“I’m sure Target and those type stores will be part of the mix out there,” he said. “I’ve heard a lot about Target, but as far as them calling me and saying they are definitely locating here or locating there, I don’t have a firm commitment.”
Madison Mayor Mary Hawkins Butler also said she’s heard developers talking about a new Target store near Reunion Parkway, but she could not confirm the company’s interest. A Target spokesman could not be reached.
The discount retailer opened in 1962 and has about 1,500 stores across the country, including one on I-55 North in Jackson. Elsewhere in Mississippi, Target has stores in Flowood, Hattiesburg and Horn Lake.
While it’s not clear whether Target plans to build near Reunion, St. Dominic Health Services has purchased about 50 acres near the construction site.
“From my understanding, they are going to build a multimillion dollar campus there,” Johnson said.
Eddie Brunini, an attorney who represents St. Dominic, said another hospital in Madison County is protesting the proposed acute-care center.
“We’re being challenged by Health Management Associates, which owns Madison County Medical Center in Canton,” he said. “If they are committed to pursuing this for a long time, it could go on for a couple of years.”
THE CHALLENGE CAME during the state-mandated certificate-of-need application.
“(HMA) doesn’t want the competition,” Brunini said. “That’s all that is. We have a hearing scheduled in June to deal with that contested position.”
A certificate of need is issued by federal or state regulatory agencies with authority over areas that affirm proposed acquisitions, expansion or creation of certain facilities. Certificates of need are required in Mississippi for construction of clinics and hospitals.
“And that is something that needs to be changed,” Johnson said. “Madison County needs to be able to have hospitals in Madison County, and right now we are limited by the certificate of need process. We need to find a way in the near future - and we already have Baptist - to have quality health care.”
Baptist Medical Center is at the corner of Mississippi 463 and Highland Colony Parkway. Brunini said the proposed St. Dominic campus in Madison would have an emergency room.
“It would do minor things, such us minor surgical procedures and a lot of outpatient services,” he said. “You wouldn’t have major procedures.”
Also near Reunion, Chris Snopek of Performance Sports Academy wants to build an athletic complex, Johnson said.
“I know that he is trying to put a sports complex on that property to provide Madison County with a state-of-the-art facility. It would also put a lot of cars on Reunion and bring them to Madison for tournaments and things of that nature. He’s in the process of working with the Bozeman family to secure some property.”
Construction of an interchange linking Mississippi 463 to U.S. 51 near Madison is expected to begin within months after Mississippi Department of Transportation officials approved an environmental impact study on the project.
WORK ON THE REUNION Parkway interchange should be complete by 2010, Johnson said, and construction on the Gluckstadt interchange is expected to start soon thereafter.
Central District Commissioner Dick Hall, after twice voting against approving the “Finding of No Significant Impact,” relented March 11 after he and county officials reached a compromise on construction of an interchange at Gluckstadt.
Federal law requires unanimous approval of the study.
At the center of contention between Hall, county officials and Butler was whether an interchange at Reunion should be built, whether traffic was a bigger problem at Gluckstadt and whether taxes would be raised to pay for the work at Reunion.
Madison County has built five lanes on the east side of the Gluckstadt interchange and plans to add three lanes on the west side. The state’s work on the overpass was set to begin in 2014, but commissioners’ approval of the FONSI was contingent upon moving up that project to 2010.
Phase One of the Reunion Parkway interchange created an east-west corridor from Mississippi 463 to Bozeman Road, and that section of road from Mississippi 463 to Madison Station School opened in January. Phase Two would take the interchange from Bozeman to at least Parkway East, with Madison officials hoping to extend the road to U.S. 51 in Madison.
In Washington, officials are expected to approve the FONSI within 30 days, Johnson said. Design work on Gluckstadt is expected to begin in about 12 months, he said.
According to MDOT, more than 17,000 travel Mississippi 463 each day. More than 42,000 travel U.S. 51 between Madison and Ridgeland to Gluckstadt every day.
About $38 million, with $6 million provided by MDOT, has been allocated for the Reunion interchange. Another $6 million has been offered by an unidentified private donor.
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