Jackson Jambalaya

Good old boy politics at its worst.

Please publish the names of those making this decision, KF, so we'll know who is trying to dupe us into believing they are fiscal conservatives who care about how our tax dollars are spent.

Please , also, remind us again on how much the independent studies cost us and who voted for/supported that expenditure.

I want to know if those voting for the studies are also ignoring the results.

They apparently thought those they hired were competent and unbiased when they voted to have them do the work.

I also hope , KF, you track for us the increased cost in DOR travel expenses after they locate to World Com.

We are going to be on the hook for much more than the $33.4 million over 20 years.

By the way, it should be a hint as to mind set that The Tax Commission's name is changed to The Dept. of Revenue. Those finding this a good idea obviously believe the public too stupid to know government revenues come from taxes. I'd like to know whose bright idea that was. It tells me alot about the person's Orwellian nature and that that person bears watching.

In other words Speed and Allen are unhappy that their team lost and they want the game tape reviewed by the public in hopes that the referees can be overturned.

There was/is a process. Speed and Allen were aware of the process, in fact they participated heavily and mightily in the process. And outside of the process they spent considerable money and time attempting to influence the process even though their tactics were not part of the process. They wanted to invite the referrees over to their table for pre-game snacks and provide new whistles and caps with promises of new cleats after the game.

Now, as the process concludes, they want to cry foul in hopes of influencing the level at which the decision will be finally reviewed to see if there were errors made.

I hope the room where the review is made is guarded and unannounced. Otherwise Speed, Allen, et al will storm the hallway and demand to be heard yet again.

There is no Millsaps study. There is only a rough collection of data in a Powerpoint presentation.

I also hope , KF, you track for us the increased cost in DOR travel expenses after they locate to World Com.

Travel costs will be reduced.

Sfax, you are 100% on the mark. DFA did its job - and ignored all the hoopla going on around in all the three rings of the circus - being conducted by Speed, Allen, Blount, and others and their personal interests. Speed, Allen et.al. had their opportunity and I'm sure DFA's review board considered their submittals. All the others (Lamptons, Devinney, ....) did as well. Blount interjected - or tried to interject - the legislature into what should be a business decision.

The purpose of state govt shouldn't be to protect downtown investors returns on buildings by maintaining unsustainable rents. Thank goodness the professionals at DFA had the gonads to do their job and tell the Chmn of Public Property to mind his own business.

I'd like to know how Speed and Allen have been made privy to some confidential summary. Each of them have no special standing versus the rest of the public. Who leaked the document to them?

Transparency is a part of self government.

Ben, when you talk to the TV newsers this time try not to look all red in the face and angry like you did last year.

8:13 am you are the most gullible and clueless person on this blog if you believe what you wrote.
If you know better, you are a sociopath.

Heck everybody settle down. Gunn, Clinton and Duckworth stole it fair and square. The thirteen pieces of silver Duckworth got will probably get his wife a new Beamer every year which will help the economy. Move on.

8:34 am and Shadowfax...either clueless or you have Duckworth connections.

8:41 am you've live here how long and still think there are secrets in Mississippi?

Those supporting the World Com site are apparently math challenged.

It's about the MATH . It's also about OWNING vs RENTING. It's about COSTS OF OPERATION.

I guess y'all pretend that two studies don't exist because reading is as hard for you as MATH!

The alternative is that there's something in this for you and you are greedy,arrogant SOBs who believe the public to be stupid.

Can't believe that the Mayor of Jackson has not made a sound throughout this entire episode. Real leadership for sure.

[Ben] Allen emphasized that he and others have proved naysayers about the city's potential wrong, pointing to his own role in promoting the Jackson Convention Center and the King Edward. "I'm not a cheerleader. I'm a damn prophet," he said to laughter.

- Jackson Free Press
- April 1, 2011

Because he doesn't want the building sold March 26, 2013 at 9:17 AM to the state. It is about the MATH. PROPERTY TAXES.

