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State Lawmakers and Businessmen Cruise Down the Tenn-Tomm [video]

By Business, Golden Triangle

State Lawmakers and Businessmen Cruise Down the Tenn-Tomm

LOWNDES COUNTY, Miss. (WCBI) –

Courtesy photo

The Tenn-Tom Waterway Development Authority invited business leaders and lawmakers for a ride on Friday morning, taking them on a leisurely cruise down the Tennessee Tombigbee Waterway. The Army Corps of Engineers hosted the event; they used the time to showcase industries and businesses that depend on the Waterway, and emphasized its value as a promoter of economic development.

“When you get right down to it, it generates revenue for the cities, the counties, and the state. But more than that, it’s people who have jobs that work at these businesses and industry, and it’s all about their quality of life,” says Tenn-Tom Waterway Administrator, Mitch Mays.

Please click here for the full article and a video.

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SOCSD Breaks Ground on Partnership School

By MSU, Starkville, Starkville/Oktibbeha CCSD

SOCSD Breaks Ground on Partnership School

STARKVILLE, MS (courtesy of The Starkville Daily News & The Dispatch) –

Mississippi State, Starkville Oktibbeha School District and statewide officials broke ground Wednesday on the new SOCSD Partnership School at MSU. Photo by: Russ Houston

The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District broke ground on its new Partnership School Wednesday morning near Hwy 182 & George Perry Blvd. Once construction is complete, the $27.5 million facility will serve all SOCSD sixth and seventh grade students, and also act as a laboratory for the Mississippi State University College of Education. SOCSD has contributed $12.5 million toward the project; the state of Mississippi has given another $10 million, in addition to MSU’s $5 million plus the land the school will be built on.

“This was a challenge,” said School Board President Keith Coble. “It took a lot of leadership on all sides to make this happen, the university, the school district, the state legislature, a lot of cooperation. In the end people made this happen. If we had not had these people I don’t think it would have happened.”

Courtesy Photo

“This wouldn’t have happened without collaboration and true partnering,” MSU President Mark Keenum said. “There’s no way the Starkville-Oktibbeha School District could do this on their own. We had to work together in tandem . . . I think you’re going to see a great deal of interest, and who knows, we may see other schools like this in other areas of our state or across the country.”
Dirt work at the site is set to begin at once, as the school board’ has approval of a $2,493,903 bid from the Tremont-based Cademy Construction, LLC, at its last meeting. Completion is projected for January 2019.

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Columbus’ Wingate Hotel Sold to Merchant Hotel Group

By Business, Columbus, Hotel & Hospitality

Columbus’ Wingate Hotel Sold to Merchant Hotel Group

COLUMBUS – Courtesy of the Mississippi Business Journal

CBRE Hotels recently announced that it has arranged the sale of the Wingate by Wyndham Columbus. The hotel complex is located at 129 Brickerton Street in Columbus.; the buyer is Merchant Hotel Group.

“We attracted tremendous interest from both in-state and out-of-state investors on this asset,” Michael Yu of CBRE Hotels said. “We received multiple offers and sold the asset for a considerable premium to the pricing guidance.”

“It was a truly pleasurable experience working with Mr. Yu and his team. I appreciate their guidance at every step of this transaction. I would not think twice about partnering again with this CBRE Hotels team for another transaction,” said Greg Posmantur, with LMF Properties.

Please click here to view the full article.

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Mississippi to Host Federal Drone Project

By Military, MSU

Mississippi to Host Federal Drone Project

STARKVILLE, Miss. (Courtesy of the Associated Press) –

MSU school officials have announced that Mississippi has been selected as the home of a new federal R&D project focused around unmanned drone aircraft systems. The proposal for this project was spearheaded by MSU, and it was developed by the Mississippi Partnership. The intended area, which incorporates restricted airspace near and on the MS Gulf Coast, is expected to cover about 2,000 square miles of  land/airspace, up to an altitude of 60,000 feet. Said demonstration range facility is expected to begin operations this fall.

Please click here to see the full article.

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Academy Set to Open New Location in Starkville

By Retail, Starkville
Academy Set to Open New Location in Starkville
STARKVILLE, MS – Courtesy of The Dispatch

Academy Sports+Outdoors Communication Specialist Karly Makovy has announced the Grand Opening date for the chain’s new Starkville location: Friday, June 2. Their website will have more information about the location in the coming months, including special events and other promotions.

