In luring St. Louis-based Bodine Aluminum, state and local officials have made improvements to roads and utility systems in and around James Lawrence/ Airport Industrial Park. Bodine is a wholly owned subsidiary of Toyota Manufac- turing North America.

The 1,000-acre site, which was occupied by one tenant and plenty of empty farmland, now has been beefed up to support not only Toyota by July of next year but also others.

Supplying ample electricity, gas, water and sewer for Bodine’s operations has turned James Lawrence into one of the best industrial sites in the state, says Madison County Mayor Jerry Gist.

“There are many sites across the state that have a lot of acreage,” Gist says. “But they are handicapped by not having the infrastructure. It’s not marketable if there is no infrastructure.”

Madison County’s major utility provider, Jackson Energy Authority, and state workers have been working hard to ready the park’s utility needs and pave and improve roads in and around the park since Toyota’s announcement in March 2003.

The company is spending $124 million to build two plants—one a smelter and one a die caster—that will employ 200 people with expansions likely, company officials have said. The engine blocks produced here will be used in North American-made Toyotas, including the Avalon, Camry, Sienna and Solara.

In addition to making improvements for Bodine, the park is benefiting from another tenant’s decision to join the growing park. Jackson-based home décor retailer Kirkland’s decided to consolidate its warehouse and distribution facilities in one massive complex at the James Lawrence park.

As part of Kirkland’s deal to come to James Lawrence, the main road to the park was improved to handle the expected increase in truck traffic.

“They will have 200 18-wheelers a day in and out of that area,” Gist says. The four-lane divided highway built from I-40 to the park “made it possible for them to locate there.”

The park is on the state’s list of “super sites” and gets pitched for large projects at the state level, says Jackson Area Chamber of Commerce CEO Paul Latture. Interest in the park has increased since the Bodine and Kirkland’s announcements, Latture says.

“It’s a large site,” Latture says. “It was considered for the Nissan assembly project that wound up in Jackson, Miss. It will be considered for more as things develop out there.”

The county purchased the 838-acre site in 1991 to use as an industrial recruitment tool. It sits less than two miles from an I-40 interchange and a stone’s throw from a full service airport as its name suggests.

That it sat vacant for years and is now generating interest is testament to the power of a fully developed industrial site, officials say.

“Different places across the state look at this differently. Some buy property and do not put in infrastructure; some will go in and put in roads and more,” state Economic and Community Development Assistant Commissioner Bob Parsons says. “But if a park has the infrastructure, that makes it much more desirable.”

There are now 450 acres of available land owned by the county and 550 adjacent acres of industrial zoned land owned privately, Gist says.

“I want to see it filled to capacity,” Gist says. “We are after quality industry for this park.”

Gist says he can envision more parts suppliers for Toyota wanting to locate here and share transportation costs with Bodine and with other Jackson auto parts makers that do business with Toyota.

“They could all use the same trucks,” Gist says. “And just carry it across the road instead of taking it across the country.”

IN THE NEWS


BROWNSVILLE—Haywood County Mayor John Sharpe has admitted an addiction to drugs and alcohol, but says he will fight felony drug charges against him because they are not valid, according to an article in The Jackson Sun in May. Sharpe was arrested in April on cocaine and marijuana charges following a sting. He resigned in May from a non-paying post as head of the County Commission, but decided to keep his job, which pays $55,311. Meanwhile, the commission is seeking his ouster based on state law that says elected officials can be removed for negligence.

HUMBOLDT—A federal program that has given Humboldt $225,000 a year for five years to fight crime will end in September. Increased competition and some problems with its application for the “Weed and Seed” program were two reasons the city was denied funding for the 2004-05 fiscal year. About eight city employees will lose their jobs once the funding is cut.

JACKSON—Bobrick Washroom Equipment won a statewide United Way award for its commitment to giving to the nonprofit group. The company was honored for its amount of corporate support of United Way, for its encouragement to its employees to give and for its leadership giving.

Hino Motors announced it was choosing Marion, Ark., for its new parts plant—and likely a truck assembly plant. Jackson leaders winced. Jackson Chamber of Commerce officials, local government leaders and state officials lobbied the company hard in 2003—even visiting its California headquarters.

Jackson Energy Authority went live with its telecommunications offerings in April. The utility company now offers telephone, cable and Internet services. Internet and telephone services previously were offered by only one local company, Aeneas Internet and Telephone, but other providers are expected to line up. The $50 million dollar broadband network is touted by the utility as the largest network of fiber optic lines to homes in the country. It expects to have most of the city wired by late next year.

Jackson officials are considering building a southern bypass to alleviate traffic congestions downtown and provide another North-South route. The project, which was undergoing an environmental impact study in May, would likely cost $100 million.

Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG) employees—1,000 of whom make Pringles chips in Jackson—received a one-time special performance award due to strong corporate performance over the last two years, company officials said in May. Employees were given the choice between two extra paid days off or the after-tax equivalent. P&G shares also were offered to some employees as part of the reward.

Regional Hospital of Jackson reached an agreement in May with BlueCross BlueShield to accept—as in-network patients—nearly 6,000 city, county and state employees. Though hospital and BlueCross officials said it had no bearing on this decision, the hospital had accused BlueCross in prior lawsuits of entering exclusive contracts with Regional’s competitor, Jackson-Madison County General Hospital.

LEXINGTON—Construction finally began in April on the Beech River Regional Airport Authority. The four-year-old project has been a joint venture between the city governments of Lexington and Parsons, and the county governments of Henderson and Decatur counties. The 350-acre airport will cost $12 million to $15 million to build and will include a 6,000-foot runway and more than 30 airplane hangars. It is located 10 miles from Lexington and three miles from Parsons off U.S. 412 East.

An insurance agent who bilked hundreds of thousands of dollars from multiple government agencies was sentenced in federal court in April to five years in jail. The agent, Ray Marcum of Marcum Insurance Agency, was ordered to pay back the $730,000 court records say he over-billed the cities of Lexington and Sardis, Henderson County and other area government offices.

Master-Bilt (NYSE: SXI), a maker of commercial refrigeration systems, is opening a customer service center in Lexington. The company, based in New Albany, Miss., serves the food service, convenience store, dairy and supermarket industries with its line of refrigerated cabinets.

NEWBERN—Kaz, a maker of vaporizers, heating pads and other health care products, is shutting down its air purifier facility in Dyer County as part of a company-wide consolidation. The plant in Newbern will lose all 85 jobs over the next six months. Some employees may be offered work at the company’s Memphis distribution center.

TRENTON—The Gibson County Commission voted to build a virtually new 330-bed jail next to its current one at a cost of $10.2 million. Part of the old jail—about 50 beds—would be utilized in the new facility. Overcrowding has been constant at the 149-bed jail, which routinely houses more than 200 prisoners. Gibson County Sheriff Joe Shepard said the rise in methamphetamine arrests over the next few years will ramp up the jail’s population.

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