Saturday, June 18, 2022

Highland Colony Apartments Decision Postponed Again

Ridgelanders will have to wait another month to see if their government will approve Jim Barksdale's  proposed 30-acre mixed-use development on Highland Colony Parkway.  The project includes plans to build 500 apartment units.  





The Board of Ealdormen was supposed to discuss the project at its work session Monday night and vote on it Tuesday night.  However, the Board kicked the proverbial can to July 18 and 19.   The Board will meet at 6 PM both nights.  The Ridgeland Zoning Board voted 6-1 to reject the project.  This is the second time the Board has postponed a vote on the matter.  

The controvsersy began when  Mattiace Properties submitted a petition for a conditional use permit for residential dwelling units (otherwise known as apartments.).  The property lies north of Highland Colony Baptist Church and south of the future UMC campus. It is bounded by I-55 on the east and Highland Colony Parkway on the west. The property is currently zoned Mixed-used District (MU-1). 

The proposed $70 million development would have 500 rental units.  The developer never used the word "apartments" but kept using the term "residential dwelling units" at the hearing.   There will be no condos or townhomes in the project.  The petition states: 

The proposed development will be a mixed-use project with office space, retail stores and restaurants with a residential component to complete the mixed-use nature of the project, which with the nearby developments will be consistent with the growin national trend of live, work, dine and play projects with walkable features. The adjacent properties are offices and churches and a proposed medical campus. The residential dwelling units are compatible with, and complementary to, the adjacent properties as the units will provide residences for employees of the businesses and future businesses and members of the churches within a reasonable walking and/or biking distance. Therefore, the project represents a compatible use for the existing properties and the proposed medical campus by providing conveniently located residences.

The owner of the property is Highland Colony Land Company, LLC.  The manager of the company is Don Cannada.  The owner of the LLC is Woodlands Realty Group.  The owner of Woodlands is none other than Jim Barksdale.   

The Barksdale Bunch doesn't refer to the apartments as apartments but instead as "residential dwelling units."  



55 comments:

Anonymous said...

It’s gonna happen. Leave while you can.

The time honored Mississippi tradition of white folks building places up, high mobility black folks moving in, and white folks leaving to do the same thing somewhere else. Rinse, repeat.

It’s how Mississippi keeps building all these new neighborhoods and commercial developments, while losing population.

Krusatyr said...

I have seen high end apartments in Austin TX do exceptionally well, but they arrived AFTER single family opportunities on buildable lots shrunk, existing salaries and rents grew, and demand for homes of all types skyrocketed.

This situation could arise due to coming medical construction. High end apartments produce ongoing income for developers/investors. Nearby doctors would be a natural fit for putting up millions for developers to get steady returns ahead of inflation.

Anonymous said...

and with any luck, Biden will give checks to 500 Americans with disabilities like addiction, and it will be full in no time. It's good that they have a church so close to find Jesus.

Anonymous said...

Attn 10:31. Spoken like someone who has financial interest in the project, but wants to appear as someone who has no involvement.

Anonymous said...

How much is enough money Mr. Barksdale? You have 100s of millions, you are older than dirt, and so why do you have to screw what little is good in Mississippi on your way out?

Anonymous said...

I haven't checked to see, but I'd bet solid money that Mayor Gene is in favor of this fiasco. Barksdale knows better than to try pull this wool over Mary Hawkins' eyes.

Krusatyr said...

10:53, I am 10:31.

You guessed wrong and the financial conditions to justify high end rents, 5 storey buildings, such as in Austin, with very stable tenants (example:$1,800/mo + utilities, no w&d,for studio apartment with zero amenities) is years off.

Hence the risk of lesser grade apartments in the short term. Magee/Hawkins should counter with condos for now.

Anonymous said...

I've seen Mayor Gene say time and time again that Ridgeland has too many apartments and rental units. It's near 50% of the housing stock. Doesn't Ridgeland have enough problems with apartments along Old Canton Road? Now he wants (don't fool yourself if you don't think the Mayor has already approved this) more apartments on the "good" side of town? What about the schools, traffic and other infrastructure? 500 apartments?? No way they fill all of that with tenants paying top dollar.

Anonymous said...

The name will be Thuggery Place. Mayor Mary will have to put up a gate on Highland Colony Parkway at the border.

Anonymous said...

Maybe they can bring in a new industry also in that area. I would suggest a state of the art “chicken processing” plant like the one in Madison’s sister city, Canton.

Anonymous said...

