AS 2007 COMES to an end, Northsiders can reflect on a year that has been marked by successful construction and implementation of new plans to improve the quality of life.

Some projects, like the Lost Rabbit development, will soon mean new homes and retail shopping opportunities for residents. Another mixed-use development, the Township at Highland Colony Park, is also attracting new businesses to the area.

Other developments will save residents time when they go shopping. This year one national chain decided to make Colony Crossing its next home. And, thanks to a road widening project along Mississippi 463, the commute for many Madison residents will soon be smoother. In addition to that project, plans are being laid out for construction on Fortification Street in Jackson.

One plan under development this year could give the city of Madison a new town center. A six-figure donation from a local development group could make that project a reality.

Other successes will help preserve history and offer Northside children better learning environments. Work this year began on a renovation project to improve the Old Capitol Museum. Jackson students also began to see improvements in the public school system, thanks to the historic passage of a $150 million bond referendum in late 2006.

When students aren’t learning in school, they could soon have some educational fun at two new museums. Plans were created this year for a new children’s museum in Jackson. And, following an effort by the Jackson Downtown Partners and City Council late in 2007, the city is now being seriously considered for a national civil rights museum.

Not all projects, though, were government or development-related. Two expansion projects this year will give two area churches an opportunity to serve more people. Both Northminster Baptist Church and First Presbyterian Church in Jackson completed building additions.

And finally one project will give Northsiders another opportunity to relax. The River Hills Club on Lakeland Drive, this year, began work on a new clubhouse.

WORK BEGAN THIS year on Lost Rabbit’s marina and town center. The plans for both projects were unveiled in December 2006, following a planning charrette in Miami.

The project, when it was completed this summer, includes a 124-slip marina. Work on the five-block town center began in the fall. Mark Frascogna of Neopolis Development LLC, the firm building the project, said, “the town center includes five blocks that actually face the marina, creating a beautiful plaza that is surrounded on three sides by buildings and on the fourth by the marina itself.

The town center, once completed, will include five blocks of buildings dedicated to creating a professional district. It will likely have office spaces, condominiums, live-work units, a general store, two restaurants, an art gallery and specialty shops. The first building that will be completed will house an sales office for the development, officials close to the project said.

The marina and town center make up a small portion of the 260-acre Lost Rabbit development, which sits between the Natchez Trace Parkway and the Ross Barnett Reservoir. Lost Rabbit is considered a “Traditional Neighborhood Development,” based on the new urbanism concept.

Once it’s completed, it will feature three neighborhood districts, including the garden district, the lake district and the town center. The concept, officials said, shows a return to the principals first implemented in Europe. Its buildings will be based on historical Mississippi architecture

The development was hashed out in 2006 a planning charrette in Miami. It was hosted by the nationally renowned Duany, Plater-Zyberk and Company.

The marina was slated to be finished this year, with work on the town center beginning in the fall. Other property there has been set aside for churches and a small area school. There is also an opportunity for an 18-hole professional golf course to be added as well.

While work began in earnest on Lost Rabbit’s town center and marina, other developments were attracting attention of their own.

THROUGHOUT THE year, construction was under way on a $19 million Embassy Suites Hotel at the Township at Colony Park development. Highland Colony Parkway has attracted several hundred millions of dollars in development since it was built in the late 1980s.

Township sits on about 95 acres and is a mixed-use development. It features about 200,000 square feet of retail space, 250,000 square feet of commercial office space and 135 single family residential lots. It also includes two seven-acre lakes, four small parks and site amenities.

Work on the Township began in 2004 and expected to be built out in 2009. The project is based on the concept of new urbanism, which is based on the idea that residents should be in close proximity to their needs, like banks and shopping centers.

Township is located along Highland Colony Parkway. Other new businesses that planned to build along the parkway in the development this year included a Trustmark National Bank branch. The bank will take up about 2,500 square feet, with more than 20,000 square feet of administrative offices.

Other projects are also seeing growth on the Northside. The Kroger Co., opened a new grocery store in the Colony Crossing shopping center in Madison.

A 64,000-square-foot grocery store was under construction there since February. Construction would have begun sooner, but the store changed its plans.

Originally, it purchased 45,000 square feet of space from Ergon Properties and Frazier Development, the firms that own the center, but the store was soon expanded 19,000 square feet. Since deciding to locate there, several other retailers also signed on, officials said.

The project, according to developer Claiborne Frazier, was 94 percent leased earlier this year.

Colony Crossing is a $60 million development located at the corner of Highland Colony Parkway, Bozeman Road and Highway 463. The development has a French chateau theme. It includes more than 274,000 square feet of space, including retail and restaurants.

