Madison County has a new qualified mega site to add their economic development arsenal.
At 10 a.m. on April 10, officials with the state, Mississippi Development Authority, Entergy, and the Madison County Economic Development Agency will unveil the new Panther Creek Commerce Center to the community.
Situated off Highway 22 from Nissan Parkway lies approximately 2,000 acres of land that will be used for industrial development. Of that acreage, over 1,000 has already been qualified.
Tim Coursey, executive director of MCEDA, said this means they have already gone through pre-planning stages such as soil testing, environmental testing, surveying, etc. He said that this due diligence allows companies looking to locate operations to minimize normal hurdles associated with developing a new site.
“We have increased our land inventory to include this phenomenal 2,000-acre piece of property and that’s almost unheard of,” Coursey said.” “Of that 2,000, a little over 1,000 acres is Entergy qualified, which in more basic terms means it’s “shovel ready”. More technically, this means we’ve assembled all the necessary background data to be able to successfully market the property. So, our confidence level is very high that we won’t run into any significant surprises as we move forward.”
MCEDA has partnered with several entities, including Entergy, in the endeavor. Additionally, they have Steve Rogers, former CEO of Parkway Properties, involved as one of the trustees for the owners of the property, Walker Lands. CB Richard Ellis has also come on board as the private sector real estate marketing and consulting arm.
“We’ve been blessed here,” Coursey said. “We have a really good marketing triad – MCEDA, CB Richard Ellis and Entergy.”
Officials have been working nearly a year to get the land where it needs to be in order to put Madison County at the top of the list for competing for industry.
“You can have a big piece of property but you may not have the labor to support any kind of industry moving in,” Coursey added.
“We now have both. We’re wide open for business here. We’ve got a significant labor force to draw from. Couple that with a very large qualified site and you’ve got something very unique.”
