Some work complete on industrial park enhancements

Work is partly complete on projects to attract more industry to Union County. A concrete pad for a shell building and a nearby industrial access road have been done.

Steel was expected to be going up soon for a 100,000-square-foot shell building in the Martintown South Industrial Park, south of the Diversity-Vuteq plant off Hwy. 30 West.

The building is actually being funded by a private investment group, Enhance Mississippi LLC, in cooperation with city and county officials. There is no cost to taxpayers for the building.

Local funds of about $600.000 helped match MDA and ARC funds to help complete the pad.

The plan calls for an initial 100,000-square-foot building on the 200,000-square-foot pad. The building can be expanded to fill the pad. The county will be responsible for the infrastructure, however.

If the building is not sold within three years, Enhance Mississippi will have the option to lease-purchase the 65-acre site over 10 years at a cost of $5,000 per acre and zero percent interest.

Three Rivers Planning and Development District is marketing the building according to supervisors. Three Rivers Executive Director Randy Kelley is listed as agent for the LLC.

Work was also done this past week on a new industrial access road that stretches across Martintown North Industrial Park from Mississippi Highway 30 to County Road 54. The work is being funded by state and federal grants totaling $1.2 million. The Mississippi Development Authority also has provided a $200,000 grant to install a 12-inch water main that parallels the road.

Union County has filled most of its industrial buildings and sited buildings on available space. Unemployment also remains among the lowest in the state so the area is in a very competitive situation concerning attracting new industry.

County officials have pointed out that in this environment a potential industry is not interested in looking at a soybean field. They want to see a finished available structure and infrastructure they can use.

The Enhance Mississippi building should help in one regard and the Martintown North part of the park now has four available sites that can accommodate buildings up to 200,000 square feet.

The Enhance Mississippi group comprises local and area individuals and businesses with a stated goal of helping stimulate economic development in North Mississippi. The Martintown building is the group’s first major project.