Many shoppers and commuters will have an easier time getting to their destination thanks to some much-needed road widening projects. Earlier this year, work wrapped up on a project to four-lane a five-mile stretch of U.S. 51 in Madison and Ridgeland.

WORK STARTED ON another project to do the same for traffic on Highway 463 in Madison. (The street also serves as Main Street in Madison and traffic there has increased with new development.)

Officials with the Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) began work this year on a six-tenth of a mile stretch from Orleans Way to Post Oak Road in Madison. The project called for installing a new east-bound and west-bound lane and installing new traffic signals at Welch Farms Road.

Signals at two other roads, Garden Park Drive and Sunny Orchard Road, will also be updated, according to MDOT officials. While some interchanges were improved, one in Madison is going to disappear. The intersection at Locust Lane and Highway 463 will permanently closed, officials said.

Online traffic maps created by the department show between 16,000 and 17,000 vehicles use the road each day. While the state worked on that project, Madison officials worked to reroute traffic for residents living in the neighborhoods off of Locust Lane.

Madison Project Manager John Robinson said earlier this year that the city extended Garden Park and tied the road into Locust Lane to give residents access to the highway. The project is slated to be completed sometime in 2008.

WHILE WORK continued on Highway 463, plans were established for the Fortification Street project. The project, though, has recently hit some snags.

Earlier this year, the Jackson City Council approved a contract amendment with CiViLTech Inc. to begin the preliminary design for the repair project. City officials said that the design process should take about one year from the date planning started. It will then be subject to review by MDOT.

The project had seen a delay in recent months because of the identification of possible historic structures that would have been affected along the roadway. Several structures were identified during a federal review process under Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. (It involves preservation or the minimization of damage of cultural resources during federal projects.)

The project is part of an ambitious plan to make it and State Street in Belhaven into a commercial corridor. Several other projects are under way, but construction on Fortification hasn’t begun.

In addition to making the area a commercial corridor, the purpose of the project is to improve traffic flow and the appearance of a 1.25 mile stretch along the roadway. The section of Fortification between Mill Street and Greymont Avenue will also be made more pedestrian friendly.

Officials said sidewalks would be brought up to standard with the Americans with Disabilities Act and a new median could also be built. Traffic cameras will be installed and signals will be updated.

Roadways aren’t the only construction making headlines. Work can begin in January on a new town center following a grant from the Madison County Economic Development Authority. The group, earlier this year, presented the city with a $196,500 check for phase one of the project.

City officials and Redevelopment Authority officials continued to work on plans for the center this year. The area will likely contain options for a performing arts center, retail space, upscale condominiums, office space and city government space.

The plans have been on the drawing board for the past two years. As a response to the discussion, the Redevelopment Authority was formed to oversee the development. (The town center has been a vision of Mayor Mary Hawkins-Butler for several years.)

The grant, officials said, would be used to continue studying the project, which will likely feature a Scandinavian theme. It will include retail stores, a boutique hotel, and five-star restaurants.

It will likely sit on 17 acres between Madison Avenue and Main Street behind the Madison Square Center for the Arts. Officials hope to hit the ground running in January.

WHILE A NEW development will give the city of Madison a new central focus, two projects, one under way this year, will help preserve the capital city and state’s rich history.

Work on the project continued this year with hopes that the facility will reopen in 2009. This year, construction wrapped on the first phase of preliminary work to improve the facility’s drainage problems, asbestos abatement and the removal of plaster, museum officials said.

The second phase was expected to begin a 16-month process to restore the facility. The project calls for electrical and mechanical work, the replacement of sidewalks, treating interior walls to prevent dampness and repairing the dome, the roof and windows at the facility, officials said.

In addition, limestone will also be replaced. The project will cost about $11.2 million. The Legislature authorized $14.2 million for the project, and another $3 million will be used to furnish the building.

Construction the facility can’t begin until state lawmakers approve the funding for it. While a request was presented at the 2007 legislative session, it wasn’t approved. Museum officials will try again in 2008. Once secured, it will take five years to get the museum up and running.

A restoration was planned before Hurricane Katrina caused damage to the facility. Initially, plans were to build a new history museum and then restore the Capitol. Now, following massive damage from the storm, building restoration became the top priority.

The project will help restore the Old Capitol to the way it looked in the 1800s, when it was built.

Other buildings will also get some much needed improvements in the coming years, following taxpayers’ approval of a $150 million bond referendum for Jackson Public Schools. And, like the Old Capitol, some work began this year.

The Jackson School Board, this year, selected contractors for several Northside school renovations. Thanks to the referendum, Northside students will soon have a new, less crowded school to alleviate crowding at Chastain Middle School.

Between $18 million and $22 million has been set aside to erect the new North Jackson Middle School, which will likely be built on property across from Callaway, officials said. The district, at the time of publication, was in negotiations to obtain the land.

