Despite the best efforts of local officials to entice Carlisle Companies Inc. to rebuild in Bowdon, the company announced to city officials Monday the plant will not be rebuilt following the fire that destroyed the tire and wheel manufacturing facility in November.

Carlisle announced Tuesday it will consolidate operations in Pennsylvania, Alabama and portions of its China operations at a newly acquired 568,000-square-foot facility in Jackson, Tenn.

“The transition of the (Carlisle Tire and Wheel) manufacturing facilities from Carlisle, Pa., Heflin, Ala., as well as the production of some products from China to Jackson, Tenn., will take place over the next 18 months,” said Carlisle Tire and Wheel President Fred Sutter in a news release issued Tuesday. “We will be offering our employees the opportunity to pursue employment at other Carlisle facilities in the area, relocation opportunities to other Carlisle facilities outside the area or retention bonuses and outplacement services to help them transition to other opportunities.”

The company said some of the workers at the plants that are being consolidated were offered the opportunity to relocate to the new Tennessee facility.

Approximately 340 workers in Bowdon were displaced on Nov. 16, 2008, after a fire caused more than $68 million in damages to the plant at 500 Wedowee St.

Many of those workers were moved to a temporary manufacturing operation in a leased building in Heflin, Ala., while the company launched a nationwide search to determine whether the former Bowdon plant should be either rebuilt or relocated to another city.

Bowdon Mayor Jim Watts said he had maintained hope the company would rebuild in Bowdon up until he heard the announcement Monday at a brief meeting called by corporate officials in Heflin, Ala. Although the mayor said he was disappointed the plant would not be rebuilt in Bowdon, he said the city would continue to actively recruit industry.

“I have always been optimistic the company would rebuild, and was optimistic even as we walked into the door Monday,” Watts said. “There is no animosity between the city and the company. They have worked closely with us to keep us informed and have served their employees well. I appreciate that they did take care of their employees.”

Watts said company officials said the cost to rebuild another facility from the ground up in Bowdon would have been approximately $10 million, and the company was able to purchase a building in Tennessee that is about 10 times larger for $7 million. At this facility, Carlisle will consolidate three plants, including the former Bowdon plant.

Bowdon City Manager Jimmy Meigs said the Tennessee facility is home to the Maytag Corp., which had also consolidated operations.

“I’m very disappointed Carlisle is not rebuilding in Bowdon, but I understand the reasons,” Meigs said. “With the economy, they felt that was the way to go. I believe Bowdon was very much in the hunt to rebuild before the company found that building. They were able to get that for a very good buy.”

Although Tennessee ultimately will become the new home for the manufacturing plant, local officials said they did offer a good incentives package to the company.

“We, in collaboration with our many local, state and federal partners, were able to put together a very lucrative package for consideration by the company,” said Daniel Jackson, president and chief executive of Carroll Tomorrow in a prepared statement.

According to Jackson, numerous meetings were held by Bowdon officials and Carroll Tomorrow, along with representatives from the Governor’s Office, the District 11 congressional office of Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Marietta, and other state community and economic development agencies to try to retain Carlisle and its 340 jobs.

“We will not let this slow our efforts,” Jackson said in the statement. “We are continuing to focus on our existing industries and opportunities for job growth and new investment in our community. Carroll Tomorrow will actively support the efforts of labor officials and other partners to encourage any possible training/retaining options for those displaced workers.”

Meigs said the city had offered a 25-acre tract of land to the company in the industrial park as part of its incentive package. The land the city had offered was more than twice the size of the former facility on Wedowee Street, which is still in the cleanup process following the fire.

Meigs said the property the city was planning to offer Carlisle could now be placed on the market to help bring another industry to town. The 12-acre plot that is still owned by the Carlisle Companies could be transformed into a park or recreation for Bowdon residents to use.

Meigs said that since Carlisle still owns the Wedowee Street property, the city is still receiving property taxes from the company. But with the loss of more than 300 workers in the city, Meigs said the city’s sales tax revenues have been hurting.

“The loss of Carlisle will have a significant effect on property and sales tax with all of the employees that were in town,” he said. “We calculated that would cost about 10 percent of the tax base.”

Meigs said the city’s 2009-2010 fiscal budget created and passed without the consideration of Carlisle’s return this year.

“It is disappointing,” Meigs said. “I greatly hoped they would come back. They have been a good corporation in Bowdon.”

Meigs said the city is still hopeful another industry with a labor force comparable to Carlisle’s will come, but he said the recession could slow down the process.

“We are hopeful and keep our fingers crossed, but it gets harder and harder to bring in an industry of that size,” he said. “We will keep looking.”

Watts said the city’s strong workforce and industrial park are two factors that could help lure another industry and resuscitate the tax base.

On Nov. 16, 2008, around 1:40 a.m., Carroll County Fire and Rescue officials said a security guard at the plant, along with neighbors living near the Industrial Park, noticed the first sign of trouble at the complex when smoke was seen coming from the building.

In what then-Fire Chief Gary Thomas described in December 2008 as the worst fire in the department’s history, the first firefighters reached the complex at 1:47 a.m. and crews would stay battling blazes and working to fully extinguish the blaze for five days. Fire officials said crews were able to confine the fire to the Carlisle plant, although the fire caused the building’s roof to collapse early on, preventing firefighters from accessing the building with hoses.

Fire officials said although the fire was determined to have started in the Quality Control Department of the plant, the exact cause remains unknown.

Firefighters were able to save some of the equipment used in the manufacturing process at the plant, which has been in Bowdon for more than 40 years.