Big City, Bright Future: Development Surges Ahead in Downtown Jackson

by Adam Lynch
Graphic illustration courtesy of Downtown Jackson Partners
September 20, 2006

These may be strange days for a Capitol City, but Jackson’s rebirth continues to pick up speed, despite the antics of its indicted mayor.

Council President Ben Allen used Monday’s council session to discuss positive developments that the media ignore.

“We had a meeting … and we talked about all these good things coming to the city,” Allen said. “We might have a stadium opening up right down the street from city hall, and we got all these new opportunities opening up … and the next day, The Clarion-Ledger headline is ‘City to Tap Budget Reserves’ or something like that. And I had to ask, ‘Just what meeting were you attending?’”

Indeed, new businesses are on the way, even as the city’s mayor fights to retain credibility in the wake of felony indictments.

Explosion in Downtown Living

Attorney David Watkins, after years of battling setback after setback, is now mulling over bids for contractors looking to begin the work on the King Edward Hotel. Bids will be awarded in October, with actual construction expected to begin in early 2007. Watkins and New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister, along with HRI Inc. of New Orleans, will spend $55 million refurbishing the century-old anti-landmark.

For 40 years, the building has served as a testament to a city abandoned and left to decay by its middle-class residents fleeing to new neighborhoods outside the city.

Watkins, however, heralds the national trend of young professionals moving back into city cores in search of streetlights and nightlife. They will find what they want in downtown Jackson, he vows. The King Edward will become a mixed-use facility with 172 hotel rooms, 50 apartments and condominiums, as well as shops and office space—oh, and a sushi bar. Watkins says it has to have a sushi bar.

“People are moving inwards toward the city,” Watkins said. “Look, you can’t re-create a downtown like Jackson in a suburban community. It’s decades old, it’s got history. You can’t pick that up and move that somewhere else.”

HRI and Watkins are also looking to implement a multi-use plan for the Standard Life Building, which is also downtown. Currently, the building houses the Jackson Police Department, but planners at last week’s council meeting explained that the new police headquarters are coming along nicely and should be ready for use within months.

“I can’t say, with all these hold-ups, that the King Edward is going to bring the profits now that we’d originally envisioned, but maybe we can recoup some of that through the Standard Life Building,” Watkins said. “We’d like to do something with that space, perhaps add some parking, maybe bring in some more condominiums.”

Watkins also is rubbing his hands together at the possibility of the state putting the Robert E. Lee Building up for sale, and thinks that a number of developers could be “chomping at the bit” convert it into residential units, possibly upscale condominiums. Watkins’ development partners, HRI Inc., is the kind of business that has taken the bait at such prospects in the past, and other developers that cater to building residences with a little history in them could see value in the building. At the moment, though, developers have no means to invest until the state actually puts the “for sale” sign on the sidewalk in front of the Robert E. Lee.

Katrina’s Silver Lining

In the meantime, more living space will soon open up nearby at the Old Ironworks Building on Gallatin Street. The building already offers loft living, but more is on the way. Pat Pigott, who owns the Ironworks studio, said he plans to add another 14 apartments to the three already in the building, bringing occupancy up to 17.

“I plan to have everything from a one-bedroom flat to a three-bedroom townhouse, ranging in price from about $800 to $2,300 a month,” Pigott said. “Then, depending on how this goes, I also have the Barefield office building across the street. We will have decided on whether to develop that in a year.”

Further down the street, developers are set to make land currently owned by Entergy and the state explode.

“Well, we got (bid) proposals for the development of Phase 1 of the Capitol Green Project,” says John Lawrence, president of Downtown Partners, an organization formed to promote growth and re-investment in the downtown area. “We’ve got the bid proposals in hand, we’ve been reviewing them. We’re keeping quiet because we don’t want people tainting the review committee. … We should have interviews with prospective developers in a couple of weeks.”

Entergy Economic Development Director John Turner told the Jackson Free Press this week that Entergy is already eyeing New York developer Full Spectrum, which is promising hotels, housing and a movie theater for the project. The project will ultimately result in nearly a million square feet of retail, hotel, office and public space, as well as residential space, says Lawrence. Before the onset of Katrina, however, it wasn’t looking likely.

