East TN leaders raise concern ov

East TN leaders raise concern over foreign-owned land in Loudon County

LOUDON COUNTY, Tenn. (WATE) — East Tennessee leaders are expressing concern over foreign-owned land in the state.

A couple hundred acres of land in Loudon County are owned by the company Walton Tennessee LLC, according to the state’s Tennessee Property Viewer map.

“Somewhere in the range of 500 acres, and that’s another thing, it’s not like it’s half-acre lots, we’re looking at a 500-acre tract of some pretty good real estate right there,” Loudon County Mayor Buddy Bradshaw said.

Portions of the land run alongside Hotchkiss Valley Road and Pine Grove Providence Road. State Rep. Jason Zachary said Walton Tennessee LLC is what’s known as a “shell company,” a corporation that typically has no significant assets or operations.

“Chinese entities, they’re using shell companies to buy agricultural land in Tennessee and we have a significant issue in Loudon County and Montgomery County in particular,” Zachary said.

Public records obtained by WATE show that Walton Tennessee LLC has sold more than 100 parcels of the land to various foreign entities over the last few years, some for as little as $10.

“I think the biggest concern for Loudon County, of course, is our location to Oak Ridge National Laboratory. There’s also a dedicated hardline that runs through that property from north to south all the way into Washington D.C. and into New York, the banking district, and so these lands are valuable. Certainly we’re no friend of China and China is no friend of ours,” Bradshaw said.

Aside from security concerns, the purchases also make less land available to locals.

“The agricultural concern where it is limiting the ability of Tennesseans to use the agricultural land for farming,” Zachary said.

Last year, Tennessee passed a state law prohibiting entities from acquiring property in Tennessee if their respective country on the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Sanctions Programs and Country Information list. Now, another bill is in the works, that Zachary hopes will be more impactful.

“Foreign entities who are adversarial, they are on a list of countries that are not our allies, it will require them to divest themselves of that land within a certain time frame,” he explained.

State Rep. Jay Reedy is the primary sponsor of the new bill. He represents parts of Montgomery County, which has also seen foreign entities buying land.