By Staff
April 8, 2001
One of Mississippi's largest contractors happens to be based in Philadelphia, just a relatively short drive from Nissan's $930 million automotive manufacturing plant in Madison County. It was no surprise that W.G. Yates &Sons Construction Co. was selected to coordinate construction of the project.
Yates built the Beau Rivage casino resort on the coast and the Silver Star casino in Philadelphia. The 2.6 million-square-foot Nissan plant, spreading across 1,400 acres, is the kind of high-profile project that gives Yates another opportunity to show off its first-class reputation.
Judging from the comments of Bill Yates, the firm's president, he's thrilled with the opportunity to show another global audience what his company can do. The revenue the project will contribute toward his bottom line will also be significant.
In another move, the Nissan Mississippi Scholarship Program was announced Friday. It will draw from a $1 million fund to help state high school students pay for college. The scholarships will go to students who have demonstrated academic promise and who have a career goal supportive of automotive excellence.''
The Yates selection and the scholarship program are good signs that Mississippians will begin to prosper, too, from Nissan's new plant.