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“We want you to leave this room on a mission,” said Ben Allen, president of the Downtown Jackson Partners (DJP). “We want you to be cocky about the capital city.”
DJP recently hosted a briefing at the Mississippi TelCom Center. The meeting proved that those in attendance had a lot to be excited about. “I don’t want anything negative about Jackson anymore,” said Mayor Frank Melton. “I’m happy that we had the chance to see the truth.”
At the event, developers offered updates on millions of dollars in construction projects now under way, ranging from the King Edward Hotel to the Old Capitol Green project, while others took the opportunity to discuss new marketing initiatives to promote the city.
Of the initiatives, DJP and the Mississippi Mainstreet Association are partnering to create a two-story facility that will be called the Jackson Marketing Center. In addition, he hopes to expand DJP’s scope to include Fondren, Belhaven and possibly the county.
If the plans are approved by the Jackson City Council, the center would offer the two groups a state-of-the-art facility to host meetings with potential developers looking to build in the city.
Allen presented preliminary drawings of the two-story center, which would likely be located at 509 East Pearl St. The first floor of the center would have a marketing center and a multimedia center with theater seating and a flat screen television.
The second floor would offer office space for the two organizations, storage space, a small conference room and a deck to host parties.
Allen said the deck would give them a chance to host parties and cookouts and would provide clients to the city with a view of downtown.
DJP IS NOW located at Capitol Towers. It would help fund the new facility with what it pays in rent at its current location. “We need this building to happen now,” Allen said.
Ward One Councilman Jeff Weill also attended the briefing. He said he liked the preliminary idea, but would like to learn more information before making a decision.
In addition, a marketing firm is creating a new interactive Web site for the city that will offer online visitors information about local businesses and available property. John Abbate with Marketing Alliance discussed the site. It will be similar to the one used in Louisville, Ky.
“The purpose is to present a virtual tour so (developers) won’t have to drive throughout the city,” Abbate said at the meeting.
He also presented a promotional video that will be used by DJP in its new marketing center.
The video, a roughly four-minute presentation of photographs and facts, featured upbeat music and information on downtown Jackson. “It shows them a day in the life of being downtown,” he said.
While some talked about future plans, developers updated the several hundred in attendance on some high-profile construction projects going on downtown.
Ben Minnifield with Novia Communications spoke about the Jackson Convention Center.
The project, once completed, will create 320,000 square feet of conference space when coupled with the Mississippi TelCom Center. And, he said, the project will create a new destination for meetings in the city and promote new small and minority business growth.
The convention center has already interested national and international groups. It is expected to open in 2009. The project, Minnifield said, is on time and on budget.
TWOP PROJECTS UNDER way in Jackson is expected to complement the Convention Center and fill a need for more hotel rooms and urban apartments downtown.
Developer David Watkins discussed progress on his projects, the King Edward Hotel and Standard Life Building.
Watkins and other investors, like New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister and a New Orleans-based company, have invested more than $124 million to restore the historic facilities.
(McAllister couldn’t make it to the meeting, but Watkins brought along the football star’s gold and black hard hat.)
Recently, contractors have begun removing windows from the hotel and have begun demolishing walls on floors three-12. The $89 million project is expected to be completed in summer 2009.
The hotel will feature 56 one and two-bedroom apartments and more than 80 hotel rooms. Watkins said both projects fill a need in the city and will help bring young professionals, like single doctors and lawyers downtown.
One project, the Tombigbee Lofts, have already brought a diverse group of young people to the urban center. Mike Peters spoke about the success of those apartments. In all, Peters told the crowd that he’s recently opened 60 apartments downtown.
He gave a profile of the renters, which include an assistant district attorney from Rankin County, a doctor who works at River Oaks, a lawyer who practices across the Pearl River, Mississippi College School of Law students and a 76-year-old woman who waits up to drink a glass of wine with anyone who comes home late, he said.
“It’s a reverse community,”he said. “Half the people who live in the new units work outside of downtown.”Other developers also talked about filling the need of those who want to have urban living.
Ted Duckworth talked about his efforts to turn a historic, but empty library into two and three-story loft apartments. And Carlton Brown, with Full Spectrum of New York, talked about the apartments and retail that will come to the 14-block development that will be called the Old Capitol Green.
The meeting was capped with a speech from a man who was described by Peters as the city’s “biggest cheerleader.”
Leland Speed, who looked more the part of a reserved businessman, charged those in attendance with spreading the good news about Jackson. He said Jackson’s biggest three industries, health care, education and government, will continue to grow. “Trends are going in the right direction,” he said. “It’s up to us to take advantage of this.”
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