By ANTHONY WARREN
Senior Staff Writer
Construction could begin in the next month on the first phase of a project designed to transform Parham Bridges Park in to a top tennis center.
Jackson city officials were expected to begin hammering out a work schedule this week with Hemphill Construction.
“In the next three or four weeks, they should be doing the work, weather pending,” Parks and Recreation Director Ison Harris said.
Hemphill was brought on last fall to build a new entrance for the park, for approximately $98,000.
The firm will have 120 construction days to complete the project once work begins.
Work is being funded with a state allocation, as well as $15,000 in local dollars raised by the LeFleur East Foundation.
The entrance will be located at 4950 Old Canton Rd., at the site of the old Jackson Precinct Four substation.
The substation was torn down in December by Revitalize Mississippi.
The nonprofit group founded by Jim Johnston razed the facility for the city free of charge.
The substation has been closed for years and was in “a state of disrepair because of substantial fire, water and mold damage,” according to city documents.
City leaders had expected to tear down the facility sooner, but work was delayed because the new mayor and city officials were still transitioning into office.
Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba took office on July 3. Harris was appointed parks and recreation director on September 26.
On the same day, the council signed off on demolishing the police substation and bringing on Hemphill.
“We grasped the significance of the project, but we were trying to make sure we didn’t do anything wrong in the process,” Harris said.
Relocating the entrance will serve several purposes.
First, it will open up space for the tennis center’s expansion.
Tennis officials want to add an additional four courts, which will help Parham Bridges attract larger tournaments.
“We’re trying to build four more (courts) between us and Green Oak (Florists) and we can’t do that until they move the entrance,” Tennis Center Manager Terry Overcash said. “We have to put the horse before the cart on this one.”
Now, the center has 14 courts, a large number when the center opened more than 40 years ago, but small when compared to the mega-tennis complexes of today.
By comparison, a tennis center in Mobile has 60 courts, while Nashville has two tennis centers in close proximity with 24 courts each.
Parham Bridges must compete with facilities like those to bring in larger tennis tournaments.
The new entrance is also expected to improve traffic flow in and out of the park, and increase visitor parking, according to LeFleur East Foundation treasurer Mike Malouf Jr.
“It’s very difficult getting in and out,” Malouf previously said.
The current entrance is located in the 5000 block of Old Canton, near Green Oak Florist.
In front of Green Oak, Old Canton averages about 19,000 vehicles a day, compared to the 12,000 that travel in front of the site of the old substation, Mississippi Department of Transportation (MDOT) traffic count maps show.
Parham Bridges is bordered by Old Canton to the north and west and Ridgewood Road to the east. A second entrance to the park is located along Ridgewood, next to a playground.
While city officials are finalizing a work schedule, LeFleur East was finalizing conceptual plans for the second phase.
The foundation serves neighborhoods and businesses in the area stretching from north of Hanging Moss Creek to Lakeland Drive, and from the I-55 North frontage road to the Pearl River.
The second phase will include closing the existing entrance and building four new tennis courts.
“Once we complete those drawings, we will get an estimate and go into the fund-raising,” Malouf said.
He didn’t know how much would be needed for the second phase at press time.
Gifts to the foundation are tax-deductible, and any donation made for Parham Bridges will be earmarked specifically for park improvements.
Private dollars, as well as grants and state allocations, will likely have to be used to fund the second phase, with the cash-strapped city facing budget shortfalls in the parks and recreation department.
In fiscal year 2016, for example, Jackson projected raising $564,000 in admissions, fees and rentals. However, only $190,000 was collected, city financial documents show. The city budgeted $504,000 for fiscal year 2017, and again came up short, only bringing in $203,000.
The budget year runs from October 1 to September 30 of the following year. The city budgeted around $530,000 for the department for 2018 and raised property taxes to help make up for revenue shortfalls.
LeFleur East also hopes to form a “Friends of Parham Bridges Park” to help draw up additional plans for park improvements outside of the tennis center.
“We want more people involved. We want people to help us come up with ideas for renovations - the people who are from around here, who go to the park and are part of the community,” Malouf said.
For more information, log onto lefleureast.org.
