musiccity
December 29th, 2011, 10:13 PM
RiverWalk Canal & Town Creek Development - Jackson, MS
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Jackson developer David Watkins wants to move the Town Creek out of its traditional bed and replace it with a scenic, man-made canal stretching from Mill Street to the creek's Pearl River confluence.
"This will be an unbelievable development," said Watkins, the developer behind the renovation of the King Edward Hotel, the Standard Life Building and the revitalization of the Farish Street Entertainment District.
"Think of it as a mile-long swimming pool--about eight-tenths of a mile. The channel itself is 14 feet down. Look down at the river, and it'll be 10 feet below and contain four feet of water."
Watkins plans to re-route the original creek into an underground pipe--capable of containing a 10-foot swell during flood stages--and use the filtered creek to feed his proposed RiverWalk and Town Lake projects. He says his plan to build waterfront property in Downtown Jackson could be completed within five years, if the Levee Board and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can assure him that flooding will no longer be a problem.
"None of this works if we don't have flood control. It would still be subject to the 1979 and 1983 floods," Watkins said. "It may be taken care of with the direction the Corps and the Levee Board is heading."
The Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District Levee Board approved a resolution last December that moved forward with the Corps' plan to expand levees along the Pearl River, which offers about 80 percent flood-control effectiveness from the kind of damage wrought by the infamous 1979 Easter Flood. The Levee Board now wants to pursue the possibility of building a shallow lake between the projected levees, with relatively minor environmental impact compared to similar lake plans proposed in the past.
Watkins said the new "Lake 255" plan the Levee Board is considering this month would put enough water into Town Creek to facilitate the creation of a new man-made canal with enough water in it to support boating and recreation.
The RiverWalk canal will exit into a 35-acre recreational lake, lined with residential housing and entertainment venues containing developments such as a Civil Rights Museum, a National Museum of Gospel Music, recording and broadcast studios, and a picturesque canal park, among other things.
"It's not that complicated," Watkins said. "Most of the property on the RiverWalk side is already owned by either developers, or the city or the Jackson Redevelopment Authority. Look behind the Convention Center. That's Convention Center property. We own the spot behind the King Edward."
The development would displace property at 995 S. West Street, the site of popular strip club Danny's Downtown. Club manager Mike Garren said he doubted the owners would be willing to sell the property, no matter how much a developer offered.
"If there's a developer wanting to buy this property, tell him we appreciate his offer, but no thanks," said Garren, who said the club was largely restricted to the industrial section near the downtown area because of strict zoning laws, and could find only limited placement in other productive sections of the city. "We have got to be here, but we also just happen to be in a place that's doing quite well."
Watkins envisions the northern section of RiverWalk containing a building combining the Civil Rights Museum and a National Museum of Gospel Music, even though Tougaloo College President Beverly Hogan told the Jackson Free Press last year that her college still planned to move forward with the construction of the Civil Rights Museum, despite financing problems.
A Civil Rights Museum commission appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour approved the location of the National Civil Rights Museum in 2008 near Tougaloo College, despite outcry from advocates like former Jackson Councilman Leslie McLemore and former Jackson Mayor Kane Ditto, who both argued that the museum belonged in an urban setting.
"We think that ultimately what Tougaloo wants is for the Civil Rights Museum to be successful, and we think it will be more successful in downtown Jackson, coordinated into a theme with the Gospel Museum and a focus on music. What will distinguish our civil rights museum from the one in Tennessee and Alabama and Georgia is our history of music in the Civil Rights Movement," Watkins said.
Tougaloo Board of Trustees President LeRoy Walker said he remained confident that Tougaloo would be the future location of the Civil Rights Museum, but added that he was excited about Watkins' plan.
"I'm good friends with David, and I'm enthusiastic about RiverWalk. We studied a similar development in another state, and you would not believe the revenue that can be generated by a project like this."
The RiverWalk design also places residential property at the southwest end of the development, along the east side of Gallatin Street. Watkins predicts installing about 8,000 new residential units, housed in buildings rising 10 or more stories, with low buildings closer to the water but increasing in height according to location, so that all occupants will have a view of the new lake. The lakeshore itself will strictly be public access, complete with fishing piers and walkways.
Condominiums "will start at $300,000 and go up to the millions," Watkins said.
He added, however, that he intends to have affordable apartments interspersed in the same residential area, often within the same buildings.
"We need this community to be a great, big melting pot," Watkins said. "We can't have a homogenous pile of rich folks."
The other side of the lake will contain the Mississippi Arts District, containing a scenic outdoor stage called the Mississippi Music Bowl, along with the proposed new site of the Mississippi Ballet and the Mississippi Institute of Fine Arts, which the developer officially introduced to the public last month.
Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. said he fully supported Watkins' RiverWalk project, and described the endeavor as one of his main reasons for advocating for the "Lake 255" plan recently endorsed by the Levee Board--of which Johnson is a member.
"There's no question that the city of Jackson would benefit from a project such as this," Johnson said in March. "We can see many examples of the beneficial impact waterfront development can have on a city, and I'm hoping the Corps of Engineers will look at this as a development possibility for our city."
