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AllState Donates Building to Jackson State for Technology Center

AllState Donates Building to Jackson State for Technology Center

JACKSON, Miss.
Jackson State University will create a high-tech research center and incubator thanks to a lucrative deal with AllState
Insurance Co.
AllState is selling its former Sunbelt Support Center, a building valued at more than $20 million, to a newly created Jackson State foundation for $3 million.
The Mississippi e-Center Foundation, a nonprofit organization, will own the 192,600-square-foot building and lease most of it to Jackson State for academic uses. The center will open in the spring.
“We foresee the e-Center becoming a major component in establishing the city of Jackson as the information technology hub of the South,” says Ronald Mason Jr., president of Jackson State. “JSU will maximize the potential of the e-Center as an economic and community initiative to foster growth of information technology-based companies in Mississippi.”
AllState announced plans in November 1999 to close the support center and eliminate 1,200 jobs as part of a major restructuring. Liddy says the company has been phasing out work at the center over the past 18 months and shifting it to agents’ offices.
The 24-year-old center, which sits on 29 acres, will be used by JSU for teaching, teacher training and research. It also will become a “technology incubator” for new firms that can take advantage of JSU’s high-tech offerings. 



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