Part of the former Vicksburg Chemical Co. tract will reopen as a distribution center for chemical products.

John Miles, general manager of Harcros Mississippi LLC and formerly vice president of operation for Vicksburg Chemical, said the company plans to have a distribution center open at the site off Rifle Range Road by late September.

Harcros Mississippi is a subsidiary of Harcros Chemical, which is based in Kansas City, Mo.

Vicksburg Chemical, a maker of fertilizer and several other chemicals, closed in March 2002 after its parent company, Cedar Chemical Corp., filed for bankruptcy.

The site was used for production of agricultural and other chemicals for nearly 50 years, starting as Spencer Chemical on the south end of the site in 1953. Later, a second plant was built on the north end by Southwest Potash. The operation was consolidated when Cedar took over the operation.

&#8220Harcros is part of the deal for the old chemical plant site with Silver Tip” Project Partners LLC, Miles said.

Owned by Paul Bunge, a developer who lives in Denver., Silver Tip has announced potentials for the 480-tract that include a golf course, retailing and residential area and a casino.

Miles said Harcros’ plans to open a center in the warehouses of the chemical plant site where it will repackage and custom blend some of the variety of industrial chemicals it handles. The company’s sales and distribution operation is in Jackson now.

Bunge acquired the tract from the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, which became the owner through the bankruptcy action, in return for a pledge to spend up to $8 million to clean up a waste burial site which is remote from the production site Harcros plans to use.

&#8220They plan to eventually close the Jackson operation and move it to Vicksburg,” Miles said. &#8220Vicksburg is central, geographically, for Harcros’ business.”

In addition to its operation in Mississippi, the company has other distribution centers in Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia and Florida.

Once the local sales and distribution center opens in September, he said the company plans to put about 25 to 30 people to work and hopes to increase that number to 50 or 60 people within the next few years.

&#8220We will not do any basic chemical manufacturing,” Miles said. He said liquid and dry chemicals will come into the center by rail, trucks and in containers called totes and be shipped to end-users either as custom blends of chemicals or repackaged individual chemicals.

&#8220We anticipate Vicksburg being a master distribution center,” Miles said. That means the local center will also ship chemicals to other Harcros locations.

He said Harcros has a long-term lease with Silver Tip for the north end of the property and will own all of the structures and buildings on the land. Except for the buildings and equipment Harcros will use for its distribution center, the rest of the structures will be sold either as used equipment or scrap metal.

As part of the years-long litigation after the bankruptcy filing, Warren County forgave back taxes owed by the former owner.