Thursday, January 19, 2017

We are getting a new Trademart

The Trademart is going to be crumblin' down in after a new one is built at the fairgrounds on High Street.
The Mississippi Business Journal reported this week:


With the receipt of the last installment of a $30 million bond issue, the Mississippi Trade Mart will be razed and replaced by a facility attached to the Mississippi Coliseum.

The 66,000-square-foot exhibit hall built in 1975 is outmoded and its flat roof tends to leak, according to Cindy Hyde-Smith, commissioner of Agriculture and Commerce.

A new Trade Mart would be attached to the east side of the Coliseum, and the old hall, located north of the arena across a parking lot, will remain open during construction, Hyde-Smith said.

Work could start by the end of the year, she said, with completion about 18 months later.  Read the rest of the article.

Kingfish note: It's about damn time this took place.  The Trademart is old and worn out.  Providing such facilities is a proper function of government.  If we are going to blow money on Kiors that don't work out or shopping malls, then we can at least spend some money on facilities that we actually use such as the Trademart.  It should be a highlight of Mississippi, not an embarrassment.  Ms. Hyde-Smith has been right in pushing for improvements to the fairgrounds. Now let us hope that she does her job and provides us with a new Trademart that will make us proud.  

44 comments:

Timmmmmber said...

So when it's time to tear down the coliseum, I hope the newly attached trademark doesn't fall down with it

Anonymous said...

I thought we were broke.

PittPanther said...

Does attaching the new Trademart to the old Coliseum, make it more difficult to ever replace the Coliseum?

Anonymous said...

Things like this are why we are broke.

Anonymous said...


We should be building a new coliseum with a convention are incorporated in the coliseum. Many singers and bands will not come to the coliseum because it will not seat as many people. Please, let's do this right.

Anonymous said...

@11AM

Shut up

Anonymous said...

Don't we already have a convention center that can host almost everything the trade mart hosts? What a waste of money.

Tear down the coliseum and the trade mart, sell the land and put it on the tax rolls and then do the two lake project and start adding some taxable parcels on both sides of the river. Quit building government buildings.

Anonymous said...

Another Cindy-Hide boon doggle.

Anonymous said...

Agree with 11:22am

The Coliseum should be able to host up to 18,000 people.

Right now it can hold 6,500, with an additional 3,500 temporary seats.

In its current state, its antiquated and outdated.

That's why we can't draw major attractions (along with the damn flag)

We should be hosting NCAA regional games in regards to volleyball, mens and womens basketball. Those dollars help our local economy - hotels, restaurants, and shopping.

But as always, we'll continue letting all that go to Memphis, New Orleans, Mobile and Birmingham

Ol' goodie!

Anonymous said...

the gun and knife show will be epic

Anonymous said...

Cindi Hyde has continued the stupidity, but this mess was created by the infamous Jim Buck Ross. Proposal toward the end of his term, with probable federal money help, to tear down coliseum and rebuild - tying it to the existing trade mart (this was over 15 years ago and the TM wasn't as dated then. )

But instead of moving forward with what made sense, getting rid of the antiquated, too small, ill designed, 50 year old building, JBR got the legislature to put $10 million into it for a new roof and a paint job. Since then, every commissioner has wanted to put more lipstick on this pig.

Doing away with the fairgrounds is a stupid idea - one of only three or four places in the country where you have the kind of space (100 acres of govt land) with the access - intersection of n/s and e/w interstates, international airport. But it is wasted in its current configuration.

Almost got luck a decade later when Ebbers wanted to build his ice hockey rink on the coliseum grounds, but Commission Spell and his Baptist, non-drinking idiocy stopped that - a few years before the NY AG stopped it with the prosecution of Ebbers.

Anonymous said...

Strange to me that the State wants to keep on putting money into Jackson when the city is going down, I see no need for a City Convention Center and a new State Convention Center so near together. As for a major attraction coming to Jackson why would they come even if we build a building to put one in.

Anonymous said...

Aint nothing coming to Jackson but gun shows as long as we have that flag. Total waste of money.

Anonymous said...

12:52; feel free to keep yourself in your little den wherever it is. But if you ever happen to get out, just check the traffic patterns --- on I55, Lakeland, Hwy 49, I20 coming into Jackson in the mornings and leaving Jackson in the afternoons. Don't know where all those cars are going if they aren't headed into the area that you think has no activity any more.