Entergy owns a large swath of land along Jefferson Street, where it sits upon a natural bluff overlooking the floodplain of the Pearl River. Haley Fisackerly, vice president of customer operations for Entergy Mississippi, announced last year that after months of planning, the idea of developing the largely unused portion of Jefferson Street was finally kicking forward. Fisackerly and Entergy recently joined with Ted Duckworth and his associates to make the new Electric Building a reality. (Entergy had been contemplating abandoning that building before developers came forward to change it into new apartment and business space).

Strung out by high costs and unwilling investors, the Old Capitol Green project lingered in limbo for years before getting a feverish boost from tax incentives via federal GO Zone legislation, designed to counter the 2005 damage of Hurricane Katrina. Suddenly, investors are falling over themselves trying to get at what will likely prove to be a very high return for their investment.

The Old Capitol Green project is spurring other joint developments. Attorney Crymes Pittman Jr. plans to have a hand in housing development along Jefferson Street, telling developers that he would like to convert an old warehouse and neighboring structures into loft-style apartments and scenic green space.

Tanya Scott-Graves, the 37-year-old managing partner of Ceva Green, is ready to plunk down $40 million for a “Miami-style lifestyle center” on State Street, in the abandoned Cadillac dealership.

“It looks like eight to 10 stories, with about 55 residential units in it,” says Scott-Graves. “It’ll contain three floors of commercial and retail, a five-star restaurant, private executive lounge, spa, salon, gym. We’re keeping financial backing close to the mouth, but so far everything looks absolutely fabulous. We’re very confident. We’ve gotten the nod from several people outside the state interested in investing. For us, the major thing right now is to secure the property and move forward with the financing of the project.”

Ceva Green Development, an offshoot of Ceva Corp. specializes in environmentally friendly real estate development: commercial, residential and retail. Scott-Graves says the project is tied in with the Capitol Green Project, though not fully dependent on it, pointing out that she’s already pre-leasing for the residential units and the commercial space. A Web site dedicated to pre-leasing will be up and running within the next three weeks, she says.

Scott-Graves says the multi-use building will include sustainable living construction material and furnishings as well as solar panels and architectural amenities designed to keep living costs to a minimum.

She says Ceva will open a temporary office downtown prior to construction of the Old Capitol Green project, probably in the Electric 308 building. “It’s a green office, of course,” she says. “Come see the sustainable furniture and walls.”

The Brandon resident is married to Chris Graves, son of Judge James Graves—but is not about to live in the shadow of her in-laws. Her own father, Corbett Scott Sr., is the big money behind the Ceva project, she says. Corbett Scott was stuck in Jackson when Hurricane Katrina struck, and his new familiarity with the city may have spurred his willingness to invest.

“I’m very proud of my pop for being willing to invest in a state with no ties prior to my husband,” Scott-Graves says.

Other development plans aren’t moving as fast. In July, the law firm Butler, Snow, O’Mara, Stevens & Cannada announced that they’re moving to the former cow pastures of Ridgeland in 2009, taking hundreds of jobs out of downtown. The move put on hold the development of Two Jackson Place, which Parkway Properties had been putting together, with Butler, Snow as the anchor business.

Steve Rogers, of Parkway Properties, says he’d like the project to go forward without them. Parkway already owns One Jackson Place, City Center, and 111 East Capitol—all of which are almost fully occupied or used.

“It’s too early for me to make any kind of comment about progress, yet, because there’s a lot of movement in the city of professional firms. (Parkway) is certainly ready to do its part to invest in downtown Jackson,” Rogers says. “I’d very much like to see the redevelopment of this entire block finished up as we’d originally planned 20 years ago, and I think with all the professional firms moving today there’s a very high chance that we could do this but we need some things to fall into place. We’re hopeful.”

Farish Street—Finally?

Other projects may finally be moving forward after some serious delays.

Heavy red tape stalled development of the Farish Street Entertainment District for many months. Last year, Performa Real Estate, which gave Memphis’ Beale Street new life, found more asbestos in some buildings that city inspectors missed. And then came the financing issues. Mississippi Development Authority agreed to toss in about $5 million in state funding for the project if Performa agreed to first commit to the renovation of housing units in the district.

Construction for the units must fit historic dimensions, however, and the Farish Street Historic District Neighborhood Foundation had issues with the design Performa offered. Performa Real Estate CEO John Elkington said Performa is working out a loan with a state lender that would provide money for the project. He promised more details in the next few days.

