Business

Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009

Local business showing strength

GULFPORT — Business leaders across the Coast see encouraging signs in the local economy, including the price of home sales beginning to rise, expansions at several businesses and a big jump in commercial building contracts in Hancock County.

“I think we’re absolutely a shining star,” George Freeland said during Thursday’s Sun Herald Business Roundtable, which brings together Coast leaders from a variety of industries four times a year.

The executive director of the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation, Freeland said proposed short- and medium-range industrial prospects in South Mississippi surpass most areas of the country.

“We’re leading the Southeast region,” he said. In Jackson County, the environmental impact survey starts in November for Leucadia National’s proposed $2 billion gasification plant on the former International Paper site in Moss Point. Freeland said work is complete at Trent Lott Airport to permit testing of unmanned aircraft built by Northrop Grumman in Moss Point. He said the Gulf States Aerospace Alliance that will be announced next week will create an aerospace corridor that will provide support to Northrop’s bid to build refueling tankers for the U.S. military.

If Northrop Grumman is the successful bidder, “The benefits for this region are going to be tremendous,” he said.

In Harrison County, State Port of Gulfport Commissioner John Rester said 13 requests for proposals were released on the port expansion. “Most of those have been turned into contracts,” he said, ranging from construction management to aerial survey and soil testing,

“It’s everything we’ll need to gain the information to actually implement the project,” he said.

Building a port that can handle 10 times the cargo is useless without complementary ground transportation facilities, Rester said. The Port Authority is working with the Mississippi Department of Transportation on a port connector road. The authority also has applied for a $50 million grant to improve the rail line from Gulfport to Hattiesburg, something he said they’ve eyed or years.

Commercial contracts on the Coast saw the highest increase in six quarters, since the beginning of 2008, said Brian Sanderson, president of the Gulf Coast Business Council.

“Hancock had over a 400 percent increase,” he said. Commercial contracts in Harrison doubled and Jackson County stayed about the same. These reports tend to fluctuate greatly and could reflect a big project like a city hall. “Coming out of a national recession, it’s good that we still continue to be buoyed by those types of job-creating construction projects, regardless of whether it’s public or private,” Sanderson said.