STARKVILLE — The North Star Industrial Park might include a project that seeks to establish itself in all three counties in the Golden Triangle with an investment of $3 billion — $1 billion per county — Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins said Wednesday.
The project, codenamed Project Trinity, would occupy the entire west end of the park, Higgins said in an update on the park’s progress for Starkville and Oktibbeha County leaders at the Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems building at the Thad Cochran Research, Technology and Economic Development Park. He presented a list of planned occupants for the land at the northwest intersection of Highways 389 and 82.
“We’re going to ask you if you would just kind of dream with us,” Higgins said. “We’ve been talking to our partners about what we can do to maximize Starkville and Oktibbeha County’s chances of success, what we can do to separate and differentiate us and give us our best chance to hit one out of the park, maybe two, maybe three, maybe four.”
Higgins described Project Trinity to The Dispatch as the arrival of an “advanced company” with a “big footprint” that would create 100 to 150 jobs “technical in nature” for six-figure wages. He declined to provide further details, but he said a consultant believes the plans for the project will be finalized by the end of 2020.
The project has to have facilities in Clay and Lowndes counties as well as Oktibbeha in order to succeed, Higgins said.
Current plans for the park
Garan Manufacturing was North Star’s first confirmed tenant last year with plans to relocate from its current location on Highway 12 in Starkville.
The LINK plans to use the land directly across the street from Garan for a 100,000-square-foot pad, or a plot of land, prepared for building, funded partly by a $275,000 grant from the Tennessee Valley Authority. Next to it will likely be a 50,000 square-foot “speculative building,” or an empty building with the goal of attracting a new business to an existing structure. The park will have the space for the spec building to expand up to twice its size if a company sees fit.
Another planned occupant, Project Royal, would create 200 jobs in the textiles and advanced manufacturing industry for an average wage of $35,000, though Higgins said he would prefer the wages be higher.
Between these potential developments, Project Trinity and Garan, the LINK has plans for 230 of the park’s 360 acres.
The plans for the park could change within the next year, “but I think you can see very easily that this thing has the ability to take off,” Higgins said.
Funding sources
The city and Oktibbeha County issued a combined $14 million in bonds in July 2017 to fund the construction of the park. TVA, 4-County Electric Power Association, Atmos Energy Corporation and the Mississippi Department of Transportation have also contributed money for construction, which has been in progress for almost two years.
The county and city would have to provide a total of $677,677 for the TVA pad and $365,970 for the spec building out of existing bond revenues, Higgins said. The LINK will have a resolution ready for the second February meeting of both the county and city boards of government to approve a notice of intent to issue bonds.
The LINK has spent $2.8 million less than it budgeted for the park so far, and it would spend about half of that on its share of the funds for the TVA pad and speculative building.
Higgins proposed a financial plan called “fee-in-lieu of ad valorem taxes,” in which companies are exempt from property taxes for a set number of years in exchange for a fee paid to the city, county and school district. State law dictates that the fee cannot be less than one-third of what a company would ordinarily pay in taxes, LINK attorney Chris Pace said.
The Mississippi Development Authority has to authorize all fee-in-lieu agreements.
Ward 5 Starkville Alderman Hamp Beatty told The Dispatch that the fee-in-lieu financial plan is feasible because it allows the city to collect revenue more quickly.
“On the standard ad valorem tax (incentive plan), it’s 10 years before you capture any tax revenue,” he said.
Signage and a water tank
A lawsuit that challenged the 2017 rezoning of portions of the park site from commercial to industrial land delayed the construction and marketing of the industrial park for months until the Mississippi Supreme Court refused to continue it in September.
The LINK had received a grant of $1 million from the Appalachian Regional Commission and some additional funds from TVA to build a water tank at the entrance of the park, but the lawsuit kept the ARC funds out of the LINK’s reach. After the suit ended, the water tank bids came in at a higher price than the LINK had hoped for, so both the county and the city approved the readvertisement of the bids earlier this month.
The LINK has designed two signs for the park that should be finished by early summer, and the water tank should be finished by the end of the summer, Higgins said.
Mayor Lynn Spruill told The Dispatch that the current plan for the park “covers all the bases” the city needs to grow its industry, something she has hoped for since taking office in 2017.
“We believe the industrial component for our community is missing, and this is to make that investment a reality and give us the absolute best chance to succeed,” Spruill said.
You can help your community
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 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.