements at its Thursday night meeting. The TIF allows Huntsville to issue bonds and then repay those bonds through property tax revenue collected off increased property values.

When asked if Limestone County was truly ready for such a large industrial endeavor and all that could follow, Yarbrough’s response was, “I hope so.”

“There are parts of me that miss the old days,” he said. “But, as I’ve said many times, if we quit growing, we start dying.”

For Mazda, the plant comes online in a significant year that marks the start of the company’s second century of operation and second half-century of sales in the U.S. The automaker is enhancing its commitment to the U.S. market and will focus efforts on manufacturing and increasing sales in the country.

“Mazda makes cars with a clear vision of how we want to inspire people, contribute to society and help preserve the beauty of the Earth,” said Mazda Motor Corp. President and Chief Executive Officer Masamichi Kogai. “By making such cars here in Alabama, we hope that over time, our plant will come to occupy a special place in the hearts of our employees and the local community.”

“By making this plant a vibrant part of that community, we hope to work, learn and grow together with the people of Huntsville and Alabama,” he added.

For Toyota, this joint-venture plant will be its 11th U.S. manufacturing facility and represents its further commitment in the U.S., in addition to the $10 billion in investment over five years announced a year ago and beginning in 2017.

“Our investment to establish a new vehicle assembly plant with Mazda builds on the very success we have enjoyed in Alabama, where we produce engines for the North America market,” said Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corp.“Starting from 2021, I’m confident that we run a highly competitive plant, by bringing together the expertise of Toyota and Mazda as well as the excellent Alabama workforce.”

Times Staff Writer Tiffeny Owens contributed to this story