Business Report\u2019s \u201cStrictly Business,\u201d<\/a> MacArthur said Ascension\u2019s geographic advantages, including Mississippi River access, interstate connectivity and proximity to both Baton Rouge and New Orleans, remain foundational to the parish\u2019s growth strategy.\u00a0<\/p>\nAscension has become Louisiana\u2019s fastest-growing parish, fueled by industrial investment and expanding commercial development. Managing that expansion requires balancing industrial growth along the river with residential and retail development elsewhere.<\/p>\n
One of the clearest examples of Ascension\u2019s long-term strategy is the RiverPlex MegaPark, a 17,000-acre industrial concept first developed nearly 15 years ago.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That patience paid off in 2025, when Hyundai Steel announced a $5.8 billion project at the mega site\u2014a move MacArthur describes as transformational. The investment represents Hyundai\u2019s first steel manufacturing facility outside South Korea and is expected to generate 1,400 jobs, while helping reverse decades of economic decline on Ascension\u2019s west bank.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a new industry that we didn\u2019t have,\u201d MacArthur said of the Hyundai project. \u201cIt was the first one to go into the RiverPlex MegaPark that we\u2019ve been working on for so long and it was announced at the White House. Those three things were amazing. It was one [project] where it took every single partner in our network to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
MacArthur said the project is expected to create broad opportunities for local suppliers, from industrial contractors to service providers, and she encourages companies to register through the state\u2019s Source Louisiana procurement system to compete for contracts.<\/p>\n
Workforce preparation is also a major focus. MacArthur pointed to River Parishes Community College\u2019s planned Donaldsonville campus expansion as a key step in training workers for emerging industrial and skilled-trade jobs needed to support incoming projects.<\/p>\n
Watch the full episode.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ascension Parish\u2019s rise as one of Louisiana\u2019s fastest-growing economic engines is the result of long-term planning, infrastructure strategy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476715,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[28,101],"class_list":["post-476714","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476714"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476714\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476714"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}