Ready, Set, Go: Entergy Mississippi Qualifies Leland Industrial Park Acreage
Jul 8, 2020
GREENVILLE, Mississippi –Getting an industry to locate or expand in a community is tough work. Competition is fierce, prospects’ expectations are high and communities must be able to respond quickly and effectively.
Leaders in Washington County have put in the hard work to get acreage in the Leland Industrial Park qualified through Entergy’s Economic Development Qualified Site Program.
The Washington County Economic Alliance has 500 qualified acres in this park, which is less than one mile north of Leland. Located at the intersection of U.S. Highway 82 and U.S. Highway 61, it is 16 miles from Greenville’s port.
“The Qualified Site program helps businesses go from concept to operations quickly and efficiently, and with accurate cost estimates,” said Ed Gardner, Entergy Mississippi director of business and economic development. “It eliminates the unknown and mitigates much of the risk inherent with developing a site.”
The Qualified Site Program certifies that professional engineers and other specialists have completed an in-depth analysis of the property. It also ensures that results of the studies are available for review. Projects undertaken on these sites are overseen by a team that provides answers, solves problems, streamlines processes and removes the red tape that can complicate a business’s location or expansion.
Site development is costly for communities. Leveraging local resources with those from agencies like Entergy, the Delta Regional Authority and the Mississippi Development Authority is vital.
“We know hard work proves valuable in economic and community development,” said Will Coppage, Washington County Economic Alliance executive director. “This site in Leland checks all the needed infrastructure boxes, as well as being just a beautiful piece of land in the heart of the Mississippi Delta. I want to thank our community partners at Entergy Mississippi, the City of Leland and the Washington County Board of Supervisors for helping the process run smoothly.”
Entergy will now provide resources to promote the qualified sites. The company will market them to national and international brokerage firms and site consultants.
“We’re proud to add this site to our growing list of certified sites,” said Gardner. “And we commend our economic development partners for the significant investment they put in to meet the requirements of our program.”
Entergy Mississippi’s other qualified sites are in Adams, Bolivar, DeSoto, Hinds, Madison, Rankin, Tunica and Warren counties.
The Washington County Economic Alliance also won two 2020 grant awards from Entergy’s Excellerator Grants program. The organization has won Excellerator grants every year since the program began.
Entergy Mississippi, Inc. provides electricity to approximately 450,000 customers in 45 counties. Entergy Corporation (NYSE: ETR) is an integrated energy company engaged
primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, including 8,000 megawatts of nuclear power. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.9 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of $11 billion and approximately 13,600 employees.