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WORK UNDER WAY BEHIND FONDREN ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT TO RELIEVE PARKING ISSUES

Construction on the foundation for the Fondren parking garage should be wrapped up by the end of April.

“We’ll start going vertical after that, which should put us in a position to have the structure completed by September,” said Jason Watkins of Jackson, who along with David Pharr of Jackson is managing the project.

After the structure is finished, an elevator will be installed, and then striping will be added for the 500 parking spots.

“That will carry us into October before we’re open for business,” Watkins said.

The garage, which occupies land behind the Fondren Entertainment District (The Pearl tiki bar, Highball Lanes bowling alley and the Capri Theatre), will be well lit inside and also have its own armed security guard as “an extra step of precaution,” he said.
With entrances off North State Street and Mitchell Avenue, the garage will provide parking that customers visiting restaurants and other businesses in the area will pay to use. It will also provide parking for monthly tenants.

Watkins and Pharr, who developed the Fondren Entertainment District are supervising the project because the location is tied to the entertainment district and they have an established business relationship with a contractor, which is expected to make construction as efficient and affordable as possible.

AnderCorp, which has offices in Fondren in Jackson and in Gulfport, is handling the sitework and construction.

The project was initially expected to come in at $15 million but now is estimated to cost between $18 million and $19 million.

The cost of materials increased and the sitework ended up being more involved than expected.

“The soil was worse than the initial boring indicated,” Watkins said. “We had to dig out additional soil from what we planned and had to bring in more soil. That involved moving the storm drainage from where it was planned.”

The garage was initially designed using pre-cast panels but the cost of those rose and the lead time to get them increased. Now, the garage will be a more traditional concrete design that is built in place, he said.

Senate Bill 3150, which was passed in 2022, authorized up to $20 million in bonds to be issued by the Hinds County Development Project Loan Fund “to assist in the development and construction of infrastructure improvements, including a structured parking facility, and other improvements associated with an entertainment development project.”

“State leadership – the governor and speaker of the House of Representatives – directed it this way,” Watkins said. “They saw the need for this garage. It was their choice to help it in this fashion.”
Watkins said Hinds County receives a report each month about expenses related to the project. “They fund it, and we pay the contractors,” he said.

The supervisors will be responsible for paying back the loan, Watkins said. Revenue from drivers paying to use the garage for a short time and fees paid by monthly users will go toward the loan, he said.

Hinds County will become the owner of the garage after it is completed, Watkins said.

“It will be the county’s long-term asset,” he said. “We have no interest in being the owner of the garage.”

Plans call for a professional management company to lease and operate the garage, Watkins said. “We haven’t signed a contract yet with a parking management company,” he said.

In February 2022, the Hinds County Board of Supervisors approved the general concept of the garage and voted to move forward with the legislation.

Pharr and Watkins met with a consultant who specializes in parking garages, who indicated that a garage for 500 vehicles would be the right size to accommodate businesses in the area and allow for the area’s future growth.

In a state where drivers like the convenience of front door parking, Pharr believes drivers will use the garage because it will offer an alternative to circling the block and looking for an open parking place.

“We think people will like the predictability and security of a parking lot,” he said.

Watkins doesn’t expect the garage to be fully utilized after it opens until drivers get comfortable to using it.

“I don’t expect that when it opens it will be full the first day or few months, but it will scale up as people understand how easy it is,” he said. “I think it’s much more reasonable to expect it will take a good year to understand how easy it is to use.”
To pay for parking in the garage, a driver will use a cell phone app and credit card, he said. The rate has not been determined but Watkins expects it will be about $3 an hour.

He said has spoken with the Jones Walker law firm, which last year moved its more than 60 attorneys and staff into the top two floors of the Fondren Building, about its employees using the garage as monthly tenants. “I think there’s a lot of interest,” he said.

Nathan Glenn, owner of Rooster’s and Basil’s restaurants in the Fondren Corner Building, welcomes the additional parking.

“Parking is the one thing everyone complains about in Fondren,” he said. “Any additional parking would be good. I think it will be good for the entire area.”

The construction of the garage has meant the parking that existed behind the Fondren Entertainment District is no longer usable and that has further heightened the need for additional parking.
“It’s exposed how little parking there is,” Watkins said. “We think people are getting desperate for parking.”

The lack of parking in Fondren has been an issue for many years with various solutions considered.

In 2006, the Fondren Express Trolley that circulated in the neighborhood’s business district was hailed as a way people could deal with the lack of parking. It operated for several years but no longer does.

In 2018, the idea of parking limits in certain areas in the Fondren Business District and permits for long-term parking on residential streets was explored by the city, but nothing came of it.

In 2019, the city of Jackson announced plans to install parking meters in Fondren along North State Street and Duling Avenue, study the impact of the meters and if they should be installed elsewhere in the city. The plans were sidelined after residents opposed the idea.

In 2022, Andrew Mattiace and Mike Peters announced plans for a new six-story apartment building, to be known as Fondren Place 2, to be built behind the Duling School complex. The project was to include two floors of parking that would support the existing commercial uses along Duling Avenue, but the project has not moved forward.
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MAJOR MADISON COUNTY SCHOOLS PROJECTS STILL ON SCHEDULE SUMMER COMPLETION

Construction is under way to modify the front entrance at Madison Station Elementary School and address foundation issues.

The construction has necessitated changing the usual routes for carpool around the school in the morning and afternoon, but classes are not impacted by the construction and school is able to take place as usual, said Gene A. Wright, director of communications for the Madison County Schools (MCS).

The work should be completed by mid-July, she said.

During the summer break, Madison Station will have a new roof installed as well as a new HVAC system. That construction should be finished before school starts for the 2024-2025 academic year, Wright said.

Construction is on schedule for the $6-million tennis complex, which is located near Rosa Scott School, and will serve all four zones of Madison County Schools, including Madison, Ridgeland, Germantown and Velma Jackson.
“If you drive by it, you can see the progress moving forward every day,” Wright said.

While construction of the complex will be finished this summer, the lights will not be operational until fall.

“There has been a supply chain delay in receiving the electrical transformer box, but once it arrives this fall all 12 tennis courts will be lighted for play in the evening,” she said.

Wier Boerner Allin Architecture designed the complex, and Probity Contracting Group is the contractor.

Currently there are no tennis courts in Madison County Schools, and tennis teams rent tennis courts for practice and play, Wright said. Construction on a $44-million project to expand Germantown High School and add a performing arts center is also on schedule.

Next fall the school will open with a 24-classroom addition, and by December the two-story, 1,200-seat, state-of-the-art performing arts center should be complete, Wright said.

The addition of the new classrooms and performing arts center is the largest project within the Madison County Schools since 2016 when Mannsdale Upper Elementary opened for grades 3-5 on the western side of the Germantown zone.

JBHM Architecture created the project plans, and AnderCorp is the construction firm for the Germantown High project.

During the summer months every campus in the district will have improvement projects taking place, as is the case every year as they are needed and requested by each principal, Wright said.
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