Over 20 years after Stribling Industries of Greenwood purchased property beside the Pilot Truck Stop in Winona, officials with Stribling Equipment and Empire Trucks, all of the Montgomery County Supervisors and Chancery Clerk Ryan Woods, Mayor Jerry Flowers, Clerk June Williams, and all five of the city’s aldermen along with Peoples Construction of Flowood were in attendance for the groundbreaking of the new development.
Through a joint Tax Increment Financing plan by the City of Winona and Montgomery County, Stribling is making good on a 20-year promise to use the land.
Montgomery County Economic Development Partnership Director Sue Stidham said after the purchase, the city and county were so excited for the industry to come, she would call for updates. She said she only called about three or four times, but officials with Stribling may have heard it was more than that.
“I would call and we would talk and then one day I called and the lady that answered the phone told me ‘Mr. Swanson isn’t taking any calls,’ so I said okay. I waited a few weeks and I called again and she said ‘Mr. Swanson isn’t taking any calls,’ so I knew then I’d better not call back,” Stidham said. “But, I thought about it, this particular piece of property is between Little Rock, Ark. and Birmingham, Ala. and Memphis, Tenn., to Jackson and all points south. So, I knew he was going to do something with it.”
JB Swanson said it had been a long time coming but they’re glad to finally be in Winona. Mayor Jerry Flowers told those in attendance the city and the county coming together on TIF bond would be a great thing and he was proud to see the business come into the city.
“Welcome to Winona,” Flowers said.
Contractor Jeff Peoples said he hopes to have the concrete poured in two weeks if weather permits, then they’ll be past the weather permitting stage of the project.
“I’ve been asked this question several times, and I’ve avoided it,” he said, about the completion date of the project. “We’re going to say sometime in the Spring. We hope to have the building up and have these guys doing a ribbon cutting in the Spring.”
The Stribling Equipment and Empire Trucks is said to be an $8 million development on the southwestern corner of Highway 82 and Interstate 55. The 31,000-square-foot facility will bring 163 construction jobs to Montgomery County for one year. After construction concludes, 15 “high-paying jobs” will be permanently filled to staff the facility.
