Organizers say Wednesday’s groundbreaking ceremony is a tangiblelandmark in a years-long project that will eventually culminate inthe much-anticipated Linbrook Business Park.

Brookhaven-Lincoln County Economic Development Alliance chairmanMike Jinks said the Alliance is proud and excited to have theclear-cut beginning to the work as construction begins on the400-acre business and industry park. The ceremony, hosted by theAlliance and the Industrial Development Foundation, will be held at10 a.m. on Wednesday.

“We are excited and looking forward to the ribbon cutting,because it’s been a long time coming,” said Jinks. “We’ve beenwaiting a long time to get to this point. We purchased the land in’05.”

Jinks said many state and local guests will be on hand for theceremony, including Economic Development Agency and Department ofCommerce officials, among others.

“We have representatives from the Southwest Mississippi PlanningDevelopment District,” he said. “They’re the administrators for thefederal EDA grant.”

The project begins with the water tank and well, and Jinks saidwork will be evident as soon as contractors are situated on site.The tank will supply the projected business park, which will belocated just off Brookway Boulevard on Saints Trail.

Work on the tank and well is projected to be finished by Januaryof 2009, Jinks said, per the agreement that it would be completewithin 420 calendar days of Nov. 26. He said the timeline set forthby the engineers seems to be right on track with the buildingprogress.

“This is a major step. It’s a landmark step,” Jinks said. “We’vebeen several years getting to this point, and everyone’s comingtogether to work on this is what has made this all possible.”