In the last decade, industries have made roughly $4.6 billion worth of investments in the Golden Triangle area. With that has come about 5,400 jobs.
That’s what Joe Max Higgins, the CEO of the Golden Triangle Development Link, said to begin the Link’s annual year-end luncheon on Wednesday. The event was held inside the Lyceum at East Mississippi Community College Golden Triangle campus in Mayhew.
Mike Randle, editor & publisher of Southern Business & Development magazine and expert on economic development in the south, was the guest speaker.
Higgins told the crowd that 10 years ago, when he spoke at his first annual luncheon at the Trotter Convention Center in downtown Columbus, “we were lucky to get 50 or 60 people.”
On Wednesday, roughly 350 people attended. Higgins said the growth in attendance represents the success of the area’s economic development efforts.
About a year and a half ago, the Link, which originally was a Lowndes County-based effort, joined forces with Clay and Oktibbeha counties. During the last 12 months, Higgins said, industries invested $392 million in the area and roughly 715 jobs were created.
“Those investments and those jobs reflect at least one project being built in all three counties we represent,” he said.
In Lowndes County: CalStar Products, a sustainable material manufacturer bringing nearly 100 jobs, and Mississippi Steel Processing, a toll processing company bringing more than 50 jobs.
In Oktibbeha County: C Spire announced it will build a $22 million data-processing center at Mississippi State University’s Thad Cochran Research Park, and Finally LLC, a filing and folder products manufacturer, is relocating to Starkville and will invest about $1 million in the venture.
In Clay County: Yokohama is building a tire manufacturing plant, which marks a $1.2 billion investment for the Japan-based business.
“Every county that is a part of the Golden Triangle Link has an active project taking place within their boundaries,” Higgins said.
Higgins, looking forward, said that the Link is currently “at play” with 12 other projects eyeing the Golden Triangle as a possible location. Those projects, he said, represent about $2.7 billion worth of investments and 4,300 potential jobs.
Higgins told the crowd that when it comes to pulling in “regular-sized industries,” the area “is batting about .225.”
“But when it comes to the super industries, the big deals that we play for, we’re batting about .444,” he said. “So generally, if a big deal comes in, we’ve got about a one-in-two chance to get it.”
Randle, whose magazine is based in Birmingham, Ala., told the crowd that industries have been moving into the southeastern part of the United States because of the rising cost of labor in places like China, as well as because of the price of oil.
He cited 20 industries that have moved into the region in roughly the last five years as examples.
On that list was the Yokohoma plant, as well as the Toyota plant in Tupelo, which in 2007 brought a $2.7 billion investment and 1,500 jobs to the area.
Tishomingo County, in 2012, landed Comfort Revolution. That mattress company employees 200 people and represents a $43 million investment in the rural area, according to Randle.
William Browning was managing editor for The Dispatch until June 2016.
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