Moron at9:29. The RFP was about leasing not buying. Guess what? It would STAY on the tax roles. Still crickets from the fearless leader of the Capital City.

MBJ: Effort to consolidate state offices to ‘Capitol Complex’ fails

9:08, can't speak for Sfax, but will respond for myself. Have no Duckworth connections - ironically met him for the first time last night walking out of a restaurant. And am far from being clueless - have been involved with this particular situation (DOR bldg) for ten years. And not working for the WorldCom site. Will be glad to put my knowledge up against yours anytime - bring it on.

The C&W study - highly touted by many on this site supporting the LMC - was first commissioned to determine whether the state should lease or own buildings. While I'm not sure I agree with their analysis because IMO there is not "one answer" to this question, C&W study said leasing was the preferred option. For those comparing the cost to "purchase, and then renovate" the LMC to leasing WC space - you need to get all the numbers, not just those being released by downtown supporters.

I don't think the DFA had a dog in the hunt. The level of desperation being shown by the Jackson crew says it all. They are literally begging for a bunch of low paying state jobs to come save downtown.

Nothing was "stolen". Questioning the integrity of the DFA show the level of desperation of the Jackson crew.

The mayor doesn't care what happens. He's not going to help a bunch of rich white Republicans get richer. Even if it cost him and his precious city money. It's all about race to Harvey and crew.

Let me get this straight. Nearly every business in the metro area has done an analysis of where to locate over the last 20 years. And 99% of the ones that studied it elected to move away from downtown Jackson. Surely these analyses included cost-benefit, as well as access, parking, security and amenities available to employees. Now all of a sudden everybody wants to cry foul when a state agency comes to the same conclusion.

Most businesses will not go back downtown EVEN IF IT IS FREE. Look at where the Employment Security dept located....as close to Madison County as possible. One day when the water problems are fixed, the potholes are filled in and the homeless shelters are moved further out, people might venture back down there but this cycle needs another 30 to 40 years. Where was this sense of urgency 15 years ago?

Numbskull @ March 26, 2013 at 9:35 AM. The objective of the legislative push by Senator David Noclout was to PURCHASE the Landmark. NOT lease it. DUH.

Time to shake a lot of hands to see who has the greasiest palms after this decision to spend the tax payer's money.

10:36 and that was not the RFP the DFA put out. Blount wanted to override the agency's action that has legislatively been delegated to the agency because he thought his opinion should be the only one that mattered. And his proposal didn't pass the legislature by the way. Also, it would have required a bond bill's passage authorizing the bonds to be issued. Didn't know someone died and made Blount 'king'. Again, the C&W study he touted said that the smart thing for the state to do was to lease this space, not purchase a building.

Leasing the Landmark would be more fiscally responsible than buying it. The Jackson commercial market is as illiquid as humanly imaginable. The MBJ said vacancy downtown is at 35% but that is a VERY generous number. The Landmark and Lamar Life are empty. Regions, 111 Capital, and Capital Towers are collectively below 50% occupied.

I hate this is happening to downtown Jackson, but I suspect the DFA made the correct decision. Once the lease is signed we will know.

If you are outraged be outraged at the city leaders for not doing more to stop Butler Snow, Horne, Cellular South, Adams/Reese and on and on from fleeing town. If your home was rapidly losing value, you would sell as quickly as possible too. I also am skeptical of Mr. Speed being so outraged when his own company bailed on Jackson last year.

11.04 AM:

It wasn't Mr. Speed's company when it "bailed on Jackson". Mr. Speed had not run day-to-day at Parkway for years. The Jackson-based management team was completely replaced by a crew from Florida. They made the call to divest of the Jackson assets and move the HQ to Orlando. Mr. Speed is as much a proponent of downtown as he every has been.