Source (http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/just_five_years_to_riverwalk_060210/)
http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/4930/picture10rq.png
http://img857.imageshack.us/img857/5732/picture8kv.png
http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/1440/picture9np.png
http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/1153/picture11bz.png
http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/3608/picture12iz.png
http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/8357/picture13i.png
Jackson developer David Watkins wants to move the Town Creek out of its traditional bed and replace it with a scenic, man-made canal stretching from Mill Street to the creek's Pearl River confluence.
"This will be an unbelievable development," said Watkins, the developer behind the renovation of the King Edward Hotel, the Standard Life Building and the revitalization of the Farish Street Entertainment District.
"Think of it as a mile-long swimming pool--about eight-tenths of a mile. The channel itself is 14 feet down. Look down at the river, and it'll be 10 feet below and contain four feet of water."
Watkins plans to re-route the original creek into an underground pipe--capable of containing a 10-foot swell during flood stages--and use the filtered creek to feed his proposed RiverWalk and Town Lake projects. He says his plan to build waterfront property in Downtown Jackson could be completed within five years, if the Levee Board and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers can assure him that flooding will no longer be a problem.
"None of this works if we don't have flood control. It would still be subject to the 1979 and 1983 floods," Watkins said. "It may be taken care of with the direction the Corps and the Levee Board is heading."
The Rankin-Hinds Pearl River Flood and Drainage Control District Levee Board approved a resolution last December that moved forward with the Corps' plan to expand levees along the Pearl River, which offers about 80 percent flood-control effectiveness from the kind of damage wrought by the infamous 1979 Easter Flood. The Levee Board now wants to pursue the possibility of building a shallow lake between the projected levees, with relatively minor environmental impact compared to similar lake plans proposed in the past.
Watkins said the new "Lake 255" plan the Levee Board is considering this month would put enough water into Town Creek to facilitate the creation of a new man-made canal with enough water in it to support boating and recreation.
The RiverWalk canal will exit into a 35-acre recreational lake, lined with residential housing and entertainment venues containing developments such as a Civil Rights Museum, a National Museum of Gospel Music, recording and broadcast studios, and a picturesque canal park, among other things.
"It's not that complicated," Watkins said. "Most of the property on the RiverWalk side is already owned by either developers, or the city or the Jackson Redevelopment Authority. Look behind the Convention Center. That's Convention Center property. We own the spot behind the King Edward."
The development would displace property at 995 S. West Street, the site of popular strip club Danny's Downtown. Club manager Mike Garren said he doubted the owners would be willing to sell the property, no matter how much a developer offered.
"If there's a developer wanting to buy this property, tell him we appreciate his offer, but no thanks," said Garren, who said the club was largely restricted to the industrial section near the downtown area because of strict zoning laws, and could find only limited placement in other productive sections of the city. "We have got to be here, but we also just happen to be in a place that's doing quite well."
Watkins envisions the northern section of RiverWalk containing a building combining the Civil Rights Museum and a National Museum of Gospel Music, even though Tougaloo College President Beverly Hogan told the Jackson Free Press last year that her college still planned to move forward with the construction of the Civil Rights Museum, despite financing problems.
A Civil Rights Museum commission appointed by Gov. Haley Barbour approved the location of the National Civil Rights Museum in 2008 near Tougaloo College, despite outcry from advocates like former Jackson Councilman Leslie McLemore and former Jackson Mayor Kane Ditto, who both argued that the museum belonged in an urban setting.
"We think that ultimately what Tougaloo wants is for the Civil Rights Museum to be successful, and we think it will be more successful in downtown Jackson, coordinated into a theme with the Gospel Museum and a focus on music. What will distinguish our civil rights museum from the one in Tennessee and Alabama and Georgia is our history of music in the Civil Rights Movement," Watkins said.
Tougaloo Board of Trustees President LeRoy Walker said he remained confident that Tougaloo would be the future location of the Civil Rights Museum, but added that he was excited about Watkins' plan.
"I'm good friends with David, and I'm enthusiastic about RiverWalk. We studied a similar development in another state, and you would not believe the revenue that can be generated by a project like this."
The RiverWalk design also places residential property at the southwest end of the development, along the east side of Gallatin Street. Watkins predicts installing about 8,000 new residential units, housed in buildings rising 10 or more stories, with low buildings closer to the water but increasing in height according to location, so that all occupants will have a view of the new lake. The lakeshore itself will strictly be public access, complete with fishing piers and walkways.
Condominiums "will start at $300,000 and go up to the millions," Watkins said.
He added, however, that he intends to have affordable apartments interspersed in the same residential area, often within the same buildings.
"We need this community to be a great, big melting pot," Watkins said. "We can't have a homogenous pile of rich folks."
The other side of the lake will contain the Mississippi Arts District, containing a scenic outdoor stage called the Mississippi Music Bowl, along with the proposed new site of the Mississippi Ballet and the Mississippi Institute of Fine Arts, which the developer officially introduced to the public last month.
Jackson Mayor Harvey Johnson Jr. said he fully supported Watkins' RiverWalk project, and described the endeavor as one of his main reasons for advocating for the "Lake 255" plan recently endorsed by the Levee Board--of which Johnson is a member.
"There's no question that the city of Jackson would benefit from a project such as this," Johnson said in March. "We can see many examples of the beneficial impact waterfront development can have on a city, and I'm hoping the Corps of Engineers will look at this as a development possibility for our city."
Source (http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/index.php/site/comments/just_five_years_to_riverwalk_060210/)