The Golden Triangle Development LINK is no longer considering a 326-acre Starkville site for a $10 million industrial park after studies indicated an additional $2 million and 18 months of work would be needed to make the area shovel-ready for investments.
Although the LINK-contracted environmental consulting firm Headwaters Inc. has yet to find physical artifacts, LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said evidence suggests the site, located near the Highway 182 and Highway 25 bypass, might have been home to Native Americans more than 500 years ago.
The $10 million project, which was to be funded by $5 million bond contributions from the city and county, initially called for $70,000 in due diligence work, including a $10,000 cultural study.
Higgins said at least $1.7 million would be needed to make the site shovel-ready because of Headwaters’ discovery, and the work would delay the park’s construction by a year and a half. The LINK attempted to obtain grant funding to mitigate the costs but did not receive any commitments.
“We can’t recommend to pursue this any further,” Higgins said. “Not only is the additional $2 million beyond the scope of the budget…but also the estimated 18 months to do this work is far longer than anyone on our team is comfortable with. We think we’re doing the hard thing here, but we’re also doing the right thing. The reason you do due diligence is to find out if there is a problem. Quite frankly, this site is more problematic than what we think is worth spending the money on.”
Mayor: ‘We will find a solution to meet our needs’
The Innovation District was the LINK’s attempt at making Oktibbeha County a viable contender in the world of economic development. The county’s only other formal industrial park, Cornerstone Park, is not seen as an enticing site for investment since its electricity capacity cannot support heavy manufacturing.
LINK officials spent Monday afternoon informing aldermen, supervisors and other involved parties of the Innovation District’s increasing cost estimates. Although many said they were dismayed at the findings, others also expressed satisfaction in avoiding major problems in the future.
“The environmental risks associated with this site have rendered continued efforts to develop it imprudent. We remain committed to aggressively pursuing industrial jobs and investment in Starkville,” Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman said. “We will work with the LINK to start this process over, and I am confident that we will find a solution that will meet our industrial recruitment needs.”
About $130,000 was expended since both the city and county approved the project, but neither group issued bonds, nor did the LINK execute its purchase option for the combined properties.
“The worst thing we could have done is gone out and bought (the land) and then found out we have a $2 million problem,” Higgins said. “It was a damn good site, though.”
Since the two governing bodies have paid a disproportionate amount on the project already — the city previously committed $70,000 for the original due diligence studies, but a recent county ple dge was scaled back to $10,000 since the LINK pumped the brakes on further studies — Higgins recommended the entities split the costs evenly after a thorough accounting exercise is performed.
Archaeologist: ‘You never know until you open it up’
John O’Hear, a specialist in North American archaeology the LINK uses as a consultant, said a disbursed village existed in the Starkville area at the time Native Americans made first contact with Spanish explorers attached to the Hernando de Soto expedition.
Experts are still unsure of the village’s boundaries, he said, and artifacts have been found in various areas within Oktibbeha County.
“We could have spent $170,000 (the additional pledge made by the board of supervisors) and gotten a good idea of what is out there, but I couldn’t guarantee them that it would be enough, or I could learn there’s more and make the cost go even higher,” he said. “Archeology, by definition, is unpredictable. You never know until you open it up.”
Higgins said his organization will continue to analyze other locations for the park.
LINK officials chose the proposed Innovation District site after a 2014 report by the Florida-based economic research firm POLICOM Corporation advised the group to invest in an advanced manufacturing park independent of Mississippi State University’s direct control.
De-coupling the park from the university, in this scenario, would allow the Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority to control its land, thereby negating the need for State College Board approval for development deals.
Officials previously predicted the 326-acre site would have provided about 1 million square feet of business space, 1,300 or more jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars in tax revenues depending on the LINK’s ability to attract investors.
Carl Smith covers Starkville and Oktibbeha County for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter @StarkDispatch
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