Tim Pratt
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STARKVILLE — The old Borden Milk plant has sat vacant at the corner of Lampkin and Montgomery streets in Starkville for years.
But as developer Jeremy Tabor walked through the 40,000-square-foot building Wednesday, he talked excitedly about the possibilities.
One of the large bays was at one time a boiler room. Another room was a cannery. Yet another was a storage area.
If all goes as planned, Tabor and fellow developer Dan Curran soon will bring business back to the Borden plant in the form of The Creamery at Central Station.
Plans are in the works for the developers to complete a roughly $4.5 million renovation of the building by early winter, Tabor said.
The Cotton District Grill will relocate and become Central Station Grill, tripling the restaurant’s space and providing some much-needed additional parking. Tabor hopes Central Station Grill will be open by Jan. 1, 2010.
Boardtown Bikes, located on Russell Street, also will move into the new facility. Tabor hopes the bicycle shop will be open by February.
Additionally, Tabor Construction and Development, and Tabor Management will move into the renovated building. Tabor hopes to complete his move-in by March.
And the development will feature a climate-controlled storage facility.
“This will be a showpiece for Starkville, Miss.,” Curran said.
Crews for the past three months have “gutted” the building, Tabor said, and architects are now working with each of the businesses involved to finalize layouts. Tabor Construction is handling the outside work, he said.
During a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday, Tabor told how he drove by the empty Borden plant building countless times before thinking about a purchase.
“The more I investigated, the more I fell in love with it,” Tabor said of the building.
John Bean, president of the Eat With Us Group, also was excited about the location.
“We’ve seen what’s happened in downtown Starkville over the last four or five years and we want to be a part of it,” Bean said.
“We’re not leaving (the Cotton District) because there’s anything wrong,” he added. “We’re leaving there because this is a great location.”
Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman also commended the project and its potential impact on the downtown area, which he stressed is not limited to Main Street.
“Cities all over the place deal with the struggle of things downtown drying up and moving elsewhere, and in my lifetime we’ve seen that struggle here in Starkville,” Wiseman said. “We are in a wonderful era right now. Downtown is alive and well and growing more than I’ve seen in my lifetime. What we are here celebrating today is a very important part of the future growth of our downtown area and the all-encompassing core of the city of Starkville.”
Office space and condominiums also are planned in the building.
Tim Pratt is the Starkville Bureau Reporter for The Commercial Dispatch.
I think it’s great. Very exciting for downtown!