The secret to Lowndes County’s industrial success, according to Golden Triangle Development LINK Executive Director Joe Max Higgins, is years of investing in industrial land.
Over the last decade, he said, Lowndes County has invested $65 million of its own tax revenue to help build Mississippi’s top industrial tax base. Now, Higgins said the LINK hopes to use the Lowndes model in Clay and Oktibbeha counties to make the Golden Triangle a regional industrial hub.
“We’ve been so successful because we bought it,” Higgins said. “But you’ve got to have stuff. And the one thing you’ve got to have, the fundamental building block of all of this is that you have to have (infrastructure). Those who are not Lowndes County residents need to understand that the reason (Lowndes County) gets a lot of play on deals is that they’ve got a load of land. And it’s not just land. It’s land they own. It’s land that they put water in and sewer in and roads in.”
The importance of a strong industrial property base featured prominently in Higgins’ presentation to the LINK’s advisory council — comprised of civic and economic development organization leadership from the Golden Triangle — on Wednesday at East Mississippi Community College’s Mayhew campus. During the meeting, he also touched on the LINK’s project activity in each of the three counties it serves, as well as sales tax growth and workforce training.
A public meeting is set for today, wherein Higgins said he would address many of the same issues and answer questions from those in attendance.
A decade of work
The LINK started in Lowndes County and Columbus in 2004, and actually spread three years ago to include Clay and Oktibbeha counties, as well as the cities of Starkville and West Point.
According to data Higgins presented on Wednesday, Lowndes County has developed 2,607 acres in its industrial park near the Golden Triangle Regional Airport, with 4,832 acres available for new development on the site. In Clay County, Yokohama Tire is developing 570 acres at the Prairie Belt Powersite for a manufacturing facility that could ultimately bring 2,000 jobs to West Point, leaving 551 acres at that site for future development. Higgins said West Point has another 260 acres available for development at the Weems Property, bringing the city’s total available acreage to 811.
Oktibbeha County lags well behind in land availability, however, with LINK data listing only 190 acres available at the 200 acre Cornerstone Park.
The LINK recently failed in an effort to bring a 326-acre industrial park, called the “Innovation District” to Starkville, after a $10,000 cultural study ballooned to a potential $2 million expense because it discovered evidence of Native American artifacts at the site. Starkville and Oktibbeha County had already committed a combined $10 million in bonds for the project, and the site had access to roads, water, sewer, fiber and power.
Further, the LINK had secured one tenant for the Innovation District with another company, which Higgins said would have brought 1,300 jobs to the area, strongly interested in coming. He said the LINK is working with the committed tenant to locate at Cornerstone and also looking for a standalone piece of property that could house the larger operation.
Now, Higgins said the LINK would also look at alternate sites — ranging between 200 and 250 acres — to bring an industrial park to Oktibbeha County.
“We had what we thought was the winning hand,” he said. “Due diligence is what bit us on the butt and it bit us on the butt in a huge way. … Lowndes County and Clay County are in good shape. Starkville and Oktibbeha County are not, but now you know why, and now you know what we’re doing to correct it.”
The failed Innovation District plan has been a hard pill to swallow for Starkville and Oktibbeha County, and Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman said it set back industrial park efforts by a year. Still, he said he believes in the LINK’s model for economic development and urged patience while the LINK rebooted the process from scratch.
“Industrial development remains a critical issue in Starkville (and Oktibbeha County),” Wiseman said. “We like their program, and we think it is effective with bringing industrial investment and jobs. Their track record is proven.”
$1.3B in ‘active’ projects
On Wednesday, Higgins also reported the LINK is working leads on roughly $1.3 billion in “active” projects that could bring up to 3,061 jobs to the Golden Triangle. He reported $2.3 billion in “deactive projects,” meaning there’s been no movement in at least a year, and $14.2 million in “announced” projects that are already underway.
Of those, he said 48 percent of those leads are local projects, while only 10 percent came from the Tennessee Valley Authority and a combined 37 percent came from North Mississippi Industrial Development Authority. That’s a drastic shift from the past, he said, when a third each came from TVA, local and other combined sources.
“Half of our projects are deals that walk in the door, we call or we solicit,” Higgins said. “It’s never been that way since I’ve been here. … So what we’ve figured out is we’re going to have to spend more of our time making the rain.”
Most of the industry looking at the Golden Triangle are automotive, Higgins said, but also include steel, metals, distribution and food.
“The bigger projects are looking at Lowndes and Clay because they’ve got bigger sites and an abundance of power,” he said.
Higgins also touched briefly on the $38 million Communiversity for workforce training coming to EMCC through multiple funding sources. The state has committed $18 million, while local governments have pitched in $13.5 and Higgins expects another $6.1 to come from federal funds. Private funding could raise the remaining $400,000 and even swell the Communiversity project to $50 million, Higgins said.
West Point Mayor Robbie Robinson told The Dispatch after Wednesday’s meeting that the city and Clay County had seen “phenomenal results” from the LINK that their respective local resources couldn’t have accomplished alone.
“Industrial development is a costly game, and we’re glad to be on a winning team,” Robinson said. “The best day’s work we ever did in West Point and Clay County was when we pitched our economic development tent in the LINK’s backyard. They’ve been everything we thought they’d be.”
Lowndes Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders, who also attended Wednesday’s session, said Lowndes County showed an example to the newer LINK members of what the organization could accomplish over time.
“This is good for all government entities to be involved in this and to be brought up to speed as to what is going on,” Sanders said. “Lowndes County has been involved in this a lot longer than the other two counties, so we had a head start. But it works and we’re looking for some more industrial development.”
Higgins said he hopes to host two or three meeting per year with the advisory council.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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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 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