No doubt there was some good-ole-boy politics involved in the decision to move DOR to South Pointe. However, some very valid points have been made herein and in comments to JJ's earlier posts about this: we do not have all of the information (and we should -- the "sealed" proposals are BS). There are a lot of moving parts when considering a lease proposal vs. a purchase. Those who are simply comparing $7.6M to $40M are way oversimplifying the situation. First, the South Point bldg is much newer and probably needs far less investment to make it move-in ready than Landmark. Secondly (as pointed out elsewhere), if the State bought Landmark, the State would bear all of the operating costs of the bldg -- easily in the 7-figure a year realm. These operating costs are borne by the landlord in a lease deal. Thirdly, also pointed out elsewhere, there is the issue of parking. The State would have to secure parking space for its employees downtown, which would add another layer of costs to the Landmark scenario. All of that being said, it is still hard to believe that the $7.6M purchase + all of the above yields a less favorable ROI than a $40M lease deal. We may never know as long as the good ole boys keep their backroom deals hidden from the public.

Regardless of how much back-room hanky panky was involved in this decision, this is an ominous sign for downtown Jackson. If Downtown can't even attract a state agency, there is little hope left.

Cold hard facts: DOR is currently located between Jackson and Raymond. It's been there for years. Most of the employees have gotten accustomed to whatever commute they take to work every day. Relocating to Downtown would have been painful for many of them. South Pointe is 3 miles from the current DOR location. Landmark is 12 miles away.

I doubt anyone inside DOR was rooting for the Landmark option. Any influence that the DOR had to exert was surely behind South Pointe all the way.

11:32:

Mr. Speed was Chairman of the Board when the decision was made to merge with the Florida based company. At that time there was a plan in place to sell the Jackson Assets to the first viable bidder. The plan was in place because the Jackson commercial real estate market is awful. Once the merger took place and he assumed the Chairman Emeritus role the buildings were sold… he avoided the backlash and the stock price has since risen 50.66%.

The is not a knock on Mr. Speed he has done a TON for Jackson and Mississippi… it was the right business decision for the board of Parkway to make. It just wasn't in Jackson’s best interest.

Frankly I don't believe there was any 'back room hanky panky' involved in the DFA decision. They put out a public RFP, took proposals, and had a team from DFA and DOR to evaluate them. The proposals were for a lease only - they didn't have the option available to purchase and renovate a building because there is not bond authorization to take this action. Landmark owners had this deal sewn up in 2011, but decided at the last minute they wanted out of their investment and took the lease option off the table. They would sell the building but their tax investment was over and they didn't want to remain as the owner. So Landmark was only available if they state would purchase the building (too big for DOR, by the way) and take the entire building. Thus allowing for "growth" of state government into that empty space.

The state has already done a lot to try to help with the glut of empty office space downtown. Moved DFA, Treasurer, and part of MDA into empty space in Regions and other buildings. These landlords and owners have a problem - I understand. But the solution is not that the taxpayers continue to lease this expensive space to keep up the rent rates in other properties.

DFA did nothing different on this space need than they normally do when looking for rental space. And keeping the proposals 'sealed' at this stage is appropriate. We will all get to "see" the details of the lease once one is finalized. Until then - all you bitchers just keep on bitching. I'm sure someone cares.

And no, I don't have a dog in this hunt. And when I have, it hasn't been Duckworth or WorldCom.

But we were told the creative class was riding in on endless herds of white horses to save the day. Prophet Ben assured us that 25,000 local shopping zealots were coiled up ready to move into our downtown and that it would save Mississippi from the loss of another congressional seat.

We were told to 'get it' and we 'got it' and now we've bent over and 'gotten it' and what and why and how did it all go so terribly wrong?

LMAO ... Hertz’ raised their Landmark lease BAFO by $3.1 million to $51.6 million total ... LMAO

12:46, is that true? What's the source? If so, they dug their own grave...