Anonymous said...

need a new building to replace Trademark, badly need. as others noted attacked too a old building means what? hope not integrated as the other must go and be replaced.

Anonymous said...

Has anybody done an analysis of the space the city actually needs to host events, or looked at the Trademart bookings to see if the JCC is available?? Why is the state spending $30MM of your children's money on redundant capacity? Sounds a lot like the mental health centers that were built around the state when there was no money to actually run them.

Anonymous said...

1:17, aint nothing coming to Jackson when the crime rate is so high and we still have crooked city leaders and law enforcement.

Anonymous said...

As long as the City and State refuse to work with one another on a strategic plan for the city, these things will continue to happen, and money will be continue to be wasted.

Kingfish said...

I like the convention center and think there is a need for it but damn did Harvey screw us by sticking it where it currently is. Much better if it had been by the fairgrounds or close to Commerce Street. THAT would have been a feasible entertainment district instead of the pie in the sky Farish Street crap.

Anonymous said...

What we need is a new Ag Commissioner. Perhaps someone with ability.

Anonymous said...

Mississippi is backwards for sure!

Anonymous said...

The rest of Mississippi doesn't give a shit about Jackson, downtown Jackson and the massive red-ink gulping boondoggle convention center.

Anonymous said...

$30 Million, that's four patrol schools --- yes, I'm going to begin using the patrol school as a new unit of measurement.

Anonymous said...

@ January 19, 2017 at 1:50 PM

"aint nothing coming to Jackson when the crime rate is so high"

You must live in a house with aluminum foil covering your windows and your 27" Curtis Mathis tube television stays on Fox News 24 hours day - drinking Schaffers and smoking Lucky Strikes down to the filter?

If Memphis in May and Mardi Gras doesn't scare people away from Memphis and New Orleans, then I am pretty sure they can handle Jackson with ease!

Try getting outside of the house every once in a while, mingle with real people.

Anonymous said...

Excellent pull = Curtis Mathis

Anonymous said...

Some names just SCREAM "Organized Crime".

In the attached article, a certain stereotypically crass nickname, coupled with a certain scary surname (which, together, SCREAM "Organized Crime"), plus the fact that big public construction projects tend to be rife with cronyism and graft, lead me to believe that Mississippi's in for yet another hideous generic modern building, cranked-out by whatever design firm does the cheapest plans, and constructed as cheaply as possible. That'll leave room for plenty of "markup" (kickbacks, payoffs...).

The new one won't look any better than the old one (except for being new, which is only temporary), and any improved "functionality" will be irrelevant, considering that it won't see much use.

"Leaders" delude themselves, to think that many people are eager to drive on Jackson's post-apocalyptic streets, dodging geysers, sinkholes, potholes, brooks, rivers, rapids, drunk drivers, drivers shooting at other drivers, drunk drivers plowing into ambulances sent to collect pedestrians struck by OTHER drunk drivers, high-speed car chases, staggering drunks, pickup trucks driven by psychotic bubbas on their way to visit their pretend girlfriends at the strip clubs ...... all, just to visit a "Trade Mart" sitting in the middle of a hideous, treeless, chain-link-fenced, blacktop-paved URBAN WASTELAND.

Anonymous said...

@4:14. No matter how much you try to tell yourself that Jackson is a prime venue....it isn't.

If it weren't for the Sweet Potatoes and their parade, nobody would travel to Jack town for nothing!

/crept to get robbed or shot. Like at the state fair, where poor people are too poor to pay to park.

Anonymous said...

I hate this is going to happen b/c it will be attached to the East side of the coliseum, this providing a structure that would limit the expansion of the coliseum in the future, or lock the development of that land into siting the coliseum there. When you travel around and look at successful arena places, exactly none of them are gated and fenced in, rather, they are woven into the development of a much greater space where there is a cohesive relationship of the venue to the surroundings.........Alas, I am reminded that are state is run by unqualified bumbling idiots, and so is the city I live in.....oh well

PittPanther said...

