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From inception to production, countdown less than three years.

Article Excerpt
Less than three years have passed since state officials had the first inkling that Nissan was considering Mississippi as the site of its newest automotive assembly plant.

Collaboration among Mississippi agencies and contractors delivered unprecedented results, beginning with 78 days from groundbreaking to turnover of the building pad. It only took eight months from project award announcement to first employee training. All water and wastewater systems were in place and serviceable within 12 months. From groundbreaking to substantial completion of the new I-55 interchange only took 14 months. In all, the Nissan project was completed within 32 months from announcement to production.

Here are a few highlights from the timeline of Mississippi's most fastpaced project:

June 2000. Working on behalf of Nissan, Mark M. Sweeney and Jim Kupferer of McCallum Sweeney Consulting, a site selection consulting firm in Greenville, S.C., contact officials in Mississippi and other states in the Southeastern U.S. Nissan North America corporate officials visit Sen. Trent Lott in Washington, D.C., to discuss the possibility of building a plant in Mississippi. Three other states are under consideration.

July 2000. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove has initial discussions with Nissan officials.

August 2000. Musgrove calls an economic development special session to discuss incentives for luring super projects to Mississippi. On Aug. 30, state lawmakers approve the Advantage Mississippi Initiative, the most sweeping economic development plan in the state's history.

September 2000. On Sept. 21, thirty-one Mississippi delegates meet with Nissan executives at the company's assembly plant in Smyrna, Tenn., for the final pitch. Alabama makes its case...

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