9:39 am You're on...start with the numbers

Landmark: Initial $48.5m, BAFO $51.6m

Southpointe: Initial $51.4m, BAFO $41.4m

Ergon: Initial $53.4m, BAFO $52.1m

Southpointe is turnkey, Landmark a fixer upper money pit. If private investors aren't lining up to buy Landmark @ $7.6 million that means it is worth far less than that.

Appears that Blount is taking a stand against Clinton School funding with his position.

6:21. They are. Stay tuned.

Hilarious that former Councilman Allen now presents himself as a defender of the taxpayer when he was anything but while on the Jackson City Council.

Appears that Blount is taking a stand against Clinton School funding with his position.

Senator David Noclout's children attend St. Andrew's. They don't attend public schools. Noclout also opposes charter schools. Like Kingfish put it, Senator Noclout wants you to do as he says and not as he does.

ONE child goes to St. Andrews. Other in JPS.

7:59. Now Breck. Be nice. Scott and Jean think you are "special".

9:08 called me either 'clueless or having Duckworth connections'. I responded but the response was denied publication. 9:08 is a liar. I don't know Duckworth, couldn't point him out in a lineup. And if 9:08 considers my post @ 7:49'clueless', I challenge him to explain himself by pointing out what in my post was inaccurate.

It's typical on this blog to call others clueless as a method of debate. It always fails and is meaningless. It's also meaningless when someone is called a sociopath on a blog. Ad hominem comes to mind in both cases.

In another post that didn't make the cut I suggested we all look for another 'advertisement' from Speed's boys in the next day or two, attempting to further ridicule and influence the process. Desperation has been cited several times in other posts. I concur.

They paid for the ads fair and square. People with Madison County interests paid the same price for an ad as well and if the Duckworth team had contacted this site, they could have bought an ad. We are greedy capitalist pigs on this site regardless of viewpoint. Don't like it? Get over it.

Ah yes, Shadow, your comments didn't get approved. Keep lying and accusing me of posting as Stiletto or Kangaroo, and it won't get published.

MBJ: Landmark final offer for DOR HQ came in $10M above South Pointe’s

The fact that they paid for the ads is not the point. The point is that they ran them in the first place and did so repetitively in an attempt to muscle a little influence into the process, which must have failed.

Kingfish might be able to 'get over' that; but, most of the thinking public won't 'get over' the fact that wealthy members of the private sector try to influence government processes in that manner.

most of the thinking public won't 'get over' the fact that wealthy members of the private sector try to influence government processes in that manner.

Horrors.....that never happened before. Snark.

Stay tuned 8:37. Stay tuned.

10:09; You seem to be one of the 'it's always done - so what' crowd. That it's been done before is not the point. That we recognize it being done THIS time is the point in this discussion.

This is supposed to be a 'daylight blog' and, as such, has helped shed light on the fact that underhanded, muscle-attempts are made by folks with more money than walking around sense. It's good the public is getting to see it. Daylight is a good thing. Even the uninformed like yourself will agree, I'm sure.

To be perfectly honest, I'm surprised at the amount of attention this story drew. I really am.

It merits attention because it shows Mr. Gunn pulling a stunt he would be railing against Billy McCoy. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. On a brighter note tenants will be lining up to get downtown once Chokwe gets elected mayor.

Dashiki stores everywhere, 11:36. Can a shrunken head shop be far behind? It will look like the approach to the Canton square on Peace Street West, only multiplied by 2000. At this moment it is illegal for a shop to sell vibrators in Jackson. Chokwe is going to reverse that on his first day in office.

Imagine The Stokes Twins in dashikis...on second thought....

Imagine the Stokes twins holding vibr........ No, take that back.

DANG.. March 28 @ 9:06 was right after all, according to the Ledger editorial. I hope DFA and Duckworth give a rebuttal. I am pulling for Clinton.

Oops March 26 @ 9:08. Fat fingers.

Tell "bible scholar" above it was thirty, not thirteen, pieces of silver. He/she must be Catholic or Jewish. (Joke)