Snap-On Tools, located next to the Dollar General on US-19E, is in the beginning stages of purchasing the deserted land surrounding the business and its complex, according to the Industrial Development Board’s meeting Thursday morning.

Jon Hartman, Planning and Economic Development Director for the city of Elizabethton, said the process is still in its early stages; no money has officially exchanged hands just yet.

“They are moving forward to acquire additional property,” Hartman said.

The company has existed in Elizabethton since 1974, and though a series of smaller expansions have taken place over the years, Hartman said the store is currently “landlocked” by property ownership rights. The land surrounding the store currently belongs to the Matheson Family.

“The company is clearly cramped with little room,” he said.

Talks of purchasing the land have taken place over the past six months, but Hartman said the conversation became serious in November 2018.

He said this is not an announcement of any official expansion plans by the company. Rather, finalizing the land purchase would provide Snap-On the opportunity to do with the land whatever they wanted, even possibly an expansion in a few years down the road.

He said negotiating the purchase would not just help the company, but the city as a whole would benefit.

“The company provides around 300 to 400 jobs,” Hartman said. “This will help secure their commitment to their community.”

Hartman said securing this commitment involves making Elizabethton a desirable place to do business, and the land purchase is one part of that process.

“If Snap-On wants to grow, we want it to be here,” he said. “This will be an investment in our future.”

Hartman said he estimates the deal will go through early in the second quarter of this year, if not by the end of the first quarter, though this is only an estimate.