Steve Rogers chimes in with his Columbus-slanted view on the Golden Triangle again.
In propping up the University Park project in Lowndes county (is there an university located anywhere near the site?), he takes a potshot or two at Starkville and Cotton Mills. From the column dated August 22:
Starkville Mayor Dan Camp and others haven’t helped by touting the multi-million dollar Cotton Mill District project proposed for their city. While different from the University Park proposal — the Cotton Mill District focuses more on turning MSU’s Cooley Building into a conference center surrounded mostly by hotels and housing with some retail — Camp has taken every opportunity to say the Columbus deal never will happen.
Maybe Rogers needs to view the site info here for the latest updates. It is close to a million square feet with two anchors (aka “big box” retailers), retail, a movie theater, restaurants, housing and a hotel. Plus its across the street from a SEC school with over 17,000 enrolled. A little different from a retail mall in the middle of a pasture in rural Lowndes County.
My sources- including Columbus, Starkville and MSU people- have said that the project that breaks ground first will probably win and severely cripple the other. Considering that demolition and engineering work is on going at Cotton Mills, along with over 50,000 or retail space signed, Cotton Mills appears the safer bet.
This race is going to be interesting to watch. Will both succeed? Will they be pale shadows of themselves due to cannibalization between the two sites? Will they both fail.
UPDATE: Great catch by Graham in the talkbacks. Should have said “It is close to a million square feet with two anchors (aka “big box” retailers), retail, a movie theater, restaurants, housing and a hotel.” Good spotting.
Columbus has 12 smaller retailers and an anchor. Does Starkville have an anchor? The17,000 students have very little money to spend.
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It is close to a million square feet of retail with two anchors (aka “big box” retailers), a movie theater, restaurants, housing and a hotel.
To be accurate according to the Cotton Mill website, this project has 950,000 sq. feet of MIXED Retail space available. The vast majority of the 950,000 sq. feet available will be used for the residential area, hotel, restaurants, conference center and the movie theater. From the website, I am under the impression the only retail that will be located in the Cotton Mills besides the 50,000 sq. feet specifically for retail will be the two other big box stores.
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Replying to “John”………
I am not sure that your statement “The 17,000 students have very little money to spend” is accurate. Don’t underestimate the power of 17,000 students, particularly when you consider that 90%+ spend every penny they make + every penny they get from their family. This is in addition to the credit they receive from credit card companies. The average college student graduates with over $800 in credit card debt, and 25% of students have over $3,500 of credit card debt upon graduation. If you build it, they will spend it…….
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For John…
“The 17,000 students have very little money to spend”?
Really? Without those 17,000 students, Starkville would be Eupora or Mathiston… Each of those 17,000 students spends thousands of dollars a semester in Starkville. As a former service industry worker, I can tell you that some of those students with “very little money to spend” somehow manage to pay $50+ bar tabs four nights per week and buy plenty of toys… If you don’t believe me, spend an hour or two in Walmart to see the kind of stuff these kids are buying…
And that doesn’t count the 6 or 7 home football games, 15 or so home basketball games and 30+ home football games, which are all big economic impacts because of the tourist dollars they bring in, and will get even bigger with this development…
Columbus has never and probably will never see anything like the Cotton Mills project.
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Columbus doesn’t need to see a project lke the Cotton Mills project, because it has a convention center and plenty of hotes and housing. What they dont have is a good mall. I can see why restaurants would choose Starkville over Columbus. Like Chester said, they spend about 50 dollars a night in restaurants, and that is where the majority of their money goes – not upscale shops. There is no old navy or Belk in Starkville but there is a much better variety of resaurants to choose from, which proves my point.
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