Category Archives: Starkville

Zoning Approved for Starkville Industrial Park

By GTR LINK, Manufacturing, Oktibbeha County BoS, Real Estate, Starkville, Starkville Board of Aldermen

STARKVILLE – Courtesy of The DIspatch

Circuit Judge James Kitchens recently affirmed a recent zoning change for a proposed 360-acre industrial park near Hwy 182 & Hwy 389. Starkville aldermen had previously re-zoned the parcel in question as appropriate for Manufacturing, but that decision was challenged by LMK LLC, Bettye Bell, Mary S. Bell, Margaret Copeland and Laura B. White. Judge Kitchens said that these appellants were unable to meet their burden “to show that the decision was invalid.”

As such, GTR LINK plans to go ahead and seek funding to the tune of $14 million that had been pledged by the Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors and Starkville Board of Aldermen.

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SOCSD Breaks Ground on Partnership School

By MSU, Starkville, Starkville/Oktibbeha CCSD

SOCSD Breaks Ground on Partnership School

STARKVILLE, MS (courtesy of The Starkville Daily News & The Dispatch) –

Mississippi State, Starkville Oktibbeha School District and statewide officials broke ground Wednesday on the new SOCSD Partnership School at MSU. Photo by: Russ Houston

The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District broke ground on its new Partnership School Wednesday morning near Hwy 182 & George Perry Blvd. Once construction is complete, the $27.5 million facility will serve all SOCSD sixth and seventh grade students, and also act as a laboratory for the Mississippi State University College of Education. SOCSD has contributed $12.5 million toward the project; the state of Mississippi has given another $10 million, in addition to MSU’s $5 million plus the land the school will be built on.

“This was a challenge,” said School Board President Keith Coble. “It took a lot of leadership on all sides to make this happen, the university, the school district, the state legislature, a lot of cooperation. In the end people made this happen. If we had not had these people I don’t think it would have happened.”

Courtesy Photo

“This wouldn’t have happened without collaboration and true partnering,” MSU President Mark Keenum said. “There’s no way the Starkville-Oktibbeha School District could do this on their own. We had to work together in tandem . . . I think you’re going to see a great deal of interest, and who knows, we may see other schools like this in other areas of our state or across the country.”
Dirt work at the site is set to begin at once, as the school board’ has approval of a $2,493,903 bid from the Tremont-based Cademy Construction, LLC, at its last meeting. Completion is projected for January 2019.

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Academy Set to Open New Location in Starkville

By Retail, Starkville
Academy Set to Open New Location in Starkville
STARKVILLE, MS – Courtesy of The Dispatch

Academy Sports+Outdoors Communication Specialist Karly Makovy has announced the Grand Opening date for the chain’s new Starkville location: Friday, June 2. Their website will have more information about the location in the coming months, including special events and other promotions.

Academy sells an array of sporting, hunting, and fishing equipment; Starkville’s location will have apparel with Mississippi sports teams, including the Mississippi State University Bulldogs.

Up until this point, the nearest locations to Starkville have been in Tupelo and Tuscaloosa, Alabama.

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Southern Cross Seeks to Bring Eco-Friendly Wind Power to the Golden Triangle

By Business, Caledonia, Golden Triangle, Starkville, West Point

Southern Cross Seeks to Bring Eco-Friendly Wind Power to the Golden Triangle

Courtesy of the Dispatch

From left, Denton Gibbes, Cecil Brown and Brandon Presley. Courtesy Photos

Southern Cross Transmission (SCT) filed a petition with the Mississippi Public Service Commission on Tuesday formally proposing a route for the company’s 400-mile, 500-kilovolt wind energy line. The project would still need to be approved by the Public Service Commission to OK the project; there is currently no timeline for when such a vote might take place.

SCT has been in talks with landowners along a proposed route that runs from Texas, through Louisiana and Mississippi, terminating near Caladonia. The project is anticipated to have a total cost of about one billion dollars, according to an independent economic analysis Southern Cross commissioned back in December.

“It’s taken a little extra time because we’ve done a lot of interaction with landowners and we have worked to find an acceptable route,” Southern Cross spokesperson Denton Gibbes said. “It always takes a little time when you’re trying to do things right.”

The proposed route enters the Golden Triangle in the western Oktibbeha County, then moves northeast into Clay County, and then north of West Point into Monroe County near Hamilton. Then it enters Lowndes County and ends at a converter station to be built near Caledonia.

The Eastern portion of the currently-proposed route, terminating near Caledonia

Gibbes went on to say that landowners along the potential route will soon receive letters from the company to let them know about the proposal, in order to give them time to sumbit any questions or objections they may have, and, eventually, to allow them to consider easements that would allow the project to take place.

