LC Port and GTR Airport to Receive Funds for Long-Term Improvements

COLUMBUS, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Brian Jones

The MS Dept of Transportation has awarded over $2 million in funding to the Lowndes County Port and the Golden Triangle Regional Airport.

Port Director Will Sanders reports that their funding will go towards the first phase of a plan to build out rail infrastructure on the port’s East bank in order to make the area more attractive to potential clients. Please see the map below for an idea of what they have in mind.

“We are thankful the state had more money available this year than they have in the past,” LCBOS President Trip Hairston said. “In the past, we’d get $100,000 here and $100,000 there, that sort of thing. This time it was a significant amount, and it’s clear the port was a pretty high priority.”

Meanwhile, GTRA will be getting funds to help with its ongoing terminal expansion project, including but not limited to a larger passenger waiting area and a jet bridge which would allow passengers to board and disembark without having to walk across the tarmac. This project is anticipated to be finished before the end of next year.

Please click here for the original article: https://cdispatch.com/news/port-expanding-rail-on-east-bank-to-draw-future-clients/

Communiversity Working Hard to Prove Its Worth to Prospective Students

COLUMBUS, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Emma McRae

The EMCC Communiversity was Built in 2019 with $42.6 million from various government sources and has acted as a regional educational and workforce development hub, despite hurdles such as administrative changes and initially low enrollment. It has also served as a training center for big manufacturers and other major businesses. They primarily look for high schoolers who want to go into technical positions and will need training before they apply for work.

Courtney Taylor, the Communiversity’s first director, said: “There’s a big reality in the workforce that most people don’t get to engage directly with the companies that are manufacturing things in their communities. . . A lot of the efforts we got started back then were to get people exposed and engaged to the occupations in the area and then get them excited about the training program. . . High school students were the big focus just because we weren’t getting them,” she went on to say.

Taylor is now the executive director at Accelerate Mississippi, a statewide workforce development office that focuses primarily on high schoolers who will graduate in the next year or two. The services they offer include technical coaching at the HS level. “The whole idea is to give these kids options and show them what their resources are,” Columbus High School Career Coach Jim Sutherland said.

Another important facet of getting kids interested in these fields includes demonstrating to them that their interests can be developed into a lifelong career: “A big part of our jobs as career coaches is actually to find those kids that are not going to go the traditional route,” Knollie Edge, a career coach at New Hope High School, said. Field trips and in-school demonstrations help to provide that information to the young students.

Please click here for the original article: https://cdispatch.com/news/flipping-the-switch-outreach-bolsters-communiversity-enrollment-but-more-is-needed/

GTR LINK Moving to More Centralized Digs

COLUMBUS, MS – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Zack Plair

The Golden Triangle Development LINK, which primarily serves (and is jointly owned by) Columbus, Starkville, West Point, and their respective counties, will soon begin construction on a new location at the GTR Airport, making it easier for their clients to meet in an area closer to being equidistant from all three cities, allowing them to cut down on travel time and easing logistics for many. The LINK has served the region as an industrial recruiting organization for over thirty years, and has helped to bring over ten thousand jobs and billions of dollars of investment funds to the Golden Triangle.

CEO Joe Max Higgins said that the new building will include a boardroom, a work area, and offices to help facilitate communication: “We always have to move those around and borrow space [at our current shared location],” Higgins said. “Now we’ll be able to do it in our own place.” Another advantage of the location is that prospective business representatives will no longer have to drive into town after flying into GTRA, but simply take a short hop to the new office instead, saving lots of travel time. It will also be much closer to the areas in which major industry players prefer to place their factories and other buildings.

Bid requests are planned for the end of May, with construction slated to begin this Summer, and completion by next Summer. The existing building, which they share with the Columbus Chamber of Commerce, will be sold. Several interested parties have already contacted them about purchasing the current building; funds from the sale will go toward costs for the new one.

