The Bryan County Development Authority shared happy economic news with the Bryan County Board of Commissioners Tuesday.

Josh Fenn, Bryan County Development Authority executive director, and Ted Akins, the authority board chairman, told the commission at a regular meeting the Interstate Centre received a Tier 1 ranking from the state and has been named a magnet site for the Savannah Foreign Trade Zone.

The magnet site status will allow the county’s industrial park to attract foreign-based businesses into the area, Fenn explained, and will add value to the investments made by the Centre’s tenant businesses.

Existing businesses at the Centre would save time and money if they apply for a foreign trade zone designation because the centre is a magnet site, he said.

"It’s something else they (center tenants) can take advantage of if they want to," Fenn said.

Fenn said the magnet site status helps eliminate red tape.

"It would take them (businesses) 90 to 180 days to get a designation versus the 18 months it would take if the Interstate Centre was not a magnet site," Fenn said.

Application fees average $200,000-$250,000 for businesses that apply for a foreign trade zone designation outside of a designated magnet site, he said. Application fees should only run about $35,000 to $50,000 for businesses in the Interstate Centre that apply to be in the foreign trade zone, according to Fenn.

- Read more in the Bryan County News.