King Edward Opens: ‘Great Day for Jackson’

I think I see myself on the far left in the photo :)

Folks, don't miss this gallery of King Edward: Then and Now for images you won't see elsewhere. Thomas Beck took the photos today, and Stephen Barnette provided the memorabilia from the 1960s and before (how mod!), and various photographers took the images in between!

Check it out!

(Oh, and be sure to click on each page and look at all its photos. Our galleries are confusing to navigate, which I'm going to convince them to fix one of these days!)

Enjoy.

My wife and I stayed there on Friday evening, the second day it was open. We were very impressed, and it's not too expensive, either. I recommend it to all fans of Jackson when you come back to visit. I still can't believe it's finally open.

It was also great to see the Standard Life Building under renovation, too. (We had a great view of it from our room.) I hope the addition of residences in both towers has a good effect on downtown. I hope a grocery store near downtown goes in soon to serve all the new residences.

Along those same lines, it will be good to see those store fronts across from the King Edward on Capitol rehabbed, as well as the store fronts along Roach Street next to Standard Life.

By the way, does anyone happen to know what's being done with the Lamar Life Building? There was a big crane and some work being done, but I couldn't tell just what.

I'll be checking in at the King on the 4th of January for a quick look. Can't wait to see the glistening marble where dust once gathered in lonely clumps. The 17th of December was indeed a great day for Jackson! David Watkins, Deuce McAllister and HRI deserve eternal places of honor in Jackson's pantheon for resurrecting the Jewel of Capitol Street.

The Watkins Group also deserves mention for rehabbing those storefronts on the north side of Capitol Street. It's been sad to see so many of them abandoned and derelict, and good to know they're coming back. Getting retail and services downtown is key to making downtown a viable residential area. Residents need those kinds of businesses close by.

What's more, since they'll be a short walk from the King Edward and Standard Life residences, there will be more people out and about walking on the sidewalks, which will not only make downtown livelier, but it will also make it easier for downtown neighbors to meet and get to know each other and build a real community.

As much as I support the Farrish Street entertainment district, it's really the humble things like grocery stores, pharmacies, and barber shops that make a downtown lively on an everyday basis.

Trust me Mark, those things are in the works and coming!

Kaze I understood from an earlier post by you guys at "Watkins Dev" that some of the buildings across the street might be too far gone to save. My comment is that many times the facades can be saved and the buildings directly behind demolished and replaced with bigger newer bones and spaces kinda like a face transplant in reverse). Remember when they renovated and expanded the First "Bap" Church in the late 80's and they kept the three facades (west, south, and north) standing and used back supports to hold up the walls while the new "Sanc" was being built inside? I'm just sayin..........

Well at first glance we thought that might be the case but upon further review we will indeed be able to salvage them. Starting with the building right in front of King Ed where the Watkins sign is. And the facades WILL be saved and actually must be saved to get the vital historic tax credits. So, we agree (smile)

Kaze, one of the best feelings I had re the King Edward was not only walking in and seeing what it looked like finished...but looking across the street and seeing fresh new "Watkins Development" banners on all that property I'd written off as hopeless. Good on y'all.

Kaze a couple of those facades date to the 1880's.
also what's under the metal skins of one or two of them should be quite revealing as relates to architecture of the late Victorian period. Didn't know you were going to become an architectural historian did you?

I didn't. Lol. But I get pumped about learning new things and this has been a great teachable moment for me. I'm a novice at best but I'm working at it. What I DO know is that that's gonna be one magnificent block of Capital that will attract a gang of people everyday!

It will be, to be sure. In my memory there are one or two of those facades that were covered with correcgated metal panels to "update" them in the 70's....when they come off you will ask yourself "what were they thinking".....similar to what they found under the AT&T;building up on Capitol across from Regions. You guys will have fun now!!!!! Get it on.....

Saving the buildings or just the facades is all the same to me. I'm just glad there will be retail and services for downtown residents in those spaces.