Mississippi Co-op Breaks Ground on CFC-Financed HQ

CFC’s latest 100 percent borrower is Lyon, Mississippi-based Coahoma Electric Power Association. The 5,700-member distribution cooperative has been experiencing residential growth in its service area and recently broke ground on a new headquarters facility to better serve its expanding membership and accommodate new employees.

“We were having some structural failures at our old headquarters facility, which was built in 1953, and existing space had simply become insufficient for our needs,” Coahoma Electric General Manager Keith Hurt said. “Office space was limited, our maintenance building and vehicle storage areas were too small to accommodate the size of modern equipment, and additional space to protect our ever-expanding IT resources was becoming critical.”

Study Found New Location Better Met Member and Cooperative Needs

A facility study, completed in 2017, cited a lack of room for expansion at the current location and recommended building a new facility on a larger tract of land rather than attempting to renovate the existing structure.

When completed next year, the new facility will include a 15,800-square-foot administration building, a 14,000-square-foot warehouse with enclosed truck bays and a 4,850-square-foot maintenance shop. Located approximately 7 miles from the old building, the new headquarters will sit on 10 acres of a 20-acre plot of land, leaving room for additional expansion in the future, if needed.

New Facility to Help Attract and Retain Local Talent

“The project is designed to meet the evolving needs of our members with employee efficiency foremost in mind,” Hurt said. “The new facility will give us the opportunity to expand service to our members, in part by giving us the space to add some much-needed new employees. Extra effort has been taken to make the new facility one that our members and employees can take pride in, and that will help attract and keep the best local talent.”

Construction began in May, and completion of the new facility is expected by next August.

Coahoma Electric chose CFC to finance the $10.5 million building project and took advantage of preferential rates to become a 100 percent CFC borrower at the same time.

“CFC has been a valued partner of ours for a long time and our board knew the opportunity to lock in historically low interest rates was running out,” Hurt said. By going with CFC, the cooperative was able to meet its goal of holding the cost of its debt service steady, even after financing this project.

“I found CFC to be very accommodating and easy to discuss options and solutions to our financing needs,” Hurt added. “And we were very pleased that, by financing with CFC, we will not need to increase our members’ rates as a result of adding this new facility.”