Israeli Gun maker completes purchase of site for factory in Andersonville
Gunmaker IWI US, Inc., has purchased the former MLILY mattress warehouse on Mountain Road in Andersonville to use as a factory to assemble guns for the U.S. market. (photo:G. Chambers Williams III )
The company plans to “manufacture, produce and assemble” handguns, and distribute accessories for them, including night-vision sights, according to Andy Wallace, president of the Anderson County Economic Development Agency.
IWI said in September that it planned to invest about $20 million in the Andersonville project and bring about 80 new jobs.
“They do now own the building, and they’re working with architects and contractors on getting the interior buildout done,” Wallace said late last week.
No start dates for construction or manufacturing at the site have been announced yet, he added.
The company was granted a variance in mid-September by the Anderson County Board of Zoning Appeals on a building at 1485 Mountain Road, just east of U.S. 441 (Norris Freeway) that was at the time owned by MLILY USA, Inc., a China-based mattress manufacturer, which has been using it as a warehouse.
“This is an Israeli-owned company that produces handguns for the private market,” Wallace said earlier. “They manufacture handguns for the consumer market in the U.S.”
The BZA variance request also gave 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 Pennsylvania.
Its website says its U.S. operations are now based near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in Lower Swatara Township.
The L-shaped building on the north side of Mountain Road has about 114,000 square feet of space. It was purchased by MLILY 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 did not need the property to be rezoned, but did need a variance from the BZA for the use it is proposing.
“They’re asking for an exception for something that’s already going on in that [industrial] park,” he said prior to the BZA action.
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.
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 MLILY USA, Inc., owned by China-based Healthcare Co., Ltd., has invested nearly $50 million in Knoxville-area facilities that produce and distribute mattresses, as well as materials used in making mattresses.
