The Cinco Megasite has been issued a $5.5 million site development grant from the state to construct a million-gallon water tank on the site’s grounds.
Gov. Tate Reeves announced the grant to a crowd of about 150 community leaders during the Cinco Megasite’s unveiling celebration Thursday afternoon at 4-County Electric at 5265 S. Frontage Road.
“While I said that we at the state don’t often invest in land, that is true,” Reeves said. “What we do invest in is communities that have the land that need a little help getting whatever that next step is. … So today, I’m happy to announce that the state is going to participate in this Cinco Megasite, and we have awarded a $5.5 million site development grant for this project.
“… When you have infrastructure in place, it makes it a heck of a lot easier to recruit that next major employer, and so we look forward to continuing to work to make days like today become even more exciting,” Reeves added.
The Cinco Megasite, which lies north of Highway 82, encompasses almost 1,500 acres bounded by North Frontage Road to the south, Steger Road and Golden Horn Road to the east, Swoope Road to the north and the area across from Paccar and east of the catfish ponds to the west.
The water tank will be placed just to the left of Golden Horn Restaurant, which is not incorporated into the site.
Joe Max Higgins, CEO for the Golden Triangle Regional Development LINK, said the massive water tank, paired with position of the site and the 180 megawatts of power being scoped by the Tennessee Valley Authority, will make this Megasite “far and away” the best in the area.
“This site is going to emerge as Mississippi’s premier Megasite in the state, and arguably premier in the Gulf states,” Higgins said. “There’s very few sites that are probably going to be able to compete with this.”
Designs of the water tank will begin immediately, and construction of the tank, which will take about a year to complete, should begin in February, Higgins said.
The water tank is part of a much broader plan, estimated at about $50 million all-in, to construct the Golden Triangle’s fifth Megasite.
A Megasite is a large swath of land dedicated to industrial development for several companies to build and operate.
The Golden Triangle has already welcomed four Megasites that are home to Steel Dynamics, Aluminum Dynamics and PACCAR in Lowndes County and Yokohama Tire in Clay County. The Megasite program is operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Higgins said that about $500,000 of due diligence work has already been completed at the site, including soil borings, wetland studies, floodplain studies and cultural planning.
Reeves said he expects to see a groundbreaking for a tenant to go on the site by the time he leaves office in two years, seven months.
Higgins opted not to make a prediction for when a tenant would move to the site, though Higgins did say he hopes to make Reeves’ wish a reality.
“I would love nothing more than to do that,” Higgins said.
Though by the time his freshly renewed five-year contract is up, Higgins said he’s retiring whether there’s a tenant on the site or not.
“I’m planning to work (until) I’m 70 years old, and I’ll be 65 in October,” Higgins said. “I’ll be retiring at the end of that whether we got somebody for the Megasite or not.”
Though he didn’t offer a timeline for when a tenant would take space on the Megasite, Higgins expects to see major companies taking up space on the site.
“We’ve got the country’s three preeminent site selectors coming here in August to tour the site and meet with our leaders about what they think we can do and how they’re going to help us,” Higgins said. “… I think that site should be capable of providing 2,000, 2,500 jobs … They’ll be good, high paying jobs. We’re not going to recruit a company to this region that doesn’t pay as good or better as the ones that are already here.”
Higgins said celebrating a day like Thursday is akin to celebrating the birth of a child.
“My wife is here, and we’ve only got one child,” Higgins said. “But this is like birthing a child. You watch it grow, and you watch them grow up. You watch it all happen.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 33 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
