THE RECENT downturn in the U.S. economy has put many developers’ plans on hold. And Ted Duckworth, who was chosen last year to redevelop the property that was home to the former Mississippi School for the Blind, is no exception.

Duckworth, along with Barranco Architecture in Jackson, is planning to transform the 21-acre property north of Eastover Drive into a mixed-use development with hundreds of thousands of square feet of residential, commercial and retail space.

He had hoped to get the project going by 2009, but with news of Congress’ $700 billion bailout and the stock market’s near-crash, Duckworth has been hampered in his efforts by new bank lending regulations and less-than-optimistic retailers.

“Our original goal was to be open by 2011,” he said. “But a lot of retailers in general aren’t committing to new stores right now because of the economic situation. They’re looking two to three years in advance before signing new leases.

“We’re just fortunate that we’re not leasing space in 2009 and 2010.” To complicate matters, the $180 million project will likely have to be completed in phases, because lenders are less likely to lend money for speculative property.

“We are trying to refine our scope,” Duckworth, CEO of Duckworth Realty in Jackson said. “Prior to the economic situation, we could have had the project financed with a large amount of speculative space. Now, we’ll be required to do more pre-leasing.”

THE MISSISSIPPI Development Authority (MDA) chose Duckworth to develop the property last December. The plan will have 245,000 square feet of retail space, another 200,000 square feet of Class A office space and 200 residential units.

“The residential units will be a combination of condos, lofts and townhouses,” he said. He explained that “Class A” office space is the highest quality in the market, pointing to the Pinnacle office building in downtown Jackson as an example.

He believes the office property will be the first completed. “We have some prospects driving that,” he said. But Duckworth declined to mention any names.

Compounding matters for Duckworth this year were the elections. More than a year after being chosen to develop the property, he said that he’s still working with the Mississippi secretary of state’s office to finalize his lease agreement.

“We had to wait until the elections were over,” he said. “We’re in the process of finalizing the ground lease now.” He hopes to have the lease finalized by the end of the month. In a previous interview, a spokeswoman for MDA said the property would be leased to Duckworth for the next 60 years.