County Commission, CSX to partner on dormant Mega Site
BY JOHN MULLEN Baldwin County has a new partner in continuing efforts to recruit businesses to the shovel-ready Mega Site industrial park on Interstate 65 near Bay Minette. Company officials from CSX Corp. have been working with Lee Lawson of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance and the Baldwin County Commission to achieve the CSX Select Site designation. “This is a process we went through to understand how we can better work with them and to elevate our site into a more rarified air,” Lawson said. “About 10 years ago now, CSX did a network-wide analysis for large-scale advance manufacturing sites along their railroads and there are only about five sites identified.” The goal of the Select Site designation is to help land new businesses at the Mega Site to add jobs in the county, as well as potential rail customers, Rashard Howard of CSX told the commission. “This is something that’s important and near and dear to us because we understand making these CSX Select Site announcements draws a lot of attention to the site with hopes of landing an optimal customer,” Howard said. The 3,009-acre Baldwin site was first designated in July 2011. It is considered shovel ready because all utilities are already in place, it is adjacent to a major interstate highway and it has mainline CSX rail service. The site is owned by the county....
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