Work should begin this fall on redeveloping the old Burns Bottom subdivision, with the first residential and commercial units available for sale by 2028.
Columbus Redevelopment Authority approved a series of agreements Aug. 13 to move forward with selling the property to Friendly City Development for a mixed use project. Next month, the city council is expected to ratify those contracts.
“We’ve been busy, even though it may not have looked like we were,” CRA Chairperson Marthalie Porter told the council at its Tuesday evening meeting at the Municipal Complex. “We’re thrilled to be at this point. … It’s in a marvelous location with the wonderful (Roger Short) soccer complex, the Riverwalk, the amphitheater, the downtown amenities. So, it’s very exciting.”
Under the pending sale and purchase agreement, the developers will pay $800,000 for the 70-plus lots in the Burns Bottom Urban Renewal District – between Third and Fourth Street and Second and Seventh Avenue North. They will also have a 4 1/2-year exclusive option to purchase the former Chevron and Fant lots at Fifth Street and Fifth Avenue, along with six smaller lots behind those, for an additional $350,000, Porter said.
A redevelopment agreement related to the deal states the title won’t be transferred to the Friendly City group until the CRA completes certain prep work at the site. The group will put up $200,000 in earnest money in the meantime, Porter said.
The CRA entered negotiations with Friendly City Development in May 2024, after the group – led by partners Saunders Ramsey with the Adelaide developers in Starkville and brothers Nic and Garrett Parish of the Burns Group in Columbus – submitted a proposal for its Parkview Project.
A press release the group issued Tuesday said the project will feature 50 single-family homes along with several acres for multi-use development “with a strong emphasis on connectivity, traditional architecture and community building.”
“This is where I call home. This is my daughter’s home. My brother and I play soccer in this park,” Parish said in the press release. “I am so thankful that I get to partner with my brother, Garrett, and Saunders to build something special in downtown Columbus.”
The CRA has $5.2 million in hand from state and federal sources to aid in the development of the site. Since that money was given to the authority, Porter said it must maintain ownership to spend it, which she said explains the delay in transferring the title.
Kevin Stafford, North Mississippi manager for the Neel-Schaffer engineering firm, told The Dispatch the CRA will use those funds to install underground utilities, improve streets and drainage, and add sidewalks and lighting. Prep work also includes leveling the site’s terrain, specifically raising the elevation of areas on the north side that now sit in the flood plain.
Those projects should be finished next year, Stafford said, clearing the way for Friendly City to take ownership.
“I don’t think we could have a better partner in this than the Friendly City developers. They have such an enthusiasm for the project,” Porter told the council. “They also are local people. How better can it be than that?”
The five-member CRA board began redevelopment efforts at Burns Bottom in 2015, with city taxpayers funding $3.2 million in bonds two years later that the authority used to purchase lots and demolish dilapidated structures.
City Attorney Jeff Turnage, who also represents the CRA, said the last lot was acquired earlier this year.
“I know how long of a journey this has been,” Ward 3 Councilman Rusty Greene said Tuesday. “… This is truly exciting for the city of Columbus. It’s going to change everything down there.”
Once the sale is final, the CRA will keep the proceeds to put toward future redevelopment projects.
“Remember the long-term goal in this … deal we’ve been making is for … the property taxes and the school taxes that will be generated over a long and healthy length of time,” Porter told the council.
Other business
In other business, the council:
■ approved naming the planned fossil park on Luxapalila Creek after John M. “Jack” Kaye;
■ contracted with Shawanda Jones as the city’s public information officer through Sept. 30;
■ appointed Frances Glenn to the Historic Preservation Commission through June 20, 2027.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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