Please click here for the original article: https://cdispatch.com/news/ask-the-dispatch-all-your-questions-answered-about-the-links-planned-new-office/

Steel Dynamics’ Construction Well Under Way

COLUMBUS, MS – Courtesy of WTVA

Having begun a little over a year ago, a great deal of progress has been made on SDI’s aluminum mill construction site, with much of the internal structure already completed. They routinely have about 1,100 contractors on-site at any given time, and that number is expected to increase significantly by this Summer. They focus on using local labor whenever possible. Two hundred people have already been hired for the plant, with another 800 positions expected to be filled once the mill is in operation in Summer 2025.

image credit: WTVA

Please click here for the original article & video: https://www.wtva.com/news/construction-of-aluminum-mill-in-lowndes-county-over-halfway-complete/article_7c856c42-fb77-11ee-82d1-43fde462d6b6.html

Attracting Industry to the Golden Triangle (Part 3)

GTR REGION, MS – Courtesy of WCBI and Joey Barnes

The Golden Triangle has become a more and more friendly place for major industries over the years. Companies such as Terberg Taylor, Amazon, Owl’s Head, and more have decided to open up shop here in this welcoming corporate environment. Another major player is Starkville’s Garan Inc., a clothing manufacturer. In the last few years, they moved from Hwy 12 (in what is now the wildly successful Triangle Crossing Shopping Center) to a location outside of town in order to better accommodate future growth for both Garan and the city.

Another big name is Aluminum Dynamics, which is on schedule to have their mill up and running at full capacity before the end of summer, thus making the GTR the largest aluminum provider in the country: “They’re going to invest $2.5 billion in this project and the part that the state is putting up is relatively minor. We’re giving a grant of $155 million for the company on it really come into the play for the construction process,” said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. They plan to hire nearly one thousand people at an average salary north of $90 thousand/year. “I think those kinds of jobs with that level of compensation will attract more people. As you and I both know, it will also raise the cost of some of these others. The wages in some of these other industries that are already there,” Hosemann went on to say.

Please click here for the original article: https://www.wcbi.com/golden-opportunities-thriving-in-the-triangle-part-3/

Alloy Company is Turning Heads

WEST POINT, MS – Courtesy of the Daily Journal and the Dispatch

Kentucky aluminum processing company Owl’s Head Alloys is preparing to invest nearly $30 million into their new location in West Point, slated to break ground in just a few months. The company melts down and recycles used and surplus aluminum products so that they can then be used in industry; their plan is to supply Aluminum Dynamics’ rolling mill in Columbus with metal once construction on both factories have been completed. they also plan to bring 68 new local jobs over the course of three years.

Clay County and the City of West Point have offered them tax incentives; the MS Development Authority will be chipping in $1.7 million for building improvements, as well. “Owl’s Head Alloys’ decision to do business in Mississippi is generating nearly 70 new jobs and an impressive investment of more than $29 million that will service local industry and provide sustainable materials in multiple industrial markets,” said MDA Executive Director Bill Cork. “This is precisely the kind of development that can offer economic stability and future investment opportunities for years to come. MDA is excited to welcome this new venture to Mississippi, and we look forward to the many benefits it will bring to Clay County’s thriving economy.”

Please click here for the original article: https://cdispatch.com/news/west-point-lands-aluminum-processing-operation-68-new-jobs/

Need a Big Lot Cleared? I Know a Guy…

COLUMBUS, Mississippi

Junior, Trey, and Tonya Lancaster work together as a family business at J&T Land Management LLC. They were kind enough to sit down with me recently and tell me about their business. J&T started formally about a year ago after they purchased some heavy equipment from a friend. Since then, they have been working hard, and they offer a variety of services, such as bushhogging, mulching, clearing out lots for development, dirt & forestry work, and even clearing out hunting lanes to prep them for use. They operate out of their home outside of Columbus, not too far from the GTR airport.

Junior is a retired City of Columbus firefighter; he now works part-time at International Paper in the Safety dept. Trey works at the steel mill. In their spare time, they run their business, with Tonya keeping the books. They are looking to expand the business, gaining more equipment and clients until they can eventually do it full-time; their plan is to leave a successful business behind for the next generation. They have serviced clients in the general GTR area and further afield, citing success stories of jobs done in Amory & Mathiston, MS and Carrolton, AL.