5:14pm, that may be the single most funny paragraph I've read on JJ:

"Leaders" delude themselves, to think that many people are eager to drive on Jackson's post-apocalyptic streets, dodging geysers, sinkholes, potholes, brooks, rivers, rapids, drunk drivers, drivers shooting at other drivers, drunk drivers plowing into ambulances sent to collect pedestrians struck by OTHER drunk drivers, high-speed car chases, staggering drunks, pickup trucks driven by psychotic bubbas on their way to visit their pretend girlfriends at the strip clubs ...... all, just to visit a "Trade Mart" sitting in the middle of a hideous, treeless, chain-link-fenced, blacktop-paved URBAN WASTELAND.

Anonymous said...

The Coliseum is functional, as-is, for small 6,500 seat events. The lack of any decent concessions, and the poorly run existing concessions, make being there a bad experience.

Anonymous said...

Cool, an investment to build something in the side of an outdated building that needs to be leveled and rebuilt.

Meanwhile, Brandon is building an amphitheater for 9,000 that might bring concerts to the area.

Anonymous said...

The Convention Center is a city facility. The Trademart is a state facility. To ask two separate forms of government to share...are you nuts?

At least the Trademart is used. Now if they would replace the coliseum with something that doesn't look like a cross between a circus tent and a grain silo...

We Will Make Jackson Great Again.. said...

Upstairs in the coliseum, I like that I can get a cold hot dog from a man in a yellow vest who has a lady standing there to repeat my order to him.

And where else can you find flash-lit ushers who can look at your ticket and tell you they have no farking idea where your aisle and seat are. And this area is not open to seating and, wait....you can't sit there....but there go sixteen people taking a seat.

The Trade Mart is a concrete-floored barn. How can that possibly be improved upon? This will be an Americans With Disabilities Act heyday! Feel will appoint a committee to come to town and decide on urinals, grab-bars and entrance ramps. Per diem will be available.

Anonymous said...

Who would tether a new submarine to an aging battleship and by what sense of reason?

Anonymous said...

Brandon is building an amphitheater for 9,000 that might bring concerts to the area.

In the Spring and Fall, not 'might' but 'will'.

But leave your dope at home because you will be arrested.

Anonymous said...

The JCC has exceeded every worst case scenario. White elephant. Or should we call it a black elephant?

Anonymous said...

But the state fairgrounds has the slide. Madison ain't got no slide.

Anonymous said...

The Ringling Brothers Circus has ceased all operations. No way in hell we need to put another dollar into that big circus hut, nor do we need to build another one. Tear it all down and turn it into lake front.

Anonymous said...

Reminds me of people who will build a new home attached to the run down trailer they live in now.

Anonymous said...

10:10 who the hell do you know that would do that?

Anonymous said...

Pay attention, 6:42, examples have been given above.

Anonymous said...

There's always the Ramada next door. Neatest bar in the Metro. Great lounge. Two bartenders at all times. Great snacks and pick-up foods with live music and nightly dancing.

Great floor tile, excellent restrooms and a counter full of attendants waiting to register you for a room or answer your dining questions with Dennerys next door, Homer's BBQ around the corner. Safe parking too.

But wait.....all of that was thirty years ago! A KLLM trailer load of refrigerated lipstick won't save this pig.

Cindy Hyde and her four-legged ride and the gubner's a hoot in his shiney new boot...but, you can't resurrect the impossible.

Anonymous said...

After reading all the posts none of you have a clue. There has never been nothing wrong with sprucing up an area. As for Cindy Hyde she has done a great job in regulating and promoting agricultural-related businesses within this state which is her job duties. Instead of talking about the new building, congratulate it and wish for more to come so that whole area will be more attractive. True enough traffic is coming in the morning and leaving after 5 from that area and the rest of downtown, these ares still remain an important part of our economy as far as tourist. Check your stats then post. For those of you who say no one will come to Jackson tell that to the richest zip code in the entire state is in Jackson, tell that to all the developers who are building in Jackson (District of Eastover, Westin Hotel, History Museums, Entergy in Downtown, Proposed mix use development on Old Canton Rd.,Capitol Art Lofts, several other residential and non residential developments throughout the city). Truth be told outsiders see more potential in something before the ones are around it everyday. Once old can always look new with a little of TLC. If you all only know the potential you wouldn't talk.

Anonymous said...

Well said @ 2:19pm



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