Elkington added, however, that issues other than money haunted the project for weeks.

“You can say that local government instability was slowing the process,” Elkington said. “We had a great relationship with Harvey Johnson. Everything was fine and moving along, but when the new administration came in, the rules kept changing on us.”

Elkington said he had a problem with city employees, which Performa was accustomed to working with, vanishing from their jobs during the last 12 months.

“(Mayor Frank Melton) fires the head of the building department, he fires the head of planning, and we decided that we needed to pause and take a breath,” Elkington said. “I mean, Jimmy Heidel is a great guy, but Jimmy Heidel is only a consultant, and he could’ve been gone next week. In some ways, we were afraid to act.”

Other projects possibly on the way include two new restaurants around the City Hall area, and the Convention Center Hotel, which is riding the tails of the emerging convention center. Ted Duckworth—supposedly the mind behind the restaurants—could not be reached for comment. Jimmy Heidel, the driving force behind the Convention Center Hotel, was also out of town this week, though Rogers at Parkway Properties says his company is on record as supporting parking for the hotel if it becomes a reality.

“Hopefully, the JRA and the city can get together and offer some solutions there,” Rogers said.

West Jackson Shining

Of course, not all the development is coming to downtown.

Jackson State University has two possible projects under consideration. Rumor has it that the university is looking for its own stadium, though JSU Vice President of Finance Troy Stovall was unable to comment on that or the university’s efforts at urban renewal around the Metro Parkway. The university has been buying land up and down the parkway and could be gearing up for some of its own urban renewal, possibly to the tune of 200 or 300 homes.

West Jackson is already seeing the first, delicate tendrils of redevelopment, though.

Greg and Kathy McDade have been a growing presence in the city, owning and managing grocery stores in locations in Woodland Hills Shopping Center, Maywood Mart and on Fortification Street. Now they’ve set up shop at the old Jitney Jungle store in Westland Plaza.

Westland Plaza was already undergoing a re-emergence of its own, with new storefront grants making possible fresh lighting, new sidewalk space and a new Walgreens drug store. Now Westland has the benefit of a McDade’s Food Store, and Kathy McDade says the community has welcomed them.

“We had a grand opening a week ago today. Everything’s great. The neighborhood has received us well. They seem to be excited that there’s a grocery store back in their neighborhood,” McDade said. “They’ve just reached out to us and made us a part of their families.”

McDade says concerns about the rising cost of merchandise due to theft (shrinkage) are overstated.

“Shrink is always a problem, no matter what kind of store you are or what you sell, but we do
everything we can to have a clean, safe place for my customers and employees. We have security in our stores—security cameras. We did everything we could to create that safe environment, and we’re not experiencing any noticeable problems at all.”

JPD Precinct 2 has a work station in the Westland store; officers visit the location to fill out paperwork or file information. McDade says there’s always a police car in the parking lot.

“So far, we’re doing great business,” she says, adding that keeping the shelves stocked with a wide variety of products likely has much to do with that.

West Capitol Street has seen a slight resurgence in retail activity, with a price-conscious Family Dollar Store opening up just down the street from the revamped Jackson Zoological Park. David Watkins says he would like to be able to help coax a new Wal-Mart to the spot. Jackson currently only has one mega-store branch, off Highway 18, with at least four other branches around the city’s borders, positioned close to city residents.

Watkins says the mega-chain has been implementing a successful new policy of aiming branches at low-income neighborhoods.

Wal-Mart announced a new initiative this spring to open 10 new Wal-Marts a year for the next five years in several urban centers that may not fit their traditional strategic growth pattern, for the purpose of urban development in lower income areas.

“Deuce and HRI and I are working on a Wal-Mart in Jackson, to try to do a little urban blight removal. We’ll stick it wherever it will do the most good, either West Capitol Street, or Robinson Road, or somewhere close to Jackson State. I’d like it on West Capitol myself,” Watkins said.

Wal-Mart attempted a similar experiment in New Orleans last year in a low-rent area. Down went some houses, up went the Wal-Mart, and Watkins says it’s been a good anchor for other retail in that spot.

