From: Dispatch Staff Report
February 17, 2010 4:02:00 PM

In a huge economic shot in the arm for West Point, the city’s near-idle Navistar plant has been awarded a $751.5 million contract to build more than 1,000 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles for the U.S. Marine Corps.

U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., today reported that the firm-fixed-price contract was awarded by the Marine Corps to Illinois-based Navistar Defense LLC for more than 1,000 Category I MRAP vehicles. The contract was competitively procured.

“The MRAP vehicles to be built at West Point will continue to support the strengthened U.S. military surge in Afghanistan,” Cochran, ranking Republican on the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, said in a release. “MRAPs have saved hundreds of our troops from roadside bombs, and I am proud that a significant number of them have been built in Mississippi.”

“I am also pleased that our strong West Point workforce will be part of providing the Marine Corps with these life-saving vehicles,” he said.

Full article here.

Should Cadence sell out to another bank?

THE SDN covers the resignation of two Cadence directors this AM. It’s a rehash os the SEC filing from a week ago with added comments from Lewis F. Mallory Jr., Cadence’s board chairman and CEO.

It would have been interesting to hear from the two directors who resigned.

Cadence is the only Fortune 500 headquartered in the Golden Triangle and is a Starkville success story.

Their stock (Cadence Financial Corporation) closed down 10.53% at $1.70 yesterday. That puts them at a market value of $20,252,100.

The Dispatch contacts some of the principals about CottonMills. The spin is that nothing has changed for CottonMills. If it was as close to reality as is portrayed, then why would anyone sell out?

From the article:

The layout of the proposed development, although still conceptual, also has changed, Nicholas said. He said he would provide updated site plans to The Dispatch, but those had not been received as of Saturday.

Still, Nicholas said the project is “very large.”

“It has not been scaled down,” Nicholas said. “It’s still very large. Construction costs have come down, which has really helped us.”

Greater Starkville Development Partnership President Jon Maynard had heard about the change in ownership when contacted Friday night, but hadn’t heard all of the specifics.

“Honestly, I don’t know how to see it,” Maynard said. “I haven’t talked to them enough to find out more.”

Maynard said he has a meeting Monday with Nicholas to “talk about it more directly,” but he doesn’t think the change in ownership will doom the project.

“I know they still plan to move forward,” Maynard said. “I don’t think this is a bad thing at all. (Nicholas) is the local connection and I think he can push this project forward a little more diligently.”

Nicholas attended Mississippi State University and two of his sons have graduated from MSU. A third son is enrolled there now.

“I have a lot of maroon blood in me,” Nicholas said. “That’s one of the reasons I pushed this project so hard, because I love Mississippi State and I love Starkville.”

I think this highlights just how difficult it is to take a local restaurant that is an institution and try to extend it as a franchise. With the closure of the Jackson branch and the no go for Tupelo, Oby’s is down to the Oxford and Starkville locations.

From NEMS360.com:

Oby’s restaurant a no-go for Fairpark; TRA to buy back land
by Carlie Kollath/NEMS Daily Journal

TUPELO – The Oby’s restaurant project is no longer in the works for Fairpark.

The Tupelo Redevelopment Agency, the group that oversees the development of the district, started the process last week of buying back the Oby’s land on East Main Street after the restaurant owners opted not to sign a contract extension.

John Oxford, chairman of TRA, said the board wrote Oby’s a check last week for $265,846 – the amount the owners of Oby’s paid in 2006 for 18,989 square feet next to the Renasant Center for IDEAs.

As part of commercial land contracts in Fairpark, buyers must start developing the land within two years of the purchase date. If not, the clause allows TRA to buy back the land within 12 months for the original price if it so chooses.

The clause was included at the beginning of the district’s creation to encourage immediate development and to discourage speculators from sitting on property and selling it later for a large profit.

Oby’s buyback clause expired Friday. At its November meeting, the TRA board voted to extend the contract for another year, giving the restaurant more time to wait for the economy to turn around, the members said.

The contract said that if Oby’s didn’t agree to the extension, TRA would buy back the land instead of letting the option lapse.

Oxford said the goal is to “protect the integrity of Fairpark” and allow TRA to market “this prime real estate.”

David Calhoun, a co-owner of the Oxford restaurant and one of the partners in the Tupelo franchise, said the contract extension because it “wasn’t in our best interest at the time.”

“The deal to extend the contract was not in place to help us as much as it was to help the group, TRA,” he said Monday.

When Oby’s was originally being wooed to Fairpark, Calhoun said, the area was portrayed as one that would quickly develop to a walking area like Oxford’s Square with a day crowd and a thriving nightlife.

“It may come to that eventually, but it’s not there right now,” he said. “It’s a lot of investment for just lunch business.”

He also cited several restaurants that have closed or intend to close this year.

“We’re interested to come to Tupelo,” he said. “We weren’t looking to sell (the property). We’re not in the business of buying land and trying to speculate. We’re in the restaurant business.”

He said he will be looking to build in Tupelo when the economy is on the upswing. But next time, he said, he will be looking all over Tupelo for a site.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Wendy Barthe Peavy, Marketing and Public Policy Director
COMVEST Properties, LLC

COMVEST Properties Cedes CottonMill Marketplace

Starkville, Mississippi, December 4, 2009 – CottonMill Marketplace developers, Brooks Holstein and Mark Nicholas, have structured an agreement in principle altering the ownership of the proposed development. This week Brooks Holstein, of COMVEST Properties, informed key state and local figures of his decision to
tender his interest in the project to Nicholas Properties of Jackson.

In a letter dated December 1st, Mr. Holstein stated: “My Company and its development partner, Nicholas Properties, have been blessed to work with a host of talented professionals, elected officials, and community leaders in our pursuit to bring CottonMill Marketplace to fruition. The cooperative effort of the past 24 months has been monumental. At this time, however, I have chosen to withdraw from the project in order for my company to pursue other opportunities which are more in keeping with our core expertise and asset class.”

COMVEST Properties, located in Biloxi, is a commercial real estate company specializing in retail tenant representation, leasing and development services. Together with its affiliate, Net Lease Developers, COMVEST is an active developer of single tenant net leased properties and shopping centers.

“Mark Nicholas and the development team will continue to move CottonMill Marketplace forward. I have pledged my support to Mark and his team as this is a project worthy of persistence,” Holstein wrote.

The Tuscaloosa News publishes their travel primer on Starkville this morning. A couple of interesting- and wrong- facts. MSU has 22k students? That happen over the past couple of weeks? Doe’s is still in business? The Cotton District as Shanty Town? Hopefully someone will correct them.