Officials in Madison County decline to confirm a newspaper report that Nissan has chosen a location near Canton, rather than Opelika, Ala., for an automotive plant expected to create as many as 4,000 jobs.
Alabama officials received word late Monday that months of effort to recruit Nissan to their state had failed, the Birmingham News reported for a story in Wednesday's editions.
Nissan picked a 1,000-acre site southwest of Canton between U.S. 51 and Interstate 55 in the Jackson metropolitan area, according to the report, which quoted David Bronner, CEO of Retirement Systems of Alabama. Bronner was involved in the recruitment effort.
"We have not heard anything official but we certainly would like to hear that from them," David Richardson, president of the Madison County Board of Supervisors, said Wednesday. "Hearing that report is certainly encouraging."
Mayor Alice Scott of Canton said Wednesday she would not comment on the report or on the status of negotiations with Nissan.
Nissan plans to invest $1 billion in its new plant, surpassing the $440 million Honda plant under construction in Lincoln, Ala., and the $600 million Mercedes-Benz expansion project in Vance, Ala.
Nissan has not commented on the project, but a formal announcement is expected in early November, Bronner said.
"I think we really put our best foot forward," said Bronner, "Mississippi just wanted it even more."
Bronner declined to disclose the amount of the Alabama incentives package promised to Nissan. He said Alabama and Opelika officials offered as much as the state could risk promising.
"They did everything they could and put all on the table they could without reaching a point for criticism," Bronner said. "Obviously, we would have preferred the company choose us, but the fact that they picked the Southeast is important."
Recruitment efforts by both states intensified late last summer when they emerged as finalists for a Nissan plant location.
Mississippi raised the stakes with a special legislative session that saw the passage of a new economic development plan on Aug. 31. That plan made it possible for a large company such as Nissan to qualify for a rebate of up to 4 percent of its gross payroll. It also created tax abatements and other incentives to make it more competitive with Alabama's standard economic development packages.
Mississippi also has programs in place that would allow Madison County to run utilities, such as water and sewer, to the site as well as access roads.
Cliff Brumfield, executive director of the Greenwood-Leflore Industrial Board, greeted this morning's report out of Alabama with excitement.
He believes that the Nissan plant, should it locate in Madison County, would have positive spin-off effects that could reach to Greenwood.
Greenwood could expand its presence as a supplier to the automotive industry, Brumfield said. The area's largest manufacturer, Irvin Automotive Products, produces interior trim components for major automakers, including Toyota, Ford and Chrysler.
Two vacant plants in the Greenwood-Leflore Industrial Park, the former locations of Ferguson Machine Co. and Takata Restraint Systems, would be ideally suited for other automotive component manufacturers, Brumfield said. The area also offers an available pool of labor with automotive experience, plus an attractive package of incentives.
Part of Leflore County is included in the Mid-Delta Empowerment Zone, which offers federal tax breaks, government loans and other financial enticements to new and expanding industries. The entire county, under Mississippi's new economic development plan, is designated a state tax-free zone for new and expanding companies.
"Leflore County is one of only a handful of communities that can offer some of the strongest incentive packages available in the Southeast," Brumfield said.
