Jackson Jambalaya

Hertz’s shabby maintenance is now less surprising.

Wow, low-ball offers on their Jackistan property holdings. What a shock! You would think that investors would be falling all over themselves to invest in prime business property in the bold new radical city, the pearl of the south. Right?

This scenario has been expected for some time. Because of downtown "conditions," the Marriott is closed, the Landmark Center is vacant, one of the City Center buildings is vacant, the original DGB building is vacant, and many of the other prominent office buildings are WAY less occupied than they should be, etc., etc. etc. When you have a city run by incompetent people and/or a culture of destruction, it's inevitable that these things will occur....and it's quite difficult to service debt on properties that have drastically reduced or NO income.

Either the current administration just doesn't get it, or even worse, maybe they DO, and this is by design! What do YOU think?

A severe financial crisis is about to hit this country. Brace yourselves.

Some of the investors have't been happy with succession issues at Hertz. The founder Judah Hertz was terminally ill, he announced he was retiring on August 27, 2020 with his son Zev Hertz taking over as CEO, giving investors five days notice of the transition.

The son Zev had some experience in the Hertz family businesses including runnng a janitorial company with millions in contracts to clean the companies properties. SOme of the executives reportedly had some misgivings about the transition from father to son. When the son took over he started cleaning house by getting rid of some c-suite management. Starting with president, general counsel and CFO.

Not long before the transition Hertz had done a rollup so that investors no longer held a piece of the particular individual deal they had bought into, rather they were all relegated to a slice of the rolled up Hertz Investment Group.

Most of these investors probably wouldn't have bought into One Jackson Place or Regions Plaza, but here they are as proud owners of a piece of Jackson's commercial property empire.

https://therealdeal.com/magazine/national-september-2021/disquiet-at-a-dynasty/

I agree that the administration and it's policies has resulted in the exodus of many local businesses from downtown, but we also have to consider what COVID did as well. With many companies allowing employees to work from home, this has also created vacancies when companies no longer need the space they once required.
I believe even Trustmark is still allowing work from home and they are probably one of the largest non-government businesses downtown. I would assume they own that building, but at some point you have to wonder if they can still justify the footprint and associated expenses.

So far Jackistan hasn't been hit by organized retail theft, but it may happen, just like in the other progressive blue cities.

9:46 All you say about Jackson is true but downtown office buildings in mid-sized cities all over the country are facing ominous futures. With work-at- home technology and suburban sprawl there is only so much need for all this excess office space in the 21st century. Jackson may be just one of many.

Dined at Mayflower last night; while the whole flounder was excellent downtown was a sad sight to see. Capitol street is well kept by DJP but there is just no desire by this administration to work to bring business investment in. As someone alluded to above, is the destruction intentional just like when the Mayor starved the water department of the revenue it needed?

This is what you parasites get for “monetizing” living spaces and work spaces and profiting off the labors of others.
I am OVERJOYED that REITS and almost all forms speculative parasitic “investments” are collapsing!

Nobody deserves “passive” income when it’s really parasitic income.

10:19 and 10:43 are correct. Two things a lot of companies discovered when their employees went home for COVID: One, they turned out to be just as productive from home as in an office, and two, the company realized it could save a ton of money on office space by staying that course. There were exceptions to this, of course. Some companies cannot work from home, and others could not be as productive at home...but a lot of office workers get it done at home just like they would at an office.

@1132 is clearly delusional and has no idea how economics work. Word salads and obfuscating language don't hide that. Parasitic investments and income. Well, that's a new one. I guess by your definition anyone who invests in something expecting to actually get a return is a parasite? Wow.

Doesn't Hertz also own the old Worldcom building? I know it was owned by Duckworth realty but before I left it was sold to some other company. What happenes to that building?

September 29, 2023 at 10:19 AM
This is correct. I work for Trustmark and have been remote since they went remote. It's impressive because for 6 months or a little more the entire bank was remote. My team is spread around the state now.

September 29, 2023 at 11:32 AM
Tell me you don't have a retirement account without telling me you don't have a retirement account.

Some of y’all seem to think this is specific to Jackson and is not nationwide. Anyone who thinks that is dead wrong and should get out more. As the minority of posters on here have correctly noted, this has been going on across the country since COVID and the work-from-home culture that it has spawned.

If the Israelis take over downtown Jackson, the criminal vermin will run to the suburbs. Game on!

11:32 thinks capitalists are parasites, what does she/he think socialists who live collectively off tax and theft are, vultures perhaps?

Capitalism enables a harbor full of rising ships and rewards creative risk takers or destroys them, depending on how their ideas/servicrs/products are received in the marketplace. What could be more fair when a fentanyl diet on the sidewalk is the pigressive alternative?

I think the movement of many businesses from downtown Jackson to Highland Colony Parkway is a major reason many office buildings have low occupancy rates (and occupancy in some of those Highland Colony Parkway buildings isn't so hot either). I know that Mr. Barksdale, owner of Mississippi Today, is a major investor in some of the large buildings on Highland Colony Parkway, and I wonder if he accepts any responsibility for the low occupancy in downtown Jackson and the harm that has caused the city of Jackson, considering his center-left political views. I know of some other real estate developers who own buildings in downtown Jackson and have converted some of them into apartments, and I wonder if they regret these investments. Personally I think 50% of Jackson, including downtown, needs to be bulldozed.

Its a future pigeon roost, no reason to believe otherwise.

To 9:46 There is no doubt, in answer to your question. The current administration does not get it. The proof is in the pudding. People are leaving Jackson just as they are leaving California. While we are not attracting new businesses, we are actually on a downward spiral with our tax base. Hurry and get these people out of office.

@11:32 - recently arrived from Cuba, you say? Or maybe not the Communist neighbor of ours, maybe one of the failed socialist islands nearby?

"Monetizing living or workspaces" - what a concept! Yes, I see how well the disallowance of that concept has worked in Havana - and for that matter, many other similar governances. You should be given a place to live - without having to pay for it. And where you work, the facility and equipment should not cost anything to the provider of your job - somebody has to just give that building away as well. And if you want to have your own business, you shouldn't have to pay for the facility ('workspace' as you call it) -- damn those folks that want to get paid for the cost of that building.

Man, what a country!

@3:14

Im not 11:32 bu..

Havana, Pyongyang, Saigon, and any city in China, would be significantly safer and better developed than Jackson, Mississippi.
I would honestly love to live in Havana.
You need to find a better example.

"11:32 AM
Tell me you don't have a retirement account without telling me you don't have a retirement account."

Easy peasy. You have to work productively, get paid for it, and save up something for the post-employment future to open a "retirement account". That concept is totally unknown to 11:32, who undoubtedly expects the rest of us to feed him until he dies.....

Downtown Jackson will soon solely consist of state and federal government employees.

9:50 is right! Particularly as it relates to commercial and retail space! Already happening with real estate conglomerates in China and elsewhere. San Francisco building valves have dropped sharply. Going to get ugly! Then probably housing market.

Banks hold debt on lots of empty commercial real estate. That's a huge concern of mine.

I'm in real estate and word is that Trustmark downtown is moving to The Paragon office buildings on Highland Colony Pkwy in Ridgeland..