Long known as the country music capital of the world, Nashville is proving itself to be far more than a one-hit wonder when it comes to attracting company headquarters.

In a span of nine months, the Music City recently landed five corporate relocations, with three of them choosing to occupy vacant office space in downtown.

Just minutes from Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry, Louisiana-Pacific Corp. is putting the finishing touches on its new corporate headquarters, set to open in July.

“Nashville is an attractive place to live,” said David Dugan, a spokesman for Louisiana-Pacific, currently based in Portland, Ore. “As we consolidate our management team into one location, we feel Nashville is the place we can best do that.”

The move is an extension of Louisiana-Pacific’s decision two years ago to sell its unprofitable units, including all U.S. timberland. Now focusing on residential building materials, like oriented strand board (OSB) and siding, the company’s customer base has migrated east.

The company also considered other southern U.S. cities, including Richmond, Va., and Charlotte, N.C.

“When we looked at the particular benefits of each community and weighed them against each other, Nashville kept coming to the top of the list as the most attractive location,” Dugan said.

It was similar story for wireless communications supplier Asurion, which will double its employee base in Nashville during the next three years after relocating from San Mateo, Calif.

“We considered two other states — Texas and California — where we had existing locations,” said Michael Powers, vice president of product management. “We looked at our employee concentration, quality of life, our ability to grow, and a place where Asurion could contribute to the community. When we finished our assessment, we decided Middle Tennessee was where we should focus our growth.”

In February, Asurion moved into Grassmere Business Park with 100 employees. Additionally, the company employs 600 at two nearby facilities.

A new customer contact center will open in May adjacent to the headquarters, while a technology/ repair and reverse logistics plant is doubling its space in nearby Smyrna.

Asurion provides enhanced services for Verizon, AT&T Wireless and Cingular and plans to hire more than 200 people this year. By 2006, the company will add 400 more jobs.

“Nashville has a good balance,” Powers said. “It’s large enough to have the amenities of a larger city, but even the people here still describe it as a town.”

Officials with CLARCOR Inc. cited Nashville’s work force, educational institutions and its international airport as reasons to relocate from Rockford, Ill., to the Nashville suburb of Cool Springs. During the yearlong process, CLARCOR considered sites in several states.

“There were a number of reasons why Nashville was selected,” said Dave Lindsay, vice president of CLARCOR. “First, the location was good. It’s fairly central to many of our large manufacturing facilities. Also, local officials were very cooperative and worked well together. And Nashville has a good airport, which was important to our company.”

CLARCOR, a manufacturer of mobile, industrial and environmental filtration products, operates 27 manufacturing plants across the United States, including a large facility in Greensboro, N.C., and three plants in Louisville, Ky.

Companies Expand in Clarksville

Nashville isn’t the only hotbed of business activity in the Volunteer State, though. Less than an hour north on Interstate 24, three companies announced expansion plans in Clarksville. The combined investment of nearly $10 million will take place in the Clarksville-Montgomery County Corporate Business Park.

Hendrickson Trailer Suspension Systems, a supplier of heavy-duty air suspensions for commercial trucks and trailers, will invest $3 million and add 50 new jobs during the next three years.

“We have other facilities in South Dakota, Ohio and Indiana, but we would rather invest in Clarksville and grow the facility here,” said Kirk Steer, the plant manager for Hendrickson. “We’re excited about the availability of work force here.”

Another tenant, SPX Contech, plans to invest as much as $4.5 million in its die-cast operation, which will add about 40 jobs this year.

And Florim USA completed a $2 million warehouse expansion, giving the company more than 300,000 square feet of storage for its popular tile products like Esquire, which is sold at Lowe’s, Home Depot and other home improvement retailers.

“Because of our existing facility, Clarksville was a natural location for this expansion,” said Micro Migliari, president of Florim USA. “We’re able to take advantage of our central location, where we can reach most of our customers in two days. Plus, it’s pretty close to our raw material sites.”

The company has invested more than $30 million in warehousing since the company was launched in 2000.

Further west, Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. will expand its intermodal facility in Memphis, a $40 million expansion project that will create 150 new jobs.

The company considered sites in Mississippi and Arkansas for the project, which is expected to attract other distribution centers to the region.

The Memphis metro also serves as a strategic U.S. location to more than 20 Canadian businesses.

In fact, Tennessee is the South’s largest recipient of Canadian investment, with nearly $8 billion in investments, said Kenneth Holland, director of Canadian studies at the University of Memphis.

The Canada-to-Memphis connection was enhanced last year when Canadian National Railroad announced the purchase of 155 acres for the construction of an intermodal rail yard. The purchase of an additional 95 acres is also on option.

Canadian National Railroad is investing $25 million in the terminal, creating a yard large enough to transfer 200,000 shipping containers a year.

Memphis is a focal point of the logistics industry thanks to FedEx. In November, the company opened the FedEx Institute of Technology for the teaching of supply chain management (SCM). The institute is located at the University of Memphis.

Federal Express’ hub remains in Memphis because of the city’s central location, the availability of the work force, a strong relationship with the local airport authorities and economic incentive programs.

The company has undergone major expansions in the Memphis metro, including a recently completed large facility in the suburb of Collierville.

It has received a multi-year tax freeze as part of the Payment-In-Lieu-Of-Tax (PILOT) Program, which provides a financial incentive to qualifying industries by freezing property tax assessments for a designated term.

Across the state, another mode of transportation is driving the economy.

Near Knoxville, Aisin Automotive Casting has begun construction on a 280,000 square foot die-casting facility in Clinton to produce engine components for Toyota.

The $67 million investment will create 400 new jobs during the next four years.

It marks the fifth automotive supplier to choose Tennessee in the past year. Automotive-related employment represents one-third of the state’s manufacturing work force.

In addition to free land for the facility in the Clinton l-75 Industrial Park, Aisin Automotive Casting will receive $1.7 million in grants from local, regional and state agencies.

Aisin’s new facility will be similar to an existing plant just 80 miles north in London, Ky., which supplies parts for Toyota, Hyundai and Nissan.

In Knoxville, PPC Insulators will double its employee base following its recent expansion. The company, which manufactures insulators for power poles, moved a product line from Illinois to take advantage of Knoxville’s weather, work force, location and wage rates, said Terry Stemmler, a spokesman for the company. The plant is located near interstates 75 and 40, allowing easy access to ship across the United Stat