No updates have been provided lately on the proposed CottonMill Marketplace project because there is “nothing new to report,” developer Mark Nicholas said Wednesday.
“We”re kind of where we were several months ago,” Nicholas said by phone from his office in Ridgeland. “We”re still working out several logistics. Financing, with the economy the way it is, has been a challenge, but we”re still working on it. If it happens, it will happen by the end of the year, but we won”t know anything for a while.”
“Basically, everything is put on hold right now,” he added later. “There”s really nothing new to report.”
Proposed across Highway 12 from Mississippi State University, CottonMill Marketplace has been in the works for more than three years. Nicholas” company, Nicholas Properties, owns six acres at the corner of Highway 12 and Spring Street, but is still negotiating the purchase of Mississippi State University”s E.E. Cooley building and the surrounding property for the remainder of the project, Nicholas said.
“The financing has been such a challenge on things,” Nicholas reiterated. “(The delay) has nothing to do with the university or us. It”s just the economic times we”re living in. It”s impossible to get things financed, but we”re still working on it.”
Greater Starkville Development Partnership CEO Jon Maynard this week hadn”t heard any recent updates about the proposed development, but said projects like CottonMill Marketplace often move slowly.
“A lot of times, economic development projects will go dormant for a while,” Maynard said. “It doesn”t mean they”re dead. It doesn”t mean they”re put off. It just means they”re quiet for the time-being.”
Plans for the development call for the renovation of the Cooley Building, located off Russell Street, to turn it into a conference center and office space. When renovations are complete, the conference center portion of the Cooley Building will be about 80,000 square feet and the office space will take up about 30,000 square feet, according to plans.
To the south of the Cooley Building, a 70,000-square-foot hotel is planned.
Because the development is being designed for mixed use, it will feature residential units as well as retail establishments. No potential tenants have been named.
Additionally, plans call for a boulevard in the middle of the development, which would be pedestrian and bicycle friendly. A parking deck also is planned.
Nicholas was teamed up with fellow developer Brooks Holstein, of Biloxi-based Comvest Properties, but Comvest backed out of the project in December to focus on projects along the Gulf Coast.
For more information on the CottonMill Marketplace project, visit www.cottonmillatmsu.com.
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