Over the past few years, Radcliff and North Hardin County have welcomed several new retail establishments and restaurants, to include Michigan-based Bearclaw Coffee Company. Franchise owners, Matt and Krista Selph, found the perfect location in a new plaza just outside the gates of Fort Knox. Their coffee shop quickly established a strong loyal customer base that will only grow as the post grows -- More than 5,000 new employees and their families means as many as 14,000 potential new customers. "Fort Knox and Radcliff are experiencing unprecedented growth, so expanding our business into that market made perfect sense. And I cannot say enough about the support community and business leaders have offered," said Doug Scroggins, the company's co-founder.

Cardinal Health was looking for the right location to build a new customer service center, one of only two in the entire country. The $91 billion global manufacturer and distributor of pharmaceuticals, medical and surgical supplies and technologies found just what it was looking for in Radcliff, Kentucky. The community stood ready to help make the move a great success. Local leaders went above and beyond to support the company's transformation of a vacant retail facility into a state of the art customer care operation. They offered support to those Cardinal Health employees who transferred into the area. When it came time to fill the remaining job openings from the local workforce, Cardinal executives couldn't have been happier. "We had a tremendous response, receiving nearly 3,500 applications for 500 potential openings," said Paul Rogers, vice president of Customer Service at Cardinal Health. "And the caliber of the local workforce has more than exceeded our expectations."

Jo Emary, Executive Director of the Radcliff/Hardin County Chamber of Commerce, recently credited the community's long-time connection to Fort Knox, in large part, for the quality workforce. "So many of our residents are either Army retirees or the spouse or children of Soldiers who decided to make Radcliff and North Hardin County their permanent home. I think you'll find that soldiers have a strong work ethic and that carries through to their family members," said Emary.

When the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure announcement was made, the communities surrounding Fort Knox learned that they would have to say good bye to the Armor Center and School but would soon welcome the Army's Human Resource Center of Excellence, an entire infantry brigade and several other organizations. That would mean more than 5,000 additional Army employees that with their families would result in as many as 14,000 new residents. That kind of growth would have impact far beyond the gates of Fort Knox and would require extensive preparation for the transition to go smoothly.

Community leaders from Radcliff and the neighboring towns decided to work together to make this major economic development event a success. The 9-county region formed One Knox - a central coordinating agency to help the region respond in the most positive ways to growth opportunities associated with BRAC and Fort Knox. The result -- hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal funding to improve roads, build schools, and other needed infrastructure improvements as well as ensure the workforce system met the Army's future labor needs. The One Knox region has received several awards and recognitions at the state and national level but the greatest reward of all will be a region that effectively managed growth, tackling challenges and leveraging opportunities in a coordinated and collaborative manner that can only mean continued economic development and prosperity.

More than 35 years ago, US Cavalry established their first retail operations in Radcliff, KY and in the years since then has grown to become one of the premier suppliers of military, law enforcement and homeland security equipment. So when it was time to build their new Global Distribution Center, they looked no further than Millpond Business Center. The 160-acre business park is fully developed with utilities and ideally located on Kentucky Highway 313 with direct access to I-65 and minutes from the Bluegrass and Western Kentucky Parkways.

"Millpond offered US Cavalry an ideal location for our distribution center, easily serviced by all key freight carriers and in close proximity to UPS' international air hub. Not only was it a cost effective logistical solution, we got to stay right where it all began for this company - Radcliff, KY," said Dennis Garvey, Chief Operating Officer for US Cavalry.