Three years after breaking ground, a development company can now move forward with its plan to build 200 new homes in the capital city, the Jackson City Council decided on July 2.
Retail Specialists, a commercial real-estate agency based in Birmingham, Ala., is leading the development. It is the agency’s first commercial real-estate project in the State of Mississippi.
After a heated debate among city leaders over how the project will affect the West Jackson community, the council voted 5-2 to approve the company’s final plat, or layout, for The Village at Livingston Place.
The site sits at what was once an industrial facility.
‘Be More Optimistic About Growth’
Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba, commercial developers and community members gathered on Oct. 21, 2021, staking shovels into the ground at the construction site for new homes on Livingston Road in West Jackson.
The community, featuring homes priced between $200,000 and $250,000, will sit off Livingston Road and Woodrow Wilson Avenue, across the street from the Jackson Medical Mall.
“From someone who is from Jackson, who grew up in Virden Addition—which is just a few miles down the road—and who came in this area in high school when it was booming, it’s just a pleasure for me to see that it may boom again. This is the catalyst of doing that,” WLBT reported investor Robert Gibbs as saying at the time.
Developers brought their final layout plan before the Jackson City Council on July 2 following a series of delays in the previous three years, including material supply-chain issues and the on-site death of a construction worker.
But as the council prepared to vote on whether to approve the developers moving forward with the plan, Ward 3 Councilman Kenneth Stokes and Ward 5 Councilman Vernon Hartley were vocal that they thought residents needed more opportunities to ask questions about the project.
“Those citizens over there do not want it,” Stokes said. “Nobody has talked to those citizens. Nobody.” He also expressed concern that the development could bring crime with it,l deterring potential homeowners from wanting to move to the area and harming the medical mall’s prospects.
While both Stokes and Hartley voted against the measure; Ward 2 City Councilwoman Angelique Lee abstained from voting altogether.
Ward 6 City Councilman Aaron Banks cautioned Stokes against voicing opposition to the project, saying that there are models in other cities that show how new housing development grows communities.
“I would just implore my colleagues to be more optimistic about growth happening in the city of Jackson,” Banks said. “Regardless of the crime. Regardless of cars being stolen. … At some point we have to be optimistic and try to build some city of light where there’s darkness.”
‘Nothing But an Aid’
At the Jackson City Council meeting on July 2, Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba rejected Kenneth Stokes’ comments against the development, saying that the homes will retain and attract taxpayers. “We need new homeowners in our city,” the mayor said.
The pair got into a back-and-forth discussion regarding the pros and cons of the impending development.
“To suggest in any way that this is a harm to the medical mall … this is nothing but an aid to the medical mall,” Lumumba continued. “Jackson is not a city that has a problem producing wealth. It’s a city that has a problem maintaining wealth. All of the money that we make between 9 and 5 happens to be out by 6. Until we put people who live here, buy groceries here, buy gas here and pay taxes here, then we will continue to have problems with how we take care of roads, how we take care of pipes, because you don’t have people who can give to the tax base.”
Investor and attorney Robert Gibbs, who represents Retail Specialists, stepped up to the podium and told council members that continuing to delay the project means greater costs for the company.
“We have spent over two million dollars to get us to this point,” Gibbs said. “Every day that there’s a delay, it costs more money.”
In an interview with the Mississippi Free Press on July 2, Gibbs said he is confident that the development will benefit the community, particularly for young professionals who want to buy homes in Jackson rather than live in the outer suburbs.
“It’s going to bring back people who want to stay here but can’t find a new home,” Gibbs said. “I’m confident that the community is not as opposed to this as it appears. There’s a couple people that just don’t want to see the city move forward.”
yes to new homes and new retailers