Commissioner Cecil Brown said, “I think it’s an exciting project in general terms. . . It sounds like it will be good for the people in the state of Mississippi, but again I’ve got to look at the filings. We’ll probably have hearings on it. There may be some objectors. It can take a while to get through something like this.”

Until the project is approved, citizens can object by mailing letters with their reasons for intervening to PSC Executive Secretary Katherine Collier at P.O. Box 1174 in Jackson.

Public Service Commissioner for Mississippi’s Northern District Brandon Presley was unavailable for comment, but he has previously said that he would only support the project if the company built the converter station in Mississippi, if Mississippians have access to the power running through the transmission lines, and if Mississippi contractors are included in labor contracts.

“To me the trade-off is if you want to come in and do this, we’ll look at it, but you’ve got to meet a public interest burden,” Presley said in November. “The burden for that is what does the state of Mississippi — what do you get out of it? Are you just coming through our area or are we going to see development and real job growth?”

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New Partnership School in Starkville Closer to Becoming Reality

By Ole Miss, Starkville, Starkville/Oktibbeha CCSD

New Partnership School in Starkville Closer to Becoming Reality

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)

Plans for the partnership school between Mississippi State University and the Starkville Oktibbeha Consolidated School District (SOCSD) are moving further forward; a memorandum of understanding to receive state bond funds for the project was passed during Tuesday night’s school board meeting.

Once it’s up and running, the new middle school is expected to have about a thousand 6th and 7th graders enrolled. The intended location is near the intersection between George Perry Street and Highway 182, on the north end of MSU’s campus. The new school was first proposed as a way to help alleviate overcrowding at SOCSD schools.

“We’re really excited the final approval came through for the design just recently and we anticipate putting out the bid for the site preparation, the dirt work sometime in the month of April and we’ll break ground in the early summer,” said Dr. Devon Brenner, head of the curriculum, instruction and special education department at MSU. “Our vision is that in partnering with the university and the school district, we’ll be able to provide really powerful education for the students,” she said. “They’ll also have the opportunity to take their classes right here on a college campus, so they’ll get to know what college life is like and begin to imagine themselves attending college.”

The new partnership school has been in the works for three years now.

“One of the things we know is that middle school is a particularly challenging age range,” Brenner went on to say. “Sixth and seventh graders kind of set the tone for the rest of their high school careers and through graduation in those grades, and it’s an important great to provide really quality education in.”

The school is expected to be open in January of 2019.

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Starkville Farmers Market is Back

By Agribuisiness, Culture/Entertainment, Foodservice, GSDP, Recreation, Starkville

Starkville Farmers Market is Back

STARKVILLE – Courtesy of The Dispatch

Prather (courtesy starkville.org)

Starkville Community Market will be open this Tuesday from 4-6 p.m. at Fire Station No. 1 Park.

SCM manager and Greater Starkville Development Partnership special events coordinator Jennifer Prather reports that roughly eight to ten vendors are expected to sell early spring produce and other goods at the event; more growers and producers are expected to join when the market’s Saturday offerings begin May 6. “We’ve spoken to new vendors outside of Starkville about new offerings, like baked goods and goat’s cheese and milk. We’re looking to increase the variety,” she said.

The Market will be held at Fire Station No. 1’s greenspace, located at the intersection of Lampkin and Russell streets.

Prather went on to say, “We’re working with Starkville Utilities to help grow the capacity for electricity there. Many vendors require refrigeration for their products, so that’s a priority for us moving forward. We’re also working on a project to install new benches and garbage cans, and overall looking into other ways to better develop the area in a community friendly way . . . We’re really enjoying the location. The aesthetics make a huge difference because the area is friendly to vendors and shoppers.”

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SOCSD Announced Opening of New Partnership School

By Education, Golden Triangle, MSU, Starkville

SOCSD Announced Opening of New Partnership School

THE DISPATCH

SOCSD Lewis Holliday (courtesy photo)

The Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District-Mississippi State University partnership school is now projected to open in the late fall of 2018, three to four months later than previously expected, SOCSD Superintendent Lewis Holloway confirmed Wednesday.  The project, which will house and educate all sixth- and seventh-grade students in Oktibbeha County, is still moving forward, he said, but the administrative process developing the school has slowed down its progress and tentatively pushed back the opening date.

“Normally, a school district just designs and builds a new campus. It’s a much speedier process (without university and state-level involvement),” he said. “We had to go through the (university’s) design review committee, and that took several months that we weren’t anticipating.”

MSU Chief Communications Officer Sid Salter said the new timeline estimate is a conservative one and the university is confident it and SOCSD “can successfully navigate any issues that arise.”
“In any project of this nature, such delays are often unavoidable,” he said.

Once completed, the roughly $30 million project will serve as a model education platform in the state and help solve issues with classroom overcrowding created after the Oktibbeha County School District and Starkville School District merged.