Academy sells an array of sporting, hunting, and fishing equipment; Starkville’s location will have apparel with Mississippi sports teams, including the Mississippi State University Bulldogs.

Up until this point, the nearest locations to Starkville have been in Tupelo and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

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West Point’s Hwy 45 Corridor Thriving

By Business, Community Development Growth Alliance, Foodservice, Retail, West Point, Yokohama

West Point’s Hwy 45 Corridor Thriving

WEST POINT, Miss. (Courtesy of WTVA)

Ever since Yokohama opened for business on the North side of town in 2015, the area’s South side along Hwy 45 has been booming, reports Lisa Klutts, the director of The Community Development Growth Alliance. She says that more business openings are on the way: “Burger King opened just under a year ago, Express Lube opened just recently and Love’s truck stop with Arby’s will be opening in May.”

The Growth Alliance said  that Burger King on Highway 45 surmounted national record sales on its opening day. “It seems like a pretty good business move to me, if they’re in it to make money,” said driver David Nelson.

The Growth Alliance said they watch trends to see if businesses are expanding in the state. “We would like to see more shoe stores or clothing stores,” said Klutts. There are currently no public plans to bring such stores to the area (yet), but, at the city grows and the Golden Triangle becomes more and more attractive to big business, who knows what the future may hold…?

All we know is, that’s good for the Golden Triangle, and that’s Good for Business!

Please click here to see the original article.

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Columbus PD Recruiting New Officers

By Columbus, Columbus PD, Military

Columbus PD Recruiting New Officers

COLUMBUS – Courtesy of the Dispatch

From left, Assistant Chief Fred Shelton, new cadet Haley Lucas, CPD Chief Oscar Lewis, Mayor Robert Smith and cadet Shawn Neal spoke at a press conference in the Municipal Complex courtroom on Wednesday. Columbus Police Department is set to send 14 cadets to the police academy soon. Photo by: Luisa Porter/Dispatch Staff

The Columbus Police Department is ready to send fourteen trainees, five of whom are already slated to be hired, to the police academy. This will bring the total officer count up to about 60 officers, Mayor Robert Smith told reporters at a Wednesday morning press conference.

Police Chief Oscar Lewis said that the class will commence training at the academy starting May 21 in Moorehead. They will undergo a twelve-week course, after which the officers will return to Columbus to ride with veteran officers and take advantage of the field training program.

“The good thing with these guys now — they’ve been in the classroom before the academy,” Lewis said. “They’ve been put with officers and are riding around learning the standard operating procedure for the city and working with firearms and doing different things.”

Shaun Neal, 22, of Columbus, is one of the officers who will be part of this record-setting class.  Neal decided he wanted to become an officer late last year so he could make a positive impact in his community: “I want to be a police officer because I don’t want to be statistic — I want to be a changer, not to fit into what the news is saying about police because not every police officer is the same,” he said.

Haley Lucas, a 23-year-old officer trainee, is a military police officer for the U.S. Navy, and said she’s been interested in law enforcement since her early childhood. Lucas, who is from Caledonia but currently lives in Tupelo, told reporters she’s happy to come back to try to help improve her home area.

On Wednesday, Lewis said he’s thankful to see the department drawing closer to full strength, adding that measures the city took such as increasing officer pay and purchasing new vehicles were instrumental in recruiting more officers. He expressed his gratitude to the current officers on the force who have been working extra-hard to get the job done: “These officers have been working long and hard — some not even getting days off just to make this work –and I admire them for the job that they have done,” he said. “It’s been great to see the things they’ve been able to accomplish with the numbers that we’ve had during that time.”

“No one more than I would like to see us get to where we need to be, which was approved in the budget for 67 officers, because they’re really needed,” Mayor Smith said. He later added, “I see the city trying to immediately continuing to try to reach that goal of 77 (officers). That’s where I’d like to see us at.”

Please click here to read the full article.

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Southern Cross Seeks to Bring Eco-Friendly Wind Power to the Golden Triangle

By Business, Caledonia, Golden Triangle, Starkville, West Point

Southern Cross Seeks to Bring Eco-Friendly Wind Power to the Golden Triangle

Courtesy of the Dispatch

From left, Denton Gibbes, Cecil Brown and Brandon Presley. Courtesy Photos

Southern Cross Transmission (SCT) filed a petition with the Mississippi Public Service Commission on Tuesday formally proposing a route for the company’s 400-mile, 500-kilovolt wind energy line. The project would still need to be approved by the Public Service Commission to OK the project; there is currently no timeline for when such a vote might take place.

