Holiday Inn project avoids foreclosure

The plan to bring a Holiday Inn hotel next to the Cotton Mill Marketplace on Highway 12 is progressing, and construction at the site is expected in three to four weeks, according to the site's developer.

The Starkville Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously passed the preliminary and final plat approval for the completed retail site Wednesday afternoon in a specialcalled meeting. The approvals are one of the final steps before the city can release infrastructure reimbursements as part of the site's tax increment financing plan.

Starkville aldermen approved a $4 million TIF plan for the development through allocations of 75 percent of all ad valorem and sales tax revenues generated in the district for infrastructure improvements. The rulings will now go before aldermen, and if the board approves the requests, funds on the project would be released after the property appears on the city's registry, in accordance with the TIF plan.

Last week, a foreclosure notice was posted for the hotel's owners, Cotton Mill Hotel Group. Developer Mark Nicholas said the release of TIF funds will help repay a loan that funded infrastructure improvements with the shopping center, which has been open for over a year and a half. The foreclosure notice was stopped after a new financing commitment was agreed upon, he said.

"I am looking to get reimbursed ($900,000) and this was the quickest way to the finish line," Nicholas added. "When we started the hotel project, we were with a bank out of Minneapolis, and we had to stop the project because of our contractor. He stopped working and said he could not build it for a certain price. I was faced with either a lawsuit, or to fire him. I fired him."

Harold Construction, a firm involved with previous construction projects at Mississippi State University was brought onto the project, and some foundation work has been completed. The shopping center project cost around $5 million, and the hotel development will sit around $19 million.

"We will go vertical very quickly," Nicholas said.

The hotel will bring 117 rooms and include a steakhouse, he added. The plan will also extend Mill Street to Highway 12 for a future connection with the Mississippi Department of Transportation right of way.

"That way the city would be ready once MDOT is ready to go," Nicholas said.

The project has added sidewalks, easements, water and sewer lines and a water retention system as part of the infrastructure upgrades, according to Community Development Director Buddy Sanders.

Businesses in the retail development on Spring Street near Highway 12 include Hungry Howie's Pizza, Insomnia Cookies, Jimmy John's and Salsarita's. The center also houses Maroon and Co. boutique and Pure Barre fitness center. The retailers have created 57 jobs, Nicholas said.