The Greenwood-Leflore-Carroll Economic Development Foundation is busy with several projects that could bring as many as 450 jobs to Leflore County, the foundation’s chairman said Tuesday.
Bill Crump delivered the upbeat news during the foundation’s annual membership meeting.
“We have three companies that are currently looking at our airport,” he said. “As many as 100 new jobs will be created if all three of these are located at the airport.”
Crump also mentioned two prospective additions to the Greenwood-Leflore Industrial Park. One, given the code name “Project Brick” by the Mississippi Development Authority, would create 50 jobs. Another, designated “Project Daisy,” would bring a processing plant that would also create 50 jobs.
The code names have been adopted to keep the projects secret. Crump said this secrecy can be confusing, and “a lot of times, we don’t even know who we’re dealing with.”
He said the foundation is negotiating with a chain retail company that is seeking to add a 10,000-square-foot building off Mississippi 7, which would bring with it another 25 jobs.
Also, he said, “there’s another local company that is working on a great expansion, which would bring another 200 jobs.”
The Cannon Dodge, Jeep, Eagle and Ram dealership, which has received special tax increment financing from the Greenwood City Council, is expected to provide some 25 jobs.
In his remarks, Crump also touched on Coburn Supply Co., a large plumbing, heating and air conditioning parts distributor, based in Beaumont, Texas, which is setting up a branch at the former Balkamp facility in the Greenwood-Leflore Industrial Park.
Crump said the company is looking to expand its marketing eastward. “This is going to be their southern distribution center and will bring a number of jobs here,” he said.
Previously, Crump said Coburn could provide as many as 40 jobs once it becomes fully operational.
Milwaukee Electric Tool Corp. has once again expanded its Greenwood operations, and tax increment financing helped with The Landing, a convenience store and gasoline filling complex, he said.
Crump said the foundation is able to assist with economic development projects as they present themselves.
“We’re not governmentally funded. We’re able to do a lot of things as a foundation that we cannot do as an industrial board,” he said.
The meeting also featured an update from Emily Roush Elliott, manager of the Baptist Town Project.
• Contact Bob Darden at 581-7239 or bdarden @gwcommonwealth.com.
