Around the Triangle: $2.5 billion groundbreaking

Aluminum dynamics project has triangle buzzing with anticipation

In October Steel Dynamics announced a $2.5 billion project that would add a low-carbon flat-rolled aluminum mill near its steel mill off of Airport Road in Lowndes County, and a biocarbon facility on Artesia Road near the International Paper pulp mill.

A groundbreaking ceremony was held March 7, and the mill is expected to be complete by late 2025 and create around 700 jobs. The biocarbon facility is expected to be complete by late 2023 and create around 40 jobs. Paving for the construction parking lot at SDI is already underway, with about five acres to be blacktopped.

The scale of the project understandably has the region buzzing with anticipation.

Lowndes County and Columbus

Aluminum Dynamics isn’t the only project that has economic engines roaring in Lowndes County.

Land is also being cleared for two solar farms in western Lowndes County being built by Origis Engineering on about 4,000 acres of land near the airport.

An Apex Ammunition employee operates equipment during the manufacturing process at the company’s original location. The ammunition company has contracted to purchase the former Maxxim Medican building near the intersection of Hwy. 69 and Yorkville Road in Columbus

The city of Columbus is also seeing growth, with shotgun shell manufacturer Apex Ammunition planning a move inside the city limits. Apex, which is currently located off Phillips Hill Road in New Hope, agreed to buy the old Maxxim Medical building. The building sits on about 7.8 acres off of Yorkville Park Square.

The building was jointly owned between the city and the county for more than a decade. Both entities used it for storage, and the Lowndes County Coroner’s Office was housed there. Apex plans to be operational in the new facility by late 2023.

With Apex moving in, the coroner’s office has to move out, and the county is negotiating a deal to breathe life into another empty building in Columbus, this time one of the former Ecolab buildings on Lehmberg Road.

The county plans on buying the building and the five or so acres it sits on for about $500,000. The deal includes equipment on the site, such as forklifts and a generator that can supply power in the event of an emergency.

In another piece of good news for Columbus, the city has settled a lawsuit over damage caused by a runaway barge to the pedestrian bridge at The Riverwalk. In February the city was awarded just over $4 million in damages after about a year of litigation.

That amount is expected to cover the total cost of replacing a damaged support pier. Work is set to get started in March. The bridge has been closed since February 2020.

Starkville

In Starkville, work is underway on two projects near Mississippi State University. The first is an effort to make Spring Street at Highway 12 more pedestrian-friendly. The city and MSU are using a $400,000 Transportation Alternatives Program grant from the Mississippi Department of Transportation to fund the work.

MSU and Starkville are also collaborating on a walking/biking trail project that goes from the area of Old West Point Road at Highway 182 East, and will connect to College View Drive. Work is expected to be finished this year, hopefully by the end of the summer.

The city is continuing to seek funding for improvements to Highway 182. The project will improve paving, drainage and infrastructure over about 1.2 miles. The city obligated about $5 million of its federal American Rescue Plan Act money to the project, as well as about $12.66 million from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

However, drastically more expensive paving costs and issues with the supply chain have driven the price beyond the city’s means and it is currently trying to find ways to cut costs without compromising the project.

Efforts to clear land and build a road and spec building at the Northstar Industrial Park are facing delays due to an unlikely culprit: bats. The northern long-eared bat, which roosts in trees during its mating season, is now an endangered species.

That means efforts to clear trees may have to stop during mating season, which stretches from mid-May until September. Work can continue until this summer, but likely won’t be complete.

George M. Bryan Airport is in the running for a $4.5 million grant from the Federal Aviation Administration to build a terminal. The general aviation airport, which sees about 10,000 charter and private passengers yearly, is currently served by a single-room 1,100-square-foot building with one common entrance and exit.

Plans are to build a 9,800-square-foot, two-story multi-purpose building. The bottom floor will have a passenger terminal and offices, as well as hangar space. The top story will include a restaurant with a porch area.

Bryan Airport is the only airport in the state in the running for the grant award, and officials expect to find out if they will get the money within the next couple of months.

Oktibbeha County

Oktibbeha County is standing up a new judgeship. Due to the county’s population growth since the 2010 census, it is required by state law to have a county court to oversee both civil and criminal cases with values between $3,000 and $200,000.

Lee Ann Turner was elected to the post in November, and she is currently housed in the chancery court building.

That office could eventually be moved into the Felix Long Memorial Hospital building. The county is currently trying to get grant money to clean up asbestos inside, and is also seeking state money to begin engineering and planning work to eventually renovate it for use either housing the county’s various court systems or its administrative offices.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is doing due diligence on the dam at Oktibbeha County Lake. The NRCS will cover the cost of repairing the troubled dam, which is projected to cost between $13 million and $15 million.

CLAY COUNTY AND WEST POINT

Clay County is working to make its courthouse more accessible under the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The county received a $506,000 Community Development Block Grant to make the courthouse more accessible for people with disabilities. The grant will fund plumbing, fixture and toilet upgrades in the bathrooms and add handicapped-accessible counters in the tax and chancery clerk offices.

A drive-through canopy will also be added with pneumatic service to the tax office, so customers can transact their business without having to come inside at all.

The grant requires a match, and the county is using $275,000 of a $350,000 state appropriation for that purpose.

Zaxby’s has committed to coming to West Point. The restaurant will be located on Highway 45, near Walmart. Construction is expected to get underway later this year. Other development is on the way for that same area, as as-yet-unnamed developers are working on projects for the lot between KFC and McAlister’s as well as the area behind the Love’s truck stop.

Major paving work is in the planning stages. The city has $4.5 million on hand from a revenue bond secured by the city’s state use tax receipts. The exact streets that will be paved have not been decided, but work is expected to get underway by late spring or early summer.

Noxubee County and Macon

Noxubee County is also improving buildings. A new roof was put on the courthouse and the veterans’ services building. The county is currently taking bids on interior work at the courthouse that will improve the ceiling and light in the courtroom and the room where the board of supervisors meets.

The board of supervisors also plans to re-advertise for bids to fix the roof at the Noxubee County Public Library after bids it received came in too high. Finally, the county is planning to bid out a new 911 building.

In Macon, the Macon Dreams Come True Foundation is raising money to improve dilapidated tennis courts. The existing four courts, which are owned by the city, have been largely abandoned. Surfaces are cracked and uneven, the parking lot and access to the courts is not handicapped accessible and the lighting is poor.

The Foundation is looking into getting federal grant money to better the courts, but also looking at funding the renovation with privately raised funds. Engineers and contractors are working to come up with a plan, and then the organization will decide on funding sources.

Story by BRIAN JONES

ADI Groundbreaking photo by GRANT MCLAUGHLIN

APEX AMMUNITION PHOTO by RORY DOYLE

ALL OTHER PHOTOS by DEANNA ROBINSON