“Wal-Mart is the most cost-sensitive retailer around, and marketing tells you that if you find an area with a massive amount of people you’ll get business—and we’ve got 45 to 50 thousand in West Jackson who are not being served by a Wal-Mart. People from Jackson have to drive. Why not put one on Capitol Street, a very short distance from Fondren, Jackson State and Belhaven and clean up West Jackson and provide an economic incentive? People going to those places need to stop and get gas. Generally, when you build a Wal-Mart, it will attract other tenants,” Watkins said.

‘Not One-Trick Ponies’

More development goodness could be opening up along the northern sector of I-55, following the lead of the Deuce McAllister dealership. Ward 2 Councilman Leslie McLemore said he was delighted at the possibility of a CarMax dealership filling the considerable parking space left vacant by the exit of K-Mart at the corner of Beasley Road and I-55 frontage Road.

“I went to the site-plan review committee meeting several weeks ago when (CarMax) came in and started the paperwork to locate their facility at the old K-Mart building,” McLemore said. “Anything to shore up the tax base is always helpful.”

Trina H. Lee, public relations manager at CarMax, confirmed that the company was in the preliminary stages of bringing a branch to the area.

“We’re a growing company, and we’re always interested in new markets,” Lee said. “We have one store in Birmingham and one store in Texas—in your neighboring areas—so we would definitely be excited about (Mississippi).”

Lee describes the business as a new kind of car dealership. “We’re a no-haggle, no-hassle used-car retailer. When you come to the store, there’s one price on the vehicle and that’s the price you pay. It’s sort of like going to Lowe’s. You walk in and all the prices are clearly marked. Select the one that’s best for you and suits your needs.”

Business in Fondren has been brisk of late, with developer Mike Peters’ Duling Street project having great success in snagging vendors, according to Peters.

“We’re finalizing plans with several big tenants that hopefully should come to some kind of head in the next 30 or 45 days. We’re still hoping to break ground Nov. 1, but I know we’ll break down before the end of the year,” Peters said, asking for another 30 days before he officially releases the names of any tenants.

Peters is remodeling the building formerly known as Duling School and adding two new adjoining projects, one on the corner of Duling Avenue and State Street, the other cornering Duling and Old Canton Road. Peters said the project will be similar to the Fondren Corner mixed-use facility. Besides businesses, Duling will sport condominiums running $200,000 or more, Peters says.

In addition to this, Fondren is about to get its own tailor-made pizzeria, courtesy of Jeff Good, one of the masterminds behind Bravo!.

“We’ve been working four-and-a-half months on a sauce and five-and -a-half months on a pizza dough, and we’re there. We’re not one-trick ponies. This is completely different from Broad Street, completely different from Bravo!. We’re bringing in some very classic brick ovens out of New Jersey, and those are going to be the centerpiece for cooking the pizzas,” Good said.

Good said he expects the restaurant, Sal & Mookie’s, to be open by January. By February, many Fondren residents will have likely gained another 10 pounds, because the restaurant will also serve high-end ice creams and desserts.

The new Fondren development will receive a little help in getting people to the area; the City Council voted recently to approve the license application for a new public transportation system. The Fondren Express is basically a remodeled Steel Magnolia trolley, which will run a circuit between local hospitals and the businesses and restaurants of the Fondren area.

Alan French, of Fondren’s Real Estate Solutions, said he devised the trolley idea to combat a growing parking problem in the Fondren community.

“People come here from the hospital and other places to get away from things, to shop, eat, but they may not want to walk the distance they have to travel to get here. We want to make that easier for them,” French said.

Regardless of the new development slated for the area, the mayor’s office has most likely had a detrimental affect on drawing dozens of other prospective businesses to Jackson.

Belhaven economics professor William Penn said the mayor’s antics may have turned off many businesses considering moving to Jackson. He added, however, that a greater influence now would be how the city government responded to the scandal.

“What is more pertinent to business attraction now is whether or not things seem to be in control or out of control. Are they being rectified or is there gridlock? We have a situation where the executive breaks ties with the legislative,” Penn asked. “What happens now is very important.”

Penn also said he worried that negative press sure to come from any criminal trial of the mayor would be a factor.

“The indictment, unfortunately, carries on regardless of whether or not he resigns. If he is convicted, he’ll have to resign by law. What I hope is that this thing will be adjudicated. He can’t plead no contest because then he’d have to resign, so the problem is while this thing drags on, what’s going to be the response of City Council to the mayor and vice versa?”