10:31, since you're comparing this with a project in Austin, you must be smoking the same dope as Antar. Ridgeland is too close to the hood (aka Jackson) for a live/work/play concept to not wind up mirroring the recent Metrocenter scheme.

Anonymous said...

Hey Sherlock, Jackson, MS is not Austin, TX.

Anonymous said...

Request to build apartments in Ridgeland is dead on arrival- no alderman that wants to re-elected in Ridgeland will vote in favor of apartments.

Anonymous said...

500
That’s a lot of rental units…

Anonymous said...

11:40 The mayor doesn’t vote on zoning/development matters unless there is a tie vote.

Anonymous said...

"The Ridgeland Zoning Board voted 6-1 to reject the project."

That should be the end of this project and this story.

Krusatyr said...

12:37 & 12:51

Y'all have a reading deficit, JPS? I am 10:31 and I earlier compared and contrasted Austin's situation with Highland Colony, without encouraging or discouraging development. Y'all would need diapers to sit at a wide ranging real estate development discussion. BTW in Austin, the nicer apartment buildings built in the last ten years look like high end condos.

Jackson would have to get "fixed" (with a new mayor, jail etc) years before conditions in Madison/Ridgeland could reach optimum for such apartments, best have condos for now.

Anonymous said...

1:21 He doesn't have to vote. That's what the two or three Magee Lap Dog council members are for.

Anonymous said...

When zoning/planning votes against something 6-1, that is telling. it's never just one complex. This is the first domino of many. And 500 APARTMENT units is a big a## domino! If Gene pushes this through, he will no longer have a right to criticize Antar for squat!

Anonymous said...

Would that be the People's Democratic Republic of Austin," comrade? That's where all of the progressives from Kalifornia move when they tire of the high taxes created by other progressives that they voted into office.

Krusatyr said...

Mattiace may or may not get his 30 acre apartment project, but Renaissance, which he developed from a Richard Dean design, is the finest looking shopping center existing between Atlanta and Dallas that I've ever seen. Maybe others here know of better?

I personally don't get along with Mattiace, he has had a few cheap, stupid development ideas in the past (like Purple Creek), but Richard Dean had the persuasive leadership skills to earn his support for the magnificent Renaissance.

Anonymous said...

2:58, check out Perkins Rowe in Baton Rouge. Mattice should have built Renaissance similar to this, with living options above the stores.

Anonymous said...

Between Atlanta and Dallas? Let's see, taking the direct route you would pass through Birmingham, Tuscaloosa, Meridian, Jackson, Vicksburg and Shreveport. Saying Renaissance is the finest shopping center between Atlanta and Dallas doesn't mean anything as it wouldn't take much to be the "finest"on that 800 mile stretch of road.

Anonymous said...

Krusatyr - at least Purple Creek has double-wides, not single-wides, and they aren't visible from US-51, lol.

Anonymous said...

No reading deficit here. Austin is so foreign to Jackson there is no reason to even bring it into the discussion. Even Oliver and Lisa didn't compare Hooterville to Manhattan.

Anonymous said...

Residential dwelling units! Lol! All that is is putting lipstick on pig! 500 units has to equate to 700 or more cars! A large portion of the acreage will be parking. No way should this Ill conceived idea should ever come to be.

Anonymous said...

That then would become the future Jackson Mall/Metro/Northpark/Dogwood area. Madison should’ve stayed pine trees and telephone poles.

Anonymous said...

I could totally see this working...if Mississippi's population was booming and housing was hard to find. This is absolutely the wrong time and place for this.

Krusatyr said...

3:19 Perkins Rowe looks very nice indeed, online; hope to see it soon in person.

2:47 Yes that same Austin full of hippies and Califoreigners...and beaucoup money and talent, too. Cut police budget by a million or more. City Council said no, can't restore police budget because that'd mean cutting Libraries. So if you see a killing in Austin, call a Librarian.

But real estate is magic: Austin rents went up 48% in last 12 months, alone. Some aspects of Austin are similar to other boutique markets.

Anonymous said...

Just my $0.02: Austin built outward for several decades before the demand for downtown, non-student apartments rose to the level that the city and developers answered the call.

They started by closing large sections of 3rd and 4th streets to build, with many levels of underground parking garages. They also had players like Hilton and Mariott on Board, as well as expensive restaurants. The college bars stayed a few streets over on 6th.

Jackson tried such a plan, which failed miserably in its execution. With respect to other commenters, I really don't see what that has to do with Highland Colony Parkway. The only commonality is "mixed-use development."

Krusatyr said...