Both men are avid outdoorsmen, and felt that this sort of thing was a good fit for them. They really feel at home out in nature. “Somedays, that job’s work,” Junior said. “Some days, it doesn’t really feel like work.”

Trey reinforced this: “Operating that equipment, you kinda get caught up in it; time flies.”

If you got a big job done right, drop these fine folks a line on FaceBook or by phone. They note that storm season is nearly upon us, so now is a good time to maybe have them come out and clean things up for you, so you don’t have big problems later.

Main: 662-251-9470
Trey: 662-889-0504

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090357396591

Got Beef?

Breaking news…

Multiple independent sources have confirmed casual food chain Beef ‘O’ Brady’s will being construction on Hwy 45N in Columbus near the old CECO plant just North of Express Oil Change.

Average build times for the franchise run about 18 months start to finish. Domino’s Pizza is rumored to be coming right next door.

For more on the chain:

https://www.beefobradys.com

Students to See What’s Cooking at the W

COLUMBUS, Mississippi – Courtesy of MUW and Tyler Wheat

The Mississippi University for Women will soon be holding two sessions for over a hundred interested students from Mississippi high schools to their Culinary Arts Institute building in order to show them how everything works, and perhaps entice them into someday attending the W pursuit of the only BS in Culinary Science offered in the entire state. The two-story facility encompasses over 40 thousand square feet and includes several full, commercial-grade kitchens, a giant bakery with a chocolate room, and classrooms, including one with its own demonstration area up front for hands-on learning.

“We look forward to meeting the state’s future culinary leaders, and are proud to have them on campus,” said Dr. Tracee Watkins, director of the Culinary Arts Institute at The W.

The sessions will include hands-on demonstrations, info about daily life & admissions for program students, followed by a tour of the campus. These events will be held on February 27th and March 26th.

Please click here for the original article: https://www.muw.edu/news/culinary-discovery-day-brings-100-aspiring-chefs-to-the-w/

#muw #mississippiuniversityforwomen #culinarycareers #culinaryschool

Apex Ammo Takes Aim at New, Bigger Location

COLUMBUS, Mississippi – Courtesy of the Dispatch and Mary Pollitz

Apex Ammunition, maker of shotgun shells, has been growing quickly as of late, so they have been investing time and money into their new production facility just off of Yorkville Park Square in order to better meet consumer demand. Production is already underway on some products at the new facility, with more to come; they anticipate being at full operation status by the end of June. At 120,000 sq ft, the new location is nearly 20x the size of the old one, which will allow them to significantly ramp up production and employ a number of new workers as time goes on.

Boomer Brown of Apex spoke on the move: “We were busting at the seams at our old facility on Phillips Hill. . . A lot of states have lobbied for us to move, but being from Lowndes County we wanted to stay here. … We found this building and the rest is history.”

Revive Church of Columbus will begin renting the old First Baptist Church at 202 Seventh St. N. in March and plans to hold its first service there soon, though an exact date has not yet been announced. Developer and building owner Vince Rapisarda expressed his appreciation: “I am happy that we have been able to find a tenant like Revive to move into the sanctuary,” Rapisarda said. “We are looking forward to a long-term relationship and excited to help them grow their congregation. It is a beautiful historic building that will still be available for the public for weddings, funerals and other events.”

Redwood Business and Wellness Center, 5374 Hwy. 45 N. near S Perkins Rd, has been filling up its spaces with local businesses looking to get a foothold. Owner Anna Pantano said, “We’re excited to be there. I would encourage people who have something they want to show the community, to give it a try and go ahead and take a chance on themselves and teach a class or a workshop.”

Please click here for the original article: https://cdispatch.com/news/mary-means-business-apex-ammunition-to-be-fully-operational-at-new-facility-in-june/

#columbusms #entrepreneurship #apexammunition #manufacturing