In industrial development, there are no ribbons for second place.
Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins knows that well, as his agency that serves as the lead economic developer for Lowndes, Clay and Oktibbeha counties has notched plenty of major “wins” over the past decade — drawing manufacturers to the area like Severstal (now Steel Dynamics), PACCAR, Yokohama Tire Company and others.
But the LINK recently just missed landing a major paper plant in Lowndes County that would have brought hundreds of jobs. Higgins said the “ones that get away” are just as much a part of the job as the success stories.
The LINK’s Infinity Megasite at the industrial park off Highway 82 west of Columbus was in the running to land an Irving Consumer Products paper manufacturing plant. The Canada-based company instead chose Macon, Georgia, for a $400 million, 200-job facility, according to an Aug. 9 report by the local newspaper, The Telegraph. The 700,000 square-foot facility is set to be built on 136 acres in the Sofkee Industrial Park, the newspaper reported.
The Dispatch reached out to Irving earlier this month, but a representative declined to comment on whether the company considered the Infinity site.
While there are countless considerations that companies take before selecting a location, Higgins said ultimately the difference in transportation costs for raw materials sank Lowndes County’s shot at the Irving project.
“It had to go from Point A to Point B,” he said. “Our Point A to Point B cost (more than) the other town’s Point A to Point B. And you know what — we can’t fix that, can we? Those deals you can’t fix — you can’t correct that. If that is indeed the reason they didn’t pick you, you can’t fix that problem. Mississippi, geographically, is where it is. (Georgia) is where it is.”
Georgia’s 20-year tax break offer bested Mississippi’s 10-year offer and Lowndes County’s fee-in-lieu mechanism — which allows certain developments to pay a fee amounting to roughly one-third of property taxes for 10 years in lieu of the entire amount. Altogether, though, that difference favored Georgia by only $300,000 over 20 years, and Higgins said the company informed him the “insignificant amount” didn’t motivate the decision.
Higgins said company representatives visited multiple times, and he, LINK Chief Operating Officer Joey Deason and Lowndes County Board of Supervisors President Harry Sanders met with the company’s owner after the decision.
Higgins said the LINK and the company maintained a good relationship throughout the process. But, he said, sometimes there aren’t ways to overcome certain challenges.
Still, Higgins said the courting process will be a learning experience. He said he found the loss hard because the LINK has developed a knack for attracting big projects.
“Are there some things we could’ve done better? Yeah,” Higgins said. “Did we learn something? Yeah. Do I think about the son of a b**** every morning when I get up? — what made that project tough is we just don’t lose those projects. We don’t lose those projects. We may lose a 75 or 125 job deal that can go about anywhere, but those big projects — we haven’t lost very many of those sons of b****es often. It doesn’t happen.”
Higgins said the process is an example of all the work that goes into economic development, which is a more involved process than people may realize.
“I think people think it’s a cigar and whiskey in the back room thing,” Higgins said. “These companies spend huge amounts of time on where their products are going to be sold, where the raw products are, what the costs are. These companies don’t just willy-nilly make a decision. This is hard. You’re looking at taxation, you’re looking at labor. You’re looking at logistics cost.”
He also said Irving had concerns early in the process about U.S. President Donald Trump withdrawing from the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA, though the company ultimately decided to move forward with the project.
Sanders recalled a project from more than a decade ago, when the LINK competed for Kia Motors car plant, to show how much work goes into economic development.
“We came in second place for a car plant — Kia,” Sanders said. “They were Korean, so in order to communicate, Joe hired a consultant who was living in Korea, and you know the time differential between here and Korea. Well, he would come down here (the LINK office) at midnight to have a conference call with the guy in Korea once a week.”
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
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