Funding for the partnership school comes from three levels: state lawmakers appropriated $10 million, MSU pledged approximately $10 million in land and money and a local $16 million bond issuance will fund construction costs, furnishings and other districtwide infrastructure needs.

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Academy Sports Coming to Starkville, Bringing Plenty of Jobs

By Retail, Starkville

Academy Sports Coming to Starkville, Bringing Plenty of Jobs

STARKVILLE – Courtesy of Starkville Daily News

Academy Sports+Outdoors on Highway 12 is nearing completion; the store is set to open in late spring, bringing around 100 new jobs to Starkville. The Starkville location will be Academy’s eighth location in Mississippi. The Starkville location will carry apparel for local sports teams. Academy Sports also sells products for outdoor sports and recreational activities.

Academy Sports+Outdoors on Highway 12 will open in late spring (photo by Sarah Raines, SDN)

“We’re always looking to expand, and we’re excited to offer the Starkville community a convenient new shopping destination,” Academy Sports Communication Specialist Karly Makovy said. “Because our store caters to active-minded customers, the Starkville area was a great fit … We are excited to be in Starkville and serve those Bulldog customers . . . The store is going to bring approximately 100 jobs to the area,” Makovy went on to say. “Information on job positions will be posted online. There is information on salary and part-time positions for those people.”

Applications are being accepted on the Academy career website.

“We’re really excited to enter the community,” Makovy said. “We could serve a lot of things in Starkville — a lot of outdoor activities that the community can be involved with. We’ve been eyeing the community for a while.”

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Lynn Lane Property Near Starkville Academy Up for Sale

By Starkville

 

Lynn Lane Property Near Starkville Academy Up for Sale

PRESS RELEASE

STARKVILLE, MS – Starkville Daily News

A sizable lot on Lynn Lane has officially hit the market.

Kay Regimbal, a broker associated with RE/MAX Partners in Starkville, told the SDN on Friday that a 4.45 acre tract located near Starkville Academy on Lynn Lane has already generated interest.

The lot – which is listed at $785,000 – is owned by the Josey family, who owns several acres on Lynn Lane.

“(The Josey family) have worked very diligently to encourage responsible development on their available sites in Starkville – most recently with the sale of the Northeast and Southeast corners of Lynn Lane at Louisville,” Regimbal said.

The family also owned the property at the corner of Lynn Lane and Louisville Street where a new Dairy Queen and gas station are being developed. The Dairy Queen is expected to open sometime this spring.

Jeremy Nicholas, head of school at Starkville Academy, told the SDN the property looks attractive, but is not something the school is interested in pursuing at this time.

Tabor Construction and Development two years ago completed the design build of the Mississippi Department of Heath Administrative Offices on the north side of Lynn Lane, which helped jumpstart progress in the area.

The tract of land for sale on Lynn Lane that sits adjacent to Starkville Academy. (courtesy photo)

“This site set the bar for subsequent business growth,” Regimbal said. “We have had quite a bit of interest on Lynn Lane recently.  With the number of rooftops South of Highway 12, and the traffic on Lynn Lane as one of our major thoroughfares – this location is primed for further development.”

Regimbal said recent sidewalk improvements and residential growth in the area have enhanced Lynn Lane’s appeal.

Additionally, she said Lot 2 of Laurel Pointe, which is located between the 2.89 acres and 4.45 acre tracts behind Starkville Academy, recently sold to a local firm planning a custom design build that is expected to enhance high-end commercial growth on Lynn Lane.

Starkville Academy is mentioned in the listing as a geographic point of reference and will not be impacted by or involved in the marketing of the property.

“The property has absolutely nothing to do with Starkville Academy,” Regimbal said.

 

https://www.starkvilledailynews.com/content/large-tract-near-starkville-academy-hits-market

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New Businesses Coming to Columbus, New Hope, Starkville

By Business, Columbus, Foodservice, Main Street, New Hope, Retail, Starkville

New Businesses Coming to Columbus, New Hope, Starkville

Courtesy of THE DISPATCH

Caleb Sherman of The Dispatch

New businesses are in the process of opening up shop for the convenience of customers!

In Columbus, Bargain Hunt is moving into the old Southern Family location next to K-Mart on 45

In New Hope, Starkville’s Smartphone Doctor will be adding a new location in the Lehmberg Crossing shopping center on Alabama St.

Starkville’s Main Street will be getting “Pop Porium,” a gourmet popcorn, sno-ball, and soda fountain featuring homemade syrup flavors. They hope to have a hundred varieties of popcorn available for sale by the end of the year, based on customer feedback; they plan to open soon with fifty.

Read the full article here: http://www.cdispatch.com/news/article.asp?aid=56294

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