A market study of the proposed convention center hotel site is expected to wrap up soon, and residents will likely have a chance to sound off on plans next week.
The city of Jackson is planning to host a series of public meetings next week to discuss the study, which is being conducted by Hunden Strategic Services.
The firm was brought on in January to conduct the study, and determine the best use for property the city purchased years ago to build a convention center hotel.
The roughly eight-acre site is located on Pascagoula Street, across from the Jackson Convention Complex.
Today, it is a series of concrete slabs and gravel areas used for convention center parking.
Times and locations for the meeting had not been released Thursday afternoon.
“We’ll discuss some of the findings but not all of them, because we are still finalizing the study,” said Director of Planning Mukesh Kumar.
Kumar said site could be used for a number of projects, not just a hotel.
“A hotel is just one component of a successful convention center,” he said.
Jackson brought on Hunden earlier this year as part of a deal with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).
The city used nearly $7 million in HUD loans to purchase the property, located across from the Jackson Convention Center on Pascagoula Street, to build a hotel.
Plans were for the city to pay back the loan by 2028, but HUD called the loan, because Jackson had not developed the site, Planning Director Mukesh Kumar said.
“It was a 15-year-loan, which has to be paid back by 2028. However, HUD was concerned because we were not doing anything (with the property).”
The idea was Jackson would use the loan, a Section 108 loan, to purchase the property, and then repay the debt with proceeds from the development.
However, numerous efforts to develop the site have fallen through.
Shortly after Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba took office, his team began negotiating repayment terms with the federal agency.
