BATON ROUGE - The governor and the Baton Rouge mayor attended a groundbreaking ceremony at the Baton Rouge Airport that will serve as the first step in developing new facilities specialized in receiving cargo.

The airport said Monday's event was the start of a process that should see the development of 53 acres in the BTR Aviation Business Park. Burrell Aviation plans to invest in the site's facilities and secure anchor tenants with the intent of making Baton Rouge a "critical hub for air cargo and other aviation-related activities" during its 30-year lease.

The $113,850,000 investment from Burrell is expected to create upward of 890 new permanent jobs.  

“We are excited about this opportunity to partner with Burrell Aviation to grow our Aviation Business Park. Burrell Aviation has the resources through privately sourced funding to market the property, secure tenants, and provide build-to-suit development for them. This will lead to area job growth and more economic output in the Baton Rouge area,” said Mike Edwards, BTR’s Director of Aviation.

Read the full announcement here.