Rick McCaskill, executive director of the Development Authority of Bainbridge and Decatur County, says that activity may be picking up in the county’s industrial development sector.

McCaskill said that the Authority received just two “request for information” (RFI) proposals from November 2011 to November 2012. Since December 2012, the Authority has received eight such proposals.

“These are quality people and quality companies who are asking about our buildings and land at the industrial park,” McCaskill said.

Two of the most viable properties at the Industrial Air Park are the 180,000 square-foot former TRACO building and the old Propex building, which covers more than 1 million square feet. Although McCaskill did not give any specific company names or details, he did say that there are several firms that have expressed interest in the buildings.

“We have had some good solid inquiries, especially into the Propex building,” he said. “We’ve got some very good buildings that are getting a lot of interest.”

McCaskill noted that several of the prospects “are companies that make consumer goods.”

“Almost every one of them would be a major impact, as far as number of jobs and economic investment,” he said.

McCaskill noted that Decatur County is competing with many other communities across the country for these industrial customers, and he did not want to give away too much information that could put the county at an economic disadvantage. However, he noted that it’s good to see the number of prospect inquiries going up.

“For a long time, it seemed like there wasn’t a lot of activity, but now things are starting to pick up again,” he said.