GATEWAY INDUSTRIAL PARK NEW TENANT

August 22, 2016

http://www.enterprise-journal.com/news/article_7a6f5a4e-0f58-11e6-9ecb-737d2f91c419.html

Gateway gets 1st industry!

After two years of fits and starts, including the unexpected demise of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale oil play, the new Gateway Industrial Park has its first official industry.

On Friday, Pike County officials announced that Loggins Logistics of Jonesboro, Ark., will open a flatbed trucking terminal in the industrial park, located between Wardlaw and Airport-Fernwood roads along Interstate 55.

“They have the first physical address in Gateway Industrial Park — 1039 Gateway Road,” said Pike County Economic Development District interim director Jill Busby Gunnell.

Gunnell said company president Jeff Loggins is ready to break ground immediately.

“He wants to get started as soon as possible,” Gunnell said.

The new business will include office space, a drivers’ lounge and a small shop.

“It’s a good move for us strategically,” Loggins said in a press release. “The expansion of our trucking operation will also bring new opportunity for southwest Mississippi. We have plans to start running 25 to 50 trucks from that location as soon as it is possible. We’ll not only be hiring owner operators, we will be hiring employees to work on-site at the facility.”

Loggins, who will hire local people, will start with 25 employees and hopes to have 50, Gunnell said.

Loggins credited Gunnell’s direction and assistance for his decision to expand into Mississippi.

“It was a good investment for everyone. We look forward to becoming a part of the community,” he said.

Loggins Logistics is a 100 percent owner-operator company that specializes in transporting lumber, building and steel products. It serves the Midwest, South, Southeast, Central, North Central and Eastern United States.

The Loggins fleet contains 48-foot flatbeds, either 96 inches or 102 inches wide, and offers logistical services and support. The family-owned business was founded in Jonesboro in 1997.

Gunnell informed Pike County supervisors of the news at their meeting Friday.

“I’m delighted with that,” said board attorney Wayne Dowdy. “They are by all accounts a reliable company.”

“I’m thrilled to death they’re coming,” said Supervisor Chuck Lambert. “I’m glad we’re getting something in the industrial park.”

Supervisor Gary Honea said he saw no downside to the deal.

Supervisors had high hopes for the industrial park in 2014 when TMS fracking was going strong. But plunging oil prices brought that to a halt, and the industrial park has lain mostly idle.

Gunnell went to work for the economic development district in April 2015 as project manager. She became interim director in March following the retirement of Wayne Sterling. She said she has been in negotiations with Loggins since last December.

Gunnell said Pike County is a natural for transportation-related companies.

“The infrastructure that we have here is phenomenal. We should really be promoting this,” she said.

“From Texas to Florida, we’re the gateway to that. It’s an ideal location.”