Olive Branch Reels in Another Company

Olive Branch will add nearly 1,000 jobs thanks to a trio of major economic development deals involving the creation of new plants and a hospital facility.

Even more impressive for the North Mississippi town: the announcements of this impressive job growth came within the span of only a few days last week.

Olive Branch capped the week Friday morning with an announcement that Soladigm Inc., a green technology company from California’s Silicon Valley, will move into the Olive Branch Industrial Park with a plant that employs more than 300 people and as many as 350.

Soladigm Inc. is a privately held company based in Milipitas, Calif., and financed by two venture capital funds.

The Soladigm announcement came the same week that Hamilton Beach Brands Inc. announced it was moving a Memphis distribution center – and 125 jobs – to 1.2 million square feet in Olive Branch.

In addition, state health officials in Mississippi signed off Thursday on approval of plans for a 100-bed, $137 million Methodist Le Bonheur hospital in Olive Branch. The hospital will employ about 480 people.

“The deals that are being announced, they’re major announcements for any community,” said Chuck Roberts, of the Southaven-based firm Chuck Roberts Commercial Real Estate. “Given the economy that we’re in, they’re huge. It’s a testament to the leadership in Olive Branch, the leadership in the county and the leadership in the governor’s office.

“The impact that those three deals will have on this local economy will be felt for years to come and are without a doubt an enormous ray of sunshine in a very difficult economy.”

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour was in Olive Branch for Friday’s announcement of the economic plum in the form of Soladigm’s investment.

“This project is just one more example of how companies worldwide are looking to Mississippi to build complex, high-tech products with well-trained employees,” Barbour said.

Soladigm makes “dynamic” windows, which can be switched from tinted to clear as needed. Soladigm’s literature claims the technology offers increased energy efficiency most noticeable in commercial buildings but also in residential structures.

Soladigm also is developing what the company’s website terms “next generation green building solutions.”

The announcement of an Olive Branch plant came the same week that Soladigm filed a notice with the Securities and Exchange Commission announcing it had sold $6 million of a total $7.5 million debt offering. The SEC paperwork was dated July 26.

The nearly 1,000 jobs Olive Branch learned it’s getting are on top of even more announced earlier this year. And some of that total is coming at Memphis’ expense.

A few months ago, Olive Branch officials with the help of state incentives persuaded McKesson Corp., a health care technology company, to move from Memphis and build a new distribution facility there that will employ 300.

The Soladigm facility will be close to the new McKesson location. And the two firms’ relocations will mean the exodus of 425 jobs from Memphis to Olive Branch.

There could be even more heading south.

Pinnacle Airlines is considering an offer from Olive Branch backed with incentives from the state of Mississippi as it weighs a new location for its Memphis headquarters.

Business and civic leaders in Memphis have mounted a full-court press in lobbying Pinnacle to keep its headquarters in the city – and, hopefully, move into One Commerce Square at 40 S. Main St. in Downtown.

The Center City Commission is developing a video presentation for Pinnacle comprised of testimonials from Downtown employees and stakeholders who can talk up the virtues of locating in the heart of the city. Within a day or so of word getting out about Mississippi’s overture to Pinnacle, conversations were held north of the state line among an array of private sector leaders in Memphis including Tennessee Economic Development Commissioner Matt Kisber.

Memphis Mayor A C Wharton Jr. told The Daily News the city has “all hands on deck” in convincing Pinnacle to stay.