Sometime in early January, the Golden Triangle Global Industrial Aerospace Park is due to receive 20 feet and 6,000 pounds worth of “welcome.”
Mid-South Signs is almost finished with the industrial park”s new marker. The $30,000 sign is a joint investment between the Tennessee Valley Authority and the Lowndes County Industrial Development Authority and will be the first thing visitors see at the park.
“We”re excited to have such a great sign in place for the front door of our world-class industrial park,” said Jim McAlexander, president of Cadence Bank in Columbus and chairman of the Columbus-Lowndes Development Link board of directors.
McAlexander said the huge sign will go a little way toward alerting visitors and Golden Triangle residents to the park”s global relevance.
“Many people really don”t understand how significant of an industrial park that we do have,” he said. “A sign like this will help show that on the very front end.”
It was a bonus, he said, to have Mid-South Signs, a Link member, handle the project.
McAlexander visited Mid-South Signs on Tuesday with Thomas Lee, president of the Lowndes County Industrial Development Authority, and Joe Cade, CEO of 4-County Electric Power Association, to view the sign and receive an update on its progress. Scott Pridmore, vice president of Mid-South Signs, said the project was on time and the sign should go up shortly after the beginning of the new year.
The majority of the sign is one thick slab of aluminum with several component pieces to be added. The simple design includes three flag silhouettes and the park”s name affixed on either side of the sign.
Lee said the LCIDA, which owns and oversees the land the park is built on, is anxious to see the park appropriately labeled.
“We”ll just be glad when we get it up in the park,” he said of the sign.
Cade hopes the sign will draw casual visitors to the park as well as impress industrial prospects.
“Hopefully some people in the community will ride out and look at the park because this thing is second to none and we”re extremely excited to be a part of it,” he said.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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