The Belhaven town center is one step closer to reality, thanks to a vote of approval by the Jackson City Council.
Recently, the council approved a petition to rezone four parcels in the project’s footprint from R-4 residential to CMU-1, community mixed-use district, pedestrian oriented.
The vote came after about 10 minutes of discussion and after Ward Seven Councilwoman Virgi Lindsay urged her colleagues to vote in favor of it.
The rezoning was needed to make way for Belhaven Plaza. The town center development will include approximately 120,000 square feet of mixed-use space, including retail, residential and office.
Baptist Health Systems owns the property and had to apply for the rezoning on behalf of developers.
Properties rezoned included 807 and 809 Manship St., 1119 and 1121 N. Jefferson St., and 824 Carlisle Street.
The parcels had been zoned R-4, for high-density, multi-family residential, while surrounding properties were zoned for mixed-use.
“What we have before us today is the opportunity to make the block whole and cohesive with the (surrounding) zoning and, of course, with the commercial development that has occurred,” Lindsay said.
The measure was approved on a 4-0 vote, both Lindsay and Ward One Councilman Ashby Foote voted in favor.
Baptist now plans to sell its property to local developer David Turner, who will construct the town center.
“We started working on this property about six years ago this month. We were vision-casting for Baptist Hospital – deciding what could be done on the property, and I envisioned a town center,” Turner said.
The project will be bordered by Poplar Street to the north, Jefferson to the east, North Street to the west and Carlisle Street to the south, with Manship Street running through the middle of it.
It will feature multiple buildings that will be designed to create a buffer zone between North Street, a commercial corridor, and North Jefferson, which turns into single-family residential.
The first phase will likely run from Manship to Jefferson, with Manship being considered the development’s “main street.”
Work on the first phase should wrap up in the second quarter of 2019.
