Video: Kior Site Equipment Removal

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)-KiOR has been shutdown for years, but the equipment on the site continues to cause problems for developers.

They want to market the site but can’t.

The Golden Triangle Development LINK tells me a company could make a one hundred fifty million dollar Investment at the site on what’s known as the Island in Columbus.

However, there are some obstacles preventing the big move.

CEO of The Golden Triangle LINK Joe Max Higgins Says,
“we need to put our best foot forward and have that site as marketable as we can.”

Presentation is everything in the world of economic development. The old KiOR site on the island is a prime location, it has utilities and access to the river, but it looks like a company is still operating there.

KiOR was sold at auction. Even though Georgia Renewable Power LLC bought the equipment last fall, yet it still remains on the property.

“There were some concessions given by the port board, and I think we were ok with that,” Higgins says. “What we believed to be March of this year to get the equipment moved. took a long time to build that stuff subsequently take a long time to remove it.”

Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins says the dates to remove the equipment continue to change.

Higgins says,”Now here we are in the end of June soon to be July and most of the equipment still there it’s causing us…. starting to cause us a little bit of anx.”

Higgins says some companies are interested in the Lowndes County site, but have obvious reservations.

Higgins says,”We’ve had companies looking at the site… looking at the port site of potential locations out there but there is a concern about the equipment that hasn’t been removed…when would it be removed and us meeting a time line a company had.”

The long time economic developer believes the old KiOR site is beneficial to have when he tries to recruit new industries, because the land has advantages no one else can claim.

“That’s what sets at the Lowndes County Port, is an extremely valuable asset. It’s not in the flood plane and it just doesn’t exist on the Tenn.-Tom Waterway,” Higgins says. “So, we need to get site ready to go as quickly as we can to try to get somebody in their for our community.
Higgins says there are two companies looking at The KiOR site.

This site right here is on 95 acers with water and sewer already in place.