The state recently awarded Golden Triangle Development LINK a $3.4 million grant for site improvements at the NorthStar Industrial Park.
NorthStar Industrial Park is located near Starkville’s northwest intersection of Highway 82 and 389. Though the park is mostly an undeveloped plot of land now, the grant will help create a foundation site that can hold a 100,000 square-foot building. Ward 6 Alderman and Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins predicts that NorthStar will one day be a hot spot for businesses like Highway 12 is now. 
LINK is based out of Columbus, MS, and has transformed the Golden Triangle into its most successful times of economic development. The organization has invested almost $6 billion dollars into the region and supplies over 6,000 jobs.   
Earlier this month, Gov. Reeves said Mississippi is investing almost $25 million to develop and improve “shovel-ready sites” to boost economic growth in the state.
LINK submitted a project proposal application to further develop NorthStar Industrial Park to the Mississippi Site Development Program that Gov. Tate Reeves and the Mississippi Development Authority sponsored.
“We’re really excited to have the state’s support here,” LINK Chief Operating Officer Macaulay Whitaker said. “I think it’s very indicative of how marketable they think Oktibbeha County, Starkville and the Golden Triangle really are.”
According to Perkins, $680,000 of the grant LINK is receiving comes from the state and about $2.7 million comes from the Appalachian Regional Commission. The Mississippi Development Authority, Appalachian Regional Commission and the RESTORE Act are making the Site Development Fund grant available statewide.
Mayor Lynn Spruill expressed her enthusiasm and gratitude toward the grant.
“The grant is a huge benefit to the industrial park and therefore to the city because it’s going to allow us to make improvements and be ready for further development that we could not necessarily have done as quickly without that grant,” Spruill said. 
Giving his thanks to Gov. Reeves, Alderman Perkins said he thought allocating funds to NorthStar will encourage prosperity for Ward 6 and Starkville.
“This funding will have a very profound and major impact on my ward,” Perkins said, “and this money is definitely needed for the NorthStar Industrial Park.”
NorthStar’s site improvement proposal includes wetland and stream permitting and mitigation, clearing and grubbing the trees on the land, conducting earthwork at three sites inside the industrial park and building a site access road, COO Whitaker said.
After the project is complete, the industrial park’s land will be clearer and have a cleaner foundation for businesses to move in. Additionally, it will be easier to access the western area of the industrial park because of the site access road being built for that area. The access road will extend from Rutherford Road to NorthStar’s back western area.
“To the general public, it may not appear to be a tremendous amount because most of it is earthwork … (for) economic development, having investments in the product you are marketing to a prospective company is extremely important,” Whitaker said. 
Whitaker said LINK is working with businesses that want to move into the NorthStar Industrial Park, and she said she thinks the park will be an opportune place for companies. Garan Manufacturing was the first business to move to NorthStar in 2020.
“The additional work will only create more opportunities,” Whitaker said. 
Perkins said Garan’s relocation from Highway 12 to NorthStar shows that the industrial park is “the place to be.”
“The park is right off of a major highway corridor—no better place to be,” Perkins said. “It’s a place that is prime for growth.”
Spruill agreed and said the grant allows more opportunities and available space in the city for new businesses to move in.
“I think there are lots of businesses that are looking to expand now that we’re coming out of the pandemic,” Spruill said, “and they’re going to be ready to go, and we want to be ready to go with them.” 
In 2017, LINK began constructing NorthStar Industrial Park when Starkville and Oktibbeha County gave $14 million for the development. Additionally, other corporations like 4-County Electric Power Association, the Mississippi Department of Transportation, Tennessee Valley Authority and Atmos Energy Corporation invested money into the project.  
Perkins said the funds going into NorthStar show that the industrial park will impact the city’s future and spark growth for new industries. 
“This is where the demand is going to be,” Perkins said. “We’re going to, in my opinion, recruit some very great, high-level businesses to this site, and there’s no reason not to.”
Spruill and Perkins both expressed gratitude toward Gov. Reeves for allocating funds to LINK for this project.
“We’re just very glad and very appreciative that the governor saw the value of enhancing the Starkville area, the Mississippi State (University) community and our ability to attract further industry,” Spruill said.

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Courtesy Photo | City of Starkville

Alderman and Vice Mayor Roy A. Perkins.