STARKVILLE, MS – Courtesy of The Dispatch and Braden Simmons

The Starkville Board of Aldermen recently approved a variance and special exemption that will help to facilitate the construction of a 100-room hotel and a 500-bed student housing complex off of Hwy 12 and Pat Station Road. The vote was unanimous in favor of allowing the project to proceed.

“We’ve already had a few site plan meetings in the last few months,” Austin Courtney, development associate with York Development said. “But we should have all of our sites, architectural and civil (studies) ready to submit here very soon. It’s kind of a waiting game of getting some of it wrapped up and everything being one cohesive deal.” They hope to begin construction early next year, and to finish before the Fall 2028 school year begins.

“If you really want to think about it, (the new student housing development and hotel) plays into exactly what we were talking about as it relates to Highway 12,” Mayor Lynn Spruill said. “… If we don’t make sure that Highway 12 remains a very viable corridor … we will find ourselves with a situation where we end up having to go through a revitalization process.”

Please click here for the original article: https://cdispatch.com/news/board-approves-design-exemptions-for-45m-student-housing-hotel-development/

image credit: Daniel Havelin, city planner, speaks during the Starkville Board of Aldermen’s regular meeting Tuesday at City Hall – Braden Simmons, The Dispatch