Golden Triangle Development LINK Chief Executive Officer Joe Max Higgins says he’s pleased at the progress local entities are making to develop an almost 400-acre industrial park in Oktibbeha County, but minor changes to the site plan are possible.
The LINK is slated to approach both Oktibbeha County supervisors and Starkville aldermen next month for final issuance resolutions for $14 million in combined bonds, LINK Chief Operating Officer Joey Deason said.
In the meantime, Higgins said field work has begun to study possible cultural resources located at the parcels northeast of the Highway 82-Highway 25 bypass, and such a report could be finalized by the end of October.
LINK officials and engineers are, however, toying with small tweaks to the plan. The location for a new 4-County Electric Power Association substation could move closer to transmission lines near Sudduth Road, Higgins said, and the LINK is considering new ways to carve up the land for prospective tenants.
Originally, a draft of a plat map the LINK presented to county leaders and economic development stakeholders showed 13 individual lots combining for 192.98 acres, a 28.3-acre site for a proposed speculative building and a 157.3-acre parcel for a large industry of future expansion.
Higgins said the LINK is now considering an overall three-parcel division in which the former 13-lot area is not subdivided up front and, instead, is provided to future tenants as needed.
Minor tweaks to road plans within the industrial park could also come, but none of the preliminary plans shown to stakeholders earlier this year were set in stone.
“4-County indicated the substation move is a better deal for them and would be easier to construct. As far as redoing the parcels, I don’t see anything wrong with it. How many total lots do we get? I’m not sure, because it will depend on how they all begin to develop. Some may be bigger, some may be smaller,” Higgins said.
Since supervisors and aldermen signed off on the LINK’s plan in May, the LINK has cleared many hurdles associated with developing the site for industrial enticement.
Both boards approved on the combined $14 million financing package in August, then Atmos Energy pledged $13.3 million this month toward installing a 12-mile natural gas line to feed the site.
Although the cost and length of work surrounding clearing the proposed Innovation District of cultural resources forced the LINK to abandon the project in 2015, officials budgeted about $2 million to address those issues at the new industrial park.
Other tasks remain – property acquisitions must be finalized, the land itself could require approvals for rezoning and other formalities – before work can begin in earnest.
Still, Higgins said he remains optimistic about the project’s path forward.
Actual work could begin next year, Higgins said, and the LINK could begin marketing the site next fall in preparation for a 2018 opening.
“To be honest, there’s no bad news,” he said. “I guess something could fall out of the air and I’m not going to let my guard down, but we’re quickly getting to the point of really getting going.”
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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