STARKVILLE — Some call it the old Kroger building. Others call it Dirt Cheap. Either way, the obscure shopping center on Louisville Street has an identity crisis.
Soon, though, Chestnut Commons will be a recognizable shopping strip.
Property owners Jason Perry and Sean Koen, along with the city of Starkville, were awarded a $50,000 grant from the Mississippi Development Authority to renovate the exterior and parking lot of the shopping center. The grant, which requires a 100-percent match from Perry and Koen, is a pilot grant program to revitalize older strip shopping centers to help generate sales tax revenue.
The Chestnut Commons site is one of four sites in the state that were chosen.
“We’re excited,” Perry said. “It’s still all kind of a surprise to us.”
Starkville Main Street Association Manager Jennifer Gregory found out about the grant through Mississippi Main Street and coordinated with Perry and Koen. The Golden Triangle Planning and Development District, by grant stipulations, wrote the grant and submitted it.
Gregory said the shopping center, located on Louisville Street across from Starkville High School, was selected because Perry and Koen had capital and were already planning to redevelop.
“With the city already having approved the Louisville Street widening project, I think that’s what helped us secure the grant,” Gregory said. “We tried to portray that this is a major gateway into Starkville and even downtown since it goes into the Greensboro District.”
Perry said the funds will go toward repaving the parking lot, which he said is in rough condition, and adding an awning system for each tenant. Paint and fascia redesigns are also in the works.
Currently, Dirt Cheap, a retail store, is the largest of five occupied spaces in the building. There are two barbershops — Hill’s Barbershop and Teresa Hair and Barber Designs in the complex. Additionally, computer software company Tucows Inc. and processing company Mail Managers are located in the building.
There’s one vacant, 8,000 square-foot space left to fill after the Oktibbeha County School District moved out in August. The OCSD had been a tenant for close to six years.
Perry plans to attract a retailer to fill the vacancy instead of dividing the space and renting to multiple businesses.
“Not to say it isn’t a possibility (filling the vacancy with multiple businesses),” Perry said. “It would just be really expensive to do it that way. One industry would be an electrical supply, like a Nesco. I’ve had a grocery store call me — a discount type — but a national company. I’ve had a couple of beauty supply companies express interest in it, too. But we’ve done no advertising above and beyond putting the sign up as we want to get the remodeling finished.
There is a parcel on the property that could eventually become a restaurant, but Perry said plans to add a restaurant to the strip have not been discussed.
Perry and Koen also own Middleton Court, located directly north of Chestnut Commons. Middleton Court underwent extensive renovation several years ago and has blossomed into one of the city’s most successful shopping strips. Perry believes Chestnut Commons is located close enough to Highway 12 to draw a lot of the same customer base.
The only issue Perry might face is parking, as he estimates close to 40 Starkville High students park in the strip’s lot each day. Perry allows substitute teachers and student teachers to park there each day, but it’s never more than 10 cars.
“We’ve talked to the school about it and they say they have enough spots on school property to accommodate their students’ cars,” Perry said. “But they’re parking here to avoid paying student parking fees. We want to be as helpful as we can, but we’ve got to maintain parking enough to not run away retail shoppers.”
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