SCT has been in talks with landowners along a proposed route that runs from Texas, through Louisiana and Mississippi, terminating near Caladonia. The project is anticipated to have a total cost of about one billion dollars, according to an independent economic analysis Southern Cross commissioned back in December.

“It’s taken a little extra time because we’ve done a lot of interaction with landowners and we have worked to find an acceptable route,” Southern Cross spokesperson Denton Gibbes said. “It always takes a little time when you’re trying to do things right.”

The proposed route enters the Golden Triangle in the western Oktibbeha County, then moves northeast into Clay County, and then north of West Point into Monroe County near Hamilton. Then it enters Lowndes County and ends at a converter station to be built near Caledonia.

The Eastern portion of the currently-proposed route, terminating near Caledonia

Gibbes went on to say that landowners along the potential route will soon receive letters from the company to let them know about the proposal, in order to give them time to sumbit any questions or objections they may have, and, eventually, to allow them to consider easements that would allow the project to take place.

Commissioner Cecil Brown said, “I think it’s an exciting project in general terms. . . It sounds like it will be good for the people in the state of Mississippi, but again I’ve got to look at the filings. We’ll probably have hearings on it. There may be some objectors. It can take a while to get through something like this.”

Until the project is approved, citizens can object by mailing letters with their reasons for intervening to PSC Executive Secretary Katherine Collier at P.O. Box 1174 in Jackson.

Public Service Commissioner for Mississippi’s Northern District Brandon Presley was unavailable for comment, but he has previously said that he would only support the project if the company built the converter station in Mississippi, if Mississippians have access to the power running through the transmission lines, and if Mississippi contractors are included in labor contracts.

“To me the trade-off is if you want to come in and do this, we’ll look at it, but you’ve got to meet a public interest burden,” Presley said in November. “The burden for that is what does the state of Mississippi — what do you get out of it? Are you just coming through our area or are we going to see development and real job growth?”

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Cadence Bank Looks to the Future After Successful IPO

By Banking, Business, Golden Triangle

Cadence Bank Looks to the Future After Successful IPO

Courtesy of the Starkville Daily News

Houston-based Cadence Bank (CADE) recently returned to the NYSE, having completed their IPO two weeks ago. Now, they are gearing up to make themselves even stronger for the future.

Cadence Bank CEO and Chairman – and MSU alumnus – Paul B. Murphy Jr. is spearheading their efforts: “The most important thing we want our clients to be aware of is that we were a strong bank before and we are even stronger now,” Murphy said. “Having a publicly-traded stock gives us a currency to hopefully find some good banks to partner with,” he went on to say, “And have them merge into us and be part of our company.”

Cadence Bank’s Mississippi President Jerry Toney stated that Cadence Bank is one of the largest employers in the area, and that they plan to remain so. With this IPO, Toney says the company can further advance and build on its customer relationships on the local level: “We give a lot back to the community as well and we’re still and have been for many many years the largest private supporter of economic development in the entire Golden Triangle,” Toney said.

Please click here for the full article.

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Ceco MBS Property Sold to Grandview Investments

By Business, Columbus, Manufacturing, Other Manufacturing

Ceco MBS Property Sold to Grandview Investments

COLUMBUS – Courtesy of The Dispatch

Ceco Metal Building Systems, which has operated a support office on Hwy 45, recently sold its property to Grandview Investments, LLC, after a year or more on the market. Ceco Operations Manager Gregg Smith has stated that Ceco will maintain a presence on the property, leasing the space from Grandview, while determining where locally to move its operations offices.

“We built metal buildings here for a number of years,” he said. “Back in 2008 or 2009 when the economy hit (recession), this location — the plant — was closed down. We’ve had a full operation staff here since then of around 50 or 60 employees. We’ve got full operations — customer service, engineering, estimating, drafting, purchasing, field service. There’s still a large group of people here that supports the operations of Ceco Building Systems . . . Our full intention is to be here in this area,” he said. “We just don’t need 329,000 square feet of space to do the operations side of the business.”

Please click here to view the full article.

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