Renal services provider Fresenius Medical Care has announced it will locate its East Coast manufacturing facility in Knoxville, creating 665 jobs in the coming years.

Gov. Bill Haslam said in a release that the German company plans to spend up to $140 million on the project to build the plant in the city's Panasonic building.

Troy McGhee, vice president of manufacturing for Fresenius Medical Care North America, cited the available workforce, the existing facility and the location as factors in the decision to locate in Knoxville.

A first production line is scheduled to begin moving to Knoxville in September, but production is not expected to begin until 2016. The Federal Drug Administration would have to approve the plant for production of dialysis products.

Source: Knoxvile News Sentinel

“The Knoxville area provides a number of amenities, but No. 1 is a great low cost of living,” says Rhonda Rice, executive vice president of the Knoxville Chamber. “Tennessee has a very affordable tax structure. You combine that with the natural amenities—the mountains and the lakes—and those things make it a great place to live.”

With a median home sales price in the Knoxville metro area of $140,000 in the fourth quarter of 2013, about 77.4% of homes are affordable to families earning the local median income ($60,700), according to data from the National Association of Home Builders. Across the country in Los Angeles, the median family income is pretty similar–$61,900–but only 20.6% of the homes on the market are affordable to a family with that level of income.

Source: Forbes