Continental Tire the Americas is close to announcing plans for a $1.45 billion tire plant in Hinds County, Mississippi.

An extraordinary meeting of the Mississippi State Legislature has reportedly been convened today to consider a series of economic development issues tied to the planned tire plant.

Word of the plant came out yesterday when the Jackson (Mississippi) Clarion Ledger reported on the plan.

A spokesperson at Continental told Tire Review, “At this point, it is speculation and we don’t comment on speculation.”

The Clarion Ledger report yesterday said the plant would bring some 2,500 new jobs to the area, making it “the largest economic development announcement for the region in a generation.”

The newspaper said that state lawmakers will “be asked to provide incentives” for the tire plant, and that most “believe the Continental package will be similar to what Yokohama (Tire Corp.) received to move to West Point, Miss.

Continental itself has made no formal announcement.

The newspaper claims to have known about the Conti project since late 2014, but “agreed to not publish anything until negotiations were complete so as not to threaten the deal.”

The Continental tire plant site is said to be a 640-acre parcel along I-20 between the towns of Clinton and Bolton west of Jackson.

There was no word concerning what types of tires might be produced at the facility, or whether the plant site might be developed to handle multiple product areas, such as medium truck and OTR/ag tires.

It was just over two years ago that Conti officially opened its last North American greenfield plant, a consumer tire facility in Sumter, S.C.