Category Archives: Community Development Growth Alliance

Lemonade Day is Coming!

By Agribuisiness, Business, Chamber of Commerce, Charity, Columbus, Community Development Growth Alliance, Culture/Entertainment, Education, Entrepreneurship, Foodservice, Golden Triangle, Main Street, Quality of Life, Recreation, Retail, Starkville, Uncategorized, West Point

GOLDEN TRIANGLE – Courtesy of the Dispatch

– all photos are Courtesy photos unless specified otherwise –

June 1st, 2019 will be Lemonade Day! It’s an opportunity for kids to learn the basics of running a business, marketing, and (hopefully) turning a profit. An offshoot of the national LD program, it began last year in Starkville, and its success – over 150 kids up to 6th-grade level took part, setting up 64 lemonade stands throughout the city – has led to expanding the local program to both Columbus and West Point.

The Golden Triangle program leader is Jeffrey Rupp, director of outreach for Mississippi State University’s Center for Entrepreneurship. He’s hoping that the number of participants this year will double or more.

ld2018 – Kadie Eldridge, left, and Abigail McTaggart pour lemonade at their ‘Lemony Spickets’ stand on the Mississippi State University campus in this 2018 Dispatch file photo

Participants can now sign up online; they will receive a free workbook, which gives them the basics on starting a business, marketing it, and how to handle finances at a basic level they can understand. It also encourages kids to donate some of the profits to local charities in order to help others, which many did. The kids can also receive advice & feedback from local business owners. Last year, Cadence bank even offered $40 micro-loans to the budding entrepreneurs; Rupp said all of these micro-loans were paid back 100%. They will be doing so again this year.

Main Street Columbus Director Barbara Bigelow said: “I thought it was just so cool,” she said. “… I love the program. The whole premise beside it is to teach young people how to set up a business and follow through.” She is currently looking into obtaining booth spots downtown for the event, and she has reached out to local schools in order to solicit interest from students.

“All you have to do is go buy lemonade,” Rupp said. “So it’s really easy for the public to get involved.” – And THAT’S Good for Business!

To learn more about Lemonade Day or to sign up and volunteer, go to lemonadeday.org/golden-triangle.

Click here for the FaceBook page for the event.

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Regional Business After Hours for Jan 17, 2019

By Banking, Business, Caledonia, Columbus, Columbus Redevelopment Authority, Community Development Growth Alliance, Culture/Entertainment, CVB, Entrepreneurship, Exchange Club, Golden Triangle, GTR LINK, Main Street, Manufacturing, MS Dev Authority, New Hope, Quality of Life, Recreation, Retail, Starkville, West Point

If you are a member of any of the area Chambers, Partnerships, etc…or if you just want to meet some good people and mingle, swing by for Business After Hours at the GTR Airport tonight!

Columbus Lowndes Chamber of Commerce
Golden Triangle Development LINK
Greater Starkville Development Partnership

West Point Main Street

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Developer Interested in Purchasing Former Lee Middle School Site

By Business, Columbus, Community Development Growth Alliance, Education

 

Developer Interested in Purchasing Former Lee Middle School Site

COLUMBUS – Courtesy of The Dispatch

A developer that has not yet been named has expressed interest in the former Lee Middle School property on Military Road near the Bluecutt Road intersection (photo courtesy of The DIspatch)

An unnamed developer has expressed interest in purchasing the former Lee Middle School property on Military Road.

John Acker, president of the Columbus Redevelopment Authority, said that the developer has entered an option with the CRA to purchase the approx. 15-acre site for commercial development. The potential buyer has requested anonymity for now, Acker said.

“They will be conducting due diligence and have until late May 2018 to finalize purchase or walk away,” Acker said in an email to The Dispatch.

Appraisal Services in Columbus estimates that the cost to develop the property could range between $1.1 million and $1.8 million.

 

The buildings on the property are known to have asbestos present, which any buyer would have to remove, which is quite expensive; however, the Mississippi Economic Redevelopment Act includes provisions which would allow the buyer to recoup up to two and a half times the clean-up costs over a period of up to 15 years.

Please click here for the full article.

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Infinity Megasite Could Be an Excellent Car Plant Location, Says GTR LINK

By Business, Caledonia, Columbus, Community Development Growth Alliance, EMCC, Golden Triangle, GTR LINK, Lowndes County BoS, Lowndes County BoS, Manufacturing, MSU, Other Manufacturing, Starkville, West Point

Infinity Megasite Could Be an Excellent Car Plant Location, Says GTR LINK

Courtesy of The Dispatch

Toyota and Mazda announced just a few weeks ago that they are  looking and a number of sites nationwide to build a joint auto production plant. Our own Joe Max Higgins says that the recently-set up Infinity Megasite (IMS) right here in the Golden Triangle is the best candidate within the State of Mississippi for such a project. The IMS now controls 1,444 acres of the Golden Triangle Industrial Aerospace Park on Hwy 82 west of Columbus: “We believe that if Mississippi’s putting its best foot forward, we’re probably the first pick,” Higgins said.

Joe Max Higgins, left, and Harry Sanders

While the proposed plant is still in its very earliest days of consideration, Bloomberg seems to agree saying that the IMS could very well be one of the top few candidates for the $1.6 billion project, which is expected to bring roughly 4,000 jobs to the general area.

“Understand this –Toyota’s not an unknown commodity,” Higgins said. “. . .If Toyota knocks on your door, you open it and you offer them some coffee, some Coke, some pastries if you got them and you say ‘What can I do for you?'”

Lowndes BoS  President Harry Sanders said that, “The thing about it is, think what it would do for Lowndes County and this portion of the Golden Triangle, with all the high-quality jobs. I think it would be great to get an automotive industry here.”

“In Mississippi, look at the battles that have been won,” Higgins said. “If we roll the clock back 20 years, most people would tell you there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell Mississippi could get a car plant. But in 15, 16 years we’ve gotten two (Nissan in Canton, Toyota in Blue Springs). I think that’s a good testament to the state of Mississippi. Could we support a third one? Yeah, I think we could.”

He also stated his confidence in the region’s ability to meet the potential plant’s needs, and that its proximity to MSU’s Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, could also be a major factor in any decision to be made: “Everybody wants to sell that their workforce can be retrained to make steel, or retrained to make cars or retrained to make tires,” Higgins said. “I don’t think most communities are selling that 20-, 30- and 40-year sustainable workforce. See, I’m not worried about where I’m getting my initial tranche of people to run my plant. These plants are worried about who’s gonna be running that son of a gun in 10, 15, or 20 or 40 years.”

 

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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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