@6:24pm
I encouraged one of my spawn to attend UT and I started visiting Austin over twenty-five years back. I go once a year now and it has ballooned from College town to busy, high end urban environment, has maxed out its land use, quadrupled or more in population, with corresponding density.

A $300,000 home here is, literally $800,000 in Austin, in many locations. People try to be within 30 minutes of hospitals and the airport. Texas is great about highway development and the toll system works well there.

Jackson economy depends hugely on the three major Medical Centers and their well paid employees/contractors who have to live and shop close in. That "ecosystem", transferred/expanded to Madison/Ridgeland over the next ten years will create an upscale "urban" real estate market. Mattiace sees this and is preparing for it, though it will not mirror Austin, there are interesting parallels, capisce?

Anonymous said...

Zoning in Ridgeland went out the window when they approved spot zoning for the skyscraper that clearly violated zoning rules. Whatever they turn down now will likely lose on appeal. Spot zoning and arbitrary zoning are not smiled upon by courts. Ridgeland lost this one ten years before it was conceived.

Anonymous said...

A developed can't grease Chowke's palms to make things happen in Ridgeland, right?

Anonymous said...

Mary hired an attorney to oppose the Ridgeland development.

Ain't life grand?

Anonymous said...

7:46: Yeah, I capisce. I lived in Austin on and off for almost 20 years, during the 1970s. 80s, 90s, and 2000s. I lived in central Jackson on and off for several years in the 1990s, 2000s and 2010s.

-6:24

Anonymous said...

No. Just say no to it And leave it at that. Most of the problem in a city south of Jackson has come from apartments and it’s cultural dysfunctional non law abiding tenants. It ruined a good place.

Anonymous said...

I’d say get out of cities and coke to the country, but we don’t want you here.

Anonymous said...

Apartments in nice areas are nice, but only for a few years. For example, the grove in north Jackson was like an Ole Miss-Ms. State fraternity/sorority row when built in the70,s. Ten years later, you were scared to ride through it.

Anonymous said...

@2:25 AM - if she did, good for her, as she cares about her community, its future, and its residents.

500 apartments would ruin the Renaissance area, with increased crime, traffic, low-lifes, you name it. It would also spill over into Madison the City.

If it is approved it is only because of some significant palm greasing.

Wake up Ridgeland! Contact your alderman and your mayor and just say no!

Anonymous said...

Ridgeland is LOST. Leave while you can!!! Property values crashing in 5, 4, 3, 2…..

Anonymous said...

To the idiot who said Biden gave checks to people during Covid, it was Congress.

Anonymous said...

These developments have worked in other towns in the state. Is the proximity to Jackistan the problem?

Anonymous said...

11:04, Can you provide some examples?

Anonymous said...

These developments have worked in other towns in the state.

Where? Name them.

Calling out 11:04 said...

@11:04 AM - name them. We'll wait.

Anonymous said...

Tupelo, Ocean Springs

Anonymous said...

This entire thread is a perfect encapsulation of why Mississippi can never get out of its own way. The "not in my back yard" attitude completely ignores a desirable population - young professionals seeking a nice apartment to rent. If their only options are the current supply along Old Canton Road, don't be surprised when this segment keeps leaving the state for greener pastures.

Anonymous said...

@2: PM - don't let the door hit you in the backside on the way to Austin. You would fit in great with the other progressives.

Anonymous said...

Nice try, I'm a conservative that believes in property rights. Having the local property committee vote on whether someone can build multifamily housing on the property they own is closer to socialism than conservatism. You can pretend that keeping young people in the state doesn't matter, see how that works out for you.

Anonymous said...

"I lived in Austin on and off for almost 20 years, during the 1970s. 80s, 90s, and 2000s"

You majored in math, right?

Anonymous said...

@5:10

I believe the poster meant he or she lived a total of almost twenty years off and on during those decades. No math problem there—just a little ambiguity.

Anonymous said...

2:15pm for the win.
Ditto for more mature folks who do not want a yard or the responsibilities of home ownership, but want to be in that general area (as opposed to Jackson or the other side of Ridgeland).

Anonymous said...

Just sell out and bring trash to the area.

Wait for all the business that built there to leave once the bullets start flying.

Way to go.

Anonymous said...

My God, Kingfish. Just look what you've corralled here in your little blog community. Pure and narrow ignorance. Do you not ever get sick of it yourself?

Anonymous said...

KF "...Jim Barksdale's proposed 30-acre mixed-use development..."

Not factual. Afraid you made an assumptive fallacy based on an address and a signature and drew the wrong conclusion.

It was simply his land.



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