Israeli-owned gun maker looks to buy factory site in Andersonville
The MLily warehouse site on Mountain Road in Andersonville could be the home of an israeli-based gun manufacturer, according to plans submitted to Anderson County. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
Officials of the company were expected to appear before the Anderson County Board of Zoning Appeals on Tuesday night to see a zoning variance on a building at 1485 Mountain Road, just east of U.S. 441 (Norris Freeway) that is now owned by MLily USA, Inc., a China-based mattress manufacturer, which has been using it as a warehouse.
The Israeli company would invest about $20 million in the project and bring about 80 new jobs, according to Andy Wallace, president of the Anderson County Economic Development Agency.
“This is an Israeli-owned company that produces handguns for the private market,” Wallace said. “They manufacture handguns for the consumer market in the U.S.”
The BZA variance request also seeks permission for the company to store imported night-vision sights that contain the radioactive material tritium, also known as radioactive hydrogen.
Wallace said the company is relocating to Tennessee from a Northern state. Its website says its U.S. operations are now based near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The L-shaped building on the north side of Mountain Road has about 114,000 square feet of space. It was purchased by MLilly on Oct. 28, 2020, for just under $6 million, according to Anderson County property records.
It’s less than a half-mile from the Clayton Homes factory, which sits on the south side of Mountain Road to the west.
Wallace said the company does not need the property to be rezoned, but does need a variance from the BZA for the use it’s proposing.
“They’re asking for an exception for something that’s already going on in that [industrial] park,” he said.
Although tritium is also used in the manufacture of atomic bombs, the miniscule amounts used in the gun sights are safe, Wallace said. The company will not be handling bulk tritium at the plant; it will only be a component of gun sights made elsewhere and stored in the building, he added
The gun sights are safe enough to be carried in a person’s pocket, he said.
East Tennessee has recently seen an influx of firearms and ammunition manufacturers moving here from Northern states where they are increasingly facing anti-gun legislation and restrictions.
“Tennessee is now the No. 1 state for firearm and ammo production,” Wallace said.
Knoxville-based MLilly USA, Inc., is owned by China-based Healthcare Co., Ltd.
It has invested nearly $50 million in Knoxville-area facilities that produce and distribute mattresses, as well as materials used in making mattresses.