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Feb 02 2012

City green-lights Oak Place shopping center renovations

Madison County Journal (Mississippi) - by Matt Stuart

The long-awaited renovations to the Oak Place shopping center should start in earnest in the next month after receiving final approval from the city at Tuesday's Mayor and Board of Aldermen meeting.

At the meeting, the city reclassified the shopping center as a Class A structure per the recommendation of the architectural review board. The reclassification will allow the developer, Westwood Ltd., to renovate the building without a massive overhaul.

Bob Buchanan, owner of Westwood Ltd., purchased the property at 587 U.S. 51 this summer in hopes of revitalizing the dilapidated shopping center. Now, Buchanan is anticipating work to begin this month.

"We've been waiting on the final clearance from the city," Buchanan said. "Now that we've got that, we can start working on the foundation. After that, we'll work on the parking lot and some other renovations."

Though Buchanan couldn't say for sure when the project would be completed, he expects all the phases to take at least a year to complete.

Last year, Buchanan's project received a boost by way of a federal grant aimed at helping improve dilapidated shopping centers in communities across the nation.

At an Oct. 20 meeting of the city board, Ridgeland approved a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that will allow the developer to receive a $50,000 federal grant to assist with the renovation. The grant will come at the end of the project once a large portion of the work is completed.

Offered through the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA), the grant is part of the Retail Center Revitalization Program Funding Opportunity that will help rehabilitate certain retail shopping centers in order to increase economic development across the state.

The grant required the MOU from the city and at least an equal match by Buchanan, who plans to renovate the front façade, restore the foundation, repave the parking lot, add landscaping, improve lighting and upgrade the handicap accessibility.

Buchanan noted that the city had played a big role in supporting the efforts to bring new life to Oak Place.

"The city has been very cooperative and very helpful," Buchanan said. "We've been very pleased with how things have gone."

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