Alcoa, Blount County advance $8 million purchase of former South Plant property

Alcoa and Blount County are advancing a proposed $8 million acquisition and redevelopment effort involving approximately 167 acres at the former Alcoa South Plant.

Alcoa commissioners unanimously approved an intergovernmental agreement on July 14, 2026, according to local reporting. Two days earlier, a Blount County budget agenda listed an $8 million budget increase for an agreement with the Blount County Industrial Development Board to purchase the South Plant property.

The actions move the city and county closer to a joint acquisition and redevelopment project. They do not amount to a final redevelopment plan or a construction announcement.

A large industrial property

The former South Plant site covers about 167 acres in Alcoa. The city has spent years preparing the former industrial property for redevelopment, according to reporting on the project.

The property is expected to support additional development along the Tesla Boulevard corridor. Alcoa’s city manager has described the corridor as having a regional gateway role, according to that report.

Because the site is a large former industrial tract, its reuse will require decisions about how land is prepared, connected and developed. Future work will involve public infrastructure and environmental remediation before the property can advance through later stages of redevelopment.

What the agreement could mean

The acquisition could reshape a significant portion of Alcoa, with potential effects on future jobs, commercial activity and land-use patterns. It also places public infrastructure, cleanup and reuse decisions at the center of the project’s next phase.

For residents and businesses, the immediate development is the movement of the city-county agreement through local government. The longer-term effect will depend on what uses are selected for the property, what infrastructure is required and how environmental work proceeds.

The public documents and reports do not identify a final redevelopment plan, a remediation schedule, private tenants, a projected job count or a closing date. The available actions also do not establish that construction has begun.

The next known phase is continued work on the acquisition and redevelopment agreement, including the budget and property-related actions needed to move the purchase forward. Until those steps are completed, the South Plant property remains a redevelopment project in progress rather than a finished development.