Page 81 - South Mississippi Living - January, 2020

SPONSORED BY:
USM CENTER FOR OCEAN
ENTERPRISE
A groundbreaking ceremony was celebrated in November 2019 for the Roger F. Wicker Center for Ocean Enterprise located at the Port of Gulfport. The facility will serve as the centerpiece of research and development in the Gulf, creating a unique maritime technology environment on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
“The Center for Ocean Enterprise is the culmination of work by the Governor’s Ocean Task Force, our congressional delegation as well as our academic and state partners. This facility will serve as a hub for research and innovation that will bolster our Blue Economy and help in the protection of our country for decades to come,” said Governor Phil Bryant.
Gulfport Job Corps
THE PORT OF GULFPORT
TRACKSIDE INNOVATION
In addition to offering USM’s maritime operations immediate, private, and highly secure access to the ocean for testing, the Port of Gulfport is home to 10 different tenants who rent space directly from the Port while receiving support and services from the terminal operators and contractors. Its top-notch facilities continue to be an economic driver in South Mississippi.
“After Hurricane Katrina in 2005, we began a $570 million restoration project that included the construction of the new state-of-the-art facilities tailored to not only suit the current needs of our tenants, but meet their future needs as well,” said Kimberly Aguillard, media and marketing manager at the Port. “This includes 400,000 square feet of covered warehouse space with dry and cold storage capacity for our tenants. We have also added three ship-to-shore gantry cranes, which are used to unload and load containers from the ships allowing
for a more efficient operation.”
DISTRICT
Gulfport Main street was included as a major stakeholder with the City of Gulfport in the Blue Economy Initiative District. This included having the Main Street Association’s newly completed Master Plan Phase II incorporated into the planning phase.
“Our vision of The Backlot at Trackside Innovation District, an urban retail and hospitality community utilizing refurbished cargo containers and newly constructed retail clusters, is in the final design phase and we are ready for the construction phase,” says Gulfport Main Street Director Laurie Toups.
Also included in phase II of the Master Plan
are 12-month public space planning, design and management initiatives, downtown residential initiatives, infill development and pop-up retail opportunities, and public art and community programs.
The Backlot at Trackside
THE BACKLOT AT
GULFPORT JOB CORPS
CENTER
Gulfport Job Corps Center supports the U.S. Department of Labor’s national Job Corps program mission of teaching eligible young people the skills
they need to become employable and independent and place them in meaningful jobs or further education. Renderings for the redevelopment of its campus include a recreation field, recreation building, cafeteria, hard vocation building, administration and education building as well as space for operations and maintenance.
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