It took longer than anyone anticipated, but Linbrook Business Park has its first tenant.

The Brookhaven Lincoln County Economic Development Alliance on Monday approved a pair of rental agreements to lease a 54,000-square-foot spec building to grocery distribution company McLane Southern, which will pay $13,500 per month for the one-year lease.

McLane Southern’s occupancy will hopefully get the ball rolling for other industries to locate there. McLane isn’t paying full price to lease the building and that was by design, according to Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Garrick Combs. The agreement allows the Alliance to continue marketing the spec building while McLane Southern uses it. The agreement can be terminated with a 60-day notice, meaning the Alliance could displace McLane quickly to get another industry in the building if necessary.

“One of our most valuable existing industries needed space, and we were in a position to help them,” Combs said. “It’s a good day — Linbrook is now occupied and there’s traffic in and out.”

When Linbrook was first conceived, no one could have anticipated the economic downturn that followed and the slow climb back from the Recession. City and county leaders invested heavily into the business park since then, with the spec building being the lure they hoped would attract a business to the park.

The park contains 400 acres of land ready to develop, a million-gallon elevated water storage tank and distribution system, access roads and the ability to tie into the Canadian National railroad. It’s ripe for development.

We are hopeful McLane is the first of many businesses to call Linbrook home.