IN ADDITION TO new middle school, 28 schools were chosen for immediate work in 2007, ranging from HVAC replacements to the installation of new playground equipment.

Of the most pressing projects on the Northside, Murrah High School, Power APAC and Boyd Elementary were selected to have new intercoms installed. Casey Elementary was penciled in for an HVAC replacement and a hard-surface playground. And Murrah’s east wing restrooms were repaired.

Other schools were also selected for work in 2007, including Spann Elementary. The referendum passed with 81 percent of the vote during the November 6, 2006 election. And, according to Jackson Public Schools officials, the bond couldn’t have come at a better time.

Many of the district’s 59 schools were built in the 1950s and 1960s and were in need of repair. The funds will also be used to build a new elementary school, two new middle schools and add classrooms at five elementary schools and one high school.

The bond will also be used to fund smaller renovations at other district facilities. The Jackson School Board in November approved hiring five architectural firms to design three new schools and the classroom additions. The board also began finalizing plans for several renovations projects.

Fred Davis, the district’s executive director of facilities and operations, said JPS will begin accepting bids on the projects in 2008, so work can begin in the summer. Among projects planned for the Northside in coming months, classroom space will be added at Casey and McLeod Elementary.

And renovations have been planned for Callaway High and Spann Elementary. At the high school, crews will replace carpet with new floor. At Spann, foundation problems will be remedied.

WITH ALL OF THE construction in the city, Jackson could soon have to find a spot for a new museum. The city of Jackson is now being considered as a location for a national civil rights museum.

Four spots, including two on Mill Street and one at Tougaloo College, are considered among the top five by the governor’s commission to establish a civil rights museum.

Earlier this year, the Jackson City Council and the Downtown Jackson Partners respectfully submitted plans to the commission for consideration. The council also signed off on a resolution to locate it in one of three spots downtown. A spot in Hattiesburg is also being considered, officials said.

An independent consultant from Tennessee, this year, evaluated about 20 locations across the state based on accessibility, infrastructure, proximity to hotels and restaurants and other criteria.

Ward Seven Councilwoman Margaret Barrett-Simon said in an earlier interview that the museum should be located downtown, although she didn’t care where. (She said the other six members of the council felt the same way.)

While Jackson is being considered for one museum, another one should soon come into fruition. A groundbreaking on the Mississippi Children’s Museum was slated for March 2008. The museum is expected to open its doors in 2009.

The 43,000-square-foot museum will have more than 20,000 square feet devoted for interactive exhibits in different areas, including state heritage, literacy, health and fitness, arts and the world at work.

According to plans released to The Northside Sun earlier this year, the signature exhibit at the facility will be a climbing map that will allow children to walk though and crawl under a 5,000-square-foot topographical map of the state.

Along with the state heritage exhibit, it will feature a huge replica of the human digestive system with a tunnel to climb through, the Eudora Welty Reading Porch and other areas. Earlier this year, designers were still working on exhibits for the massive museum.

The location for the museum, earlier this year, was not finalized. More than likely, though, it will be located at the LeFleur’s Bluff State Park. Throughout the year, museum officials worked to raise funds to make the museum a reality. The group hoped to raise $22.5 million for the project.

While museums are planned and schools are renovated, some Northside churches also received a facelift in 2007. Northminster Church was expected to complete an expansion by Christmas. And, First Presbyterian Church in Jackson completed a multimillion dollar project earlier this year.

NORTHMINSTER BAPTIST, located on Ridgewood Road, recently completed a $3.375 million project to expand the church’s facilities. The new building included nine new classrooms for adult study, two new bathrooms, a meeting area, a covered walkway and an outdoor columbarium.

Some church members said the 5,900-square-foot facility will help the church better serve the community and its members. The outdoor columbarium includes a large working fountain, metal benches, a brick wall and steel fence. At the time the story was written, 60 spots at the columbarium had been sold.

At First Presbyterian, the church completed a three-year renovation process this year. The sanctuary and the school had undergone a heavy renovation, Head of School Gary Herring said in a previous interview. Now, the church has a new sanctuary, nursery space and classrooms for its day school.

And, for those who hope for a little more recreation in the coming year, the River Hills Club began work on a new clubhouse. The club is located on Lakeland Drive. Construction on the clubhouse was expected to be completed between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year.

The project had been delayed for several years because of rising construction costs and the damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. The project’s size was also reduced from a 30,000-square-foot facility to a 23,500-square-foot building.

The clubhouse will feature expanded locker rooms with wet areas housing Jacuzzis and saunas. It will also feature an individual massage room, a big foyer, living room areas, grill areas, outside terrace and an expanded bar and lounge.

A separate banquet hall had also been planned but had been taken out to conform to budget constraints. The design, though, leaves the door open for future expansion when funds allow.