The SDN finished their two part series this morning on the new retail/mixed use project. Very good read.

The GSDP is in the process of starting a “Home Grown, Shop Starkville First Campaign.” I guess that includes any professional services available on the MSU campus.

Word on the street is that the new GSDP website is being designed, for pay, by a group of MSU staff and students. Why has the organization that is supposed to support and foster small business in the area, turned it’s back on local businesses that could do a great job (Dux D’lux and Blufish Design come to mind) and handed the contract to a group that is competing in the private sector with taxpayer funded salaries and equipment?

The GSDP leadership that made the call should be ashamed of itself.

The MSU group doing the project gratis for experience is one thing, but taking a paying job and handing to a public entity is wrong.

MSU has no place undermining local businesses for private sector projects.

If you agree, inform Terry Kemp, GSDP board president. His email can be found here.

Friday morning at the GSDP Power Breakfast (7:30 AM no less), GSDP president Terry kemp indicated that they were sometime away from hiring David Thornell’s replacement. Maybe as far as 90 days. The search firm must be hired, candidates vetted, etc. I think they should give MSU AD Greg Byrne a retainer and see what he can do. Worked out pretty well for Greg Saturday……

It’s not just Dan Camp’s favorite color when Cotton District rent checks roll in at the first of the month. Apparently CAO Lynn Spruill is fond of the color, especially where buildings are concerned. Is adopting LEED certification that important? (I happen to think it’s a good thing and is pretty cutting edge for a municipality in the state).

Nice article by SDN Editor Brian Hawkins, first of a two parter, on the new Cotton Mills project in the SDN. I think the pull quote is:

“Candidly, the only other viable shopping center was in Columbus. The retail offerings in Leigh Mall had been substantially under-managed. The largest economic generator and the largest economic engine with the largest under-served market in restaurants and retail is Starkville,” Brooks Holstein, developer.

This project has the chance to change the face of this town for a long time.