Another new hotel in Starkville by Candlewood Suites will add 100 more beds to the region’s expanding tourism economy. While retail development in the area is also moving forward, though with more mixed itinerary of stops and starts.

Candlewood Suites, a hotel designed for extended stays, is a subsidiary of the InterContinental Hotels Group, and is set to break ground in the summer of 2008, on Highway 12 in the same area as a Hilton Garden Inn, which is currently under construction. Candlewood will have 100 suites, and is expected to be open by summer 2009, say company officials.

“When we look for areas to develop Candlewood Suites hotels, we look for extended-stay demand drivers such as universities, hospitals and a strong corporate base,” said Gina LaBarre, vice president, Brand Management, Candlewood Suites. “Starkville has all of these, making it an ideal market for a mid scale extended-stay hotel such as Candlewood Suites.”

“When business or personal matters require travel for a week or more, guests find that the design of our guest suites and the amenities we provide allow them to live comfortably and keep a daily routine similar to that of home,” added LaBarre in an e-mail.

Candlewood Suites will employ about 12 full-time employees. The company has 130 properties around the country and includes features like studio and one-bedroom suites, a fully equipped kitchen, “executive desk,” DVD and CD players, recliners and more.
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Another Starkville project planned along the similar lines of the extended-stay concept is The Belfry project on Russell Street which has been reworked as a roughly 75-unit condominium-like development with onsite management, where the 600-square-foot apartments could be rented out like condos on the beach. The project also includes a restaurant.

“We’re very fortunate to have two nice-size hotels which will begin very soon,” said Starkville Mayor Dan Camp of the Candlewood Suites and Hilton Garden Inn hotels.

Shopping

Talk of new hotel development almost always leads to discussions around retail and how this end of the economy is shaping up.

But the road to the next new shopping area is seldom direct and almost always has a few twists, say economic developers, as the buzz begins to build around the Golden Triangle surrounding a shopping development taking root in Columbus, with folks in Starkville possibly left wondering what happened to their own much talked-about plans for new retail centers. Were they actual plans, promises or something more along the lines of pie in the sky?

“I do believe that you will see in Starkville both new development and renovation-re-use of existing Centers,” said Greater Starkville Development Partnership President David Thornell.

“If anyone were counting, there are no less than six new centers that are ‘on the drawing boards’ in Starkville,” Thornell added, though he warned, because plans have a way of morphing, changing or even going away, too much early publicity can set the stage for disappointment when changes occur or projects don’t pan out.

However, the possible development in Columbus could couple with other projects in Starkville.

“In addition to this shopping center project (the Columbus project planned for near highways 82 and 45,) this developer has promised that he will do some selective projects in Starkville to fill our retail-restaurant gaps,” said Thornell in an e-mail two weeks ago. “They have already been involved in successful Starkville projects and we welcome their future involvement.”

But regardless, too much pre-publicity can be problematic when plans change, say observers.

“The Fountains project is a great example of why proposed developments should not be publicized before they are real,” added Thornell, making reference to a 250,000-square-foot “life-style center” shopping area announced in October 2006, and planned for the area around Highway 12 and Pat Station Road, which is near Highway 82.

That project is now back on the market, said its developer Peggy Criser Thursday from her office in Destin, Fla., adding she still feels strongly a lifestyle-center-type mall is in Starkville’s future.

“Even though I won’t be involved with it, this is still a great project, and I intend to be very particular about who I sell it to,” said Criser, noting preliminary inquiries into possible retailers was positive.

“The great part of this thing, is that the retailers I did talk to - whether it was Bath and Body or whoever - were interested in seeing where this project would lead, and everybody is very aware of the huge amount of capital investment being made in the Golden Triangle area,” added Criser, noting manufacturing projects like SeverCorr, PACCAR, American Eurocopter and other businesses locating in the Golden Triangle.

It’s also not clear where Starkville Commons, another retail project - this one, an 8,000-square-foot upscale shopping center planned for the area around the old University Theater on Highway 12 - now stands. The project was announced about nine months ago, and the site still shows no signs of development. The developer Mark Nicholas of Nicholas Properties in Ridgeland, did not return calls seeking comment.

“As an economic developer, I can only operate based on what someone has told me that they have in mind for their property,” said Thornell, illustrating the at-times unpredictable nature of retail development. “We then work with them to try to move these things forward to reality, overcoming any impediments, taking care of needs, etcetera.”

“There are two local centers that will see new life soon, but we need to allow the owners to release their plans for tenants and much needed renovations, when they choose to do so,” added Thornell making reference to renovation projects in Starkville’s path.

“I will say that several nationally-known retailers are considering our area strongly, and our hope is that announcements can be made shortly,” he continued.

Renovating existing locations or building in phases can sometimes be the most logical growth pattern, said Thornell, noting smaller-scale shopping developments in Starkville like Cotton Crossing have done relatively well.

“Sometimes starting with a project that’s small and manageable works out best,” said Thornell.

Source

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