News and information about Starkville and Oktibbeha County
The Dispatch updates the progress of the Lynn Lane biking/walking path today. One particular description caught my eye:
“‘When I walked over to the street pushing the stroller it seemed like cars were going 50 mph. I felt very unsafe,’ remarked Cox.”
Kudos to Matt for walking his lovely daughter. But I also had a vision of Matt jogging with a stroller, Gump-like through the streets of Starkville. Weird.
in the 5/12/08 issue of the Mississippi Business Journal promoting the new Cotton Mill Marketplace.
ComVest Properties, the developer of the new convention center/retail are, has a few links of interest up.
Their Mississippi projects.
An aerial layout of the property.
A PDF of the powerpoint presentation.
Thanks to friend of StarkvilleNow Jud Skelton for the head’s up.
The slump in housing construction appears to be helping the SSD in their bids for construction pertaining to the recently passed bond issue. The bid for Ward-Steart-Henderson come in over $2 million under budget.
Rehashes much the same thing the summary post from last night did.
It has nothing to do with TIF bonds, economic develoeemnt or the GSDP, but Starkville resident/MSU instructor Marianne Ulmer was featured in the Journal as the cook of the week.
The vote was for 4-1 for with Perkins dissenting (with no comment). Self and Davis were absent.
A few notes:
-The project has to be completed with store in place before any bonds are issued. The bond becomes a reimbursement contingent upon the developer living up to their end of the bargain.
-The project is projected to cost over $150 million.
-It will provide 3000 construction jobs and 1000 new permanent jobs
The Tupelo Journal’s Gregg Ellis speculates that former MSU great and MLB all star Jeff Brantley might be interested in Ron Polk’s digs.
The Dispatch previews tonight’s BOA where the TIF bond measure is expected to pass. (Any takers on who votes against it? Maybe a March Madness type of pool is in order).
Some interest has been generated in the BOA/Mayor Doghouse Challenge. One Alderman did express concern on who got to hold the hammer.
During the regular BOA meeting Tuesday, the Mayor and Board will consider TIF bonds for an amount up to $7 million for the Cooley building infrastructure in anticipation of a new mixed used retail center.
This is a win-win for the city, because only monies generated in taxes from the project will be used to pay the bond obligation. No public vote or special legislative vote is needed for BOA to pass it.
The Cooley project has a chance to change retail in Starkville as we know it. As drawn, it is a beautiful plan with almost 1,000,000 square feet in retail, dining and hotel space. It looks to include a lot of green space and open walking corridors. Someone remarked that it would “put Starkville on the map” as far as new development is concerned.
One thing is for sure–it’s a heck of a lot better than an Old Navy and a Hollywood Video in a strip mall.
Update: Here’s a story from Kentucky.com about how TIF bonds work.
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