Progress Report #3
1/23/2008
Construction on the redevelopment of the King Edward is moving along on schedule.
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Progress Report #2
9/28/2007
Over the last several weeks, we have received most of the final governmental approvals required to begin the work on the King Edward Hotel. The Jackson City Council and the Hinds County Board of Supervisors agreed to move forward with the King Edward/Standard Life TIF Plan to provide infrastructure funding for the project. The City Council agreed to approve the Hotel Tourism Incentive Rebate Plan.
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Downtown Turnaround in the works
11/2/2007
A 16 WAPT investigation shows that while the city is losing sales tax revenues, it will gain nearly $3 million more a year because of commercial projects set to be complete in downtown Jackson over the next two years.
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Action Jackson: Mississippi Downtown Booms
9/25/2007
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Progress Report #1
9/19/2007
As previously announced, construction on the project will begin in November and is expected to be completed in the Spring of 2009.
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Press Release: Funding
9/11/2007
KING EDWARD PROJECT SECURES FUNDING
The development group lead by Historic Restoration, Inc. (HRI) of New Orleans has announced another milestone in the progress on the redevelopment of the King Edward Hotel in Jackson, Mississippi.
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King Edward gets partial funding
9/12/2007
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Standard Life restoration, hotel project to start soon
6/28/2007
Plans call for retail businesses on the first floor of the 18-story art-deco tower and up to 58 one- and two-bedroom apartments.
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McAllister-Watkins snag Standard Life
6/27/2007
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King Edward on the Rise
6/20/2007
“The city has to do everything it can to protect its investments,” Melton said. “I have full faith in (Watkins), and I’m very comfortable with him.”
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Melton Pleased with King Edward Progress
6/19/2007
Melton Pleased!
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Developers Finish King Ed Cleanup
6/1/2007
Cleanup Finished!
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Link to Watkins Partners
4/29/2006
Hooray for the King Ed
5/31/2006
Jackson Developer David Watkins and the King Edward Hotel received some good news from the May 30 City Council meeting. The council voted 6-1 in favor of a resolution ratifying the redevelopment agreement between the Jackson Redevelopment Authority and developers HRI, New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister and local attorney David Watkins.
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King Edward on its way
5/31/2006
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Is the King Edward Still on People's Minds
5/30/2006
Whose roadblocking the KEH renovation now?
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Just the Facts!
4/19/2006
Melton said investors were taking too long to get their act together and gave them a 30-day deadline, or he would “implode” the building. He then reported to the media that his own administration was actually the bottleneck and gave his own office workers the same 30-day notice.
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Who Gets to Crown the King
4/16/2006
Melton told the Jackson Free Press that he plans to move ahead with an alternate group of investors for the King Edward Hotel renovation if work does not begin by June.
“I met with a business group from Dallas yesterday in my home that want to come in and redo the King Edward Hotel using no taxpayer money,” Melton said. “They can do it from the ground to the top without any subsidized money from the public.”
While acknowledging that devel-opers—including HRI, Inc. of New Orleans, local attorney David Watkins and New Orleans Saints running back Deuce McAllister—are moving ahead with plans for beginning renovations this summer, Melton said he needed a backup investor in case that deal fell through, and announced a “trigger date” for bringing in the second investor.
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Melton Should Support Developers
3/28/2006
The current King Edward renovation plan is being pushed by developer David Watkins, Deuce McAllister of the New Orleans Saints and Historic Renovations Inc. of New Orleans. Plans for the $55 million project include upscale condos and 152 hotel rooms.
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Housing Remains a top concern
4/21/2006
David Watkins, who is a leader in the emerging transition in Jackson to a better mix of business/professional/residential space, says it is hard to buy property because those who own properties are expecting values to increase.
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Will it Stay or Will it Go?
1/5/2006
"The Federal Section 108 $4 M project viability loans have to be birthed and followed through by the office of the mayor and have not been aggressively pursued by that same office. The complaining of the 'slowness' of the project sits squarely with the complainer. We are witnessing a huge P.R. campaign bitching about the slowness of something that the developers have no control over. The mayor's office alone can effect expediency in this process," Allen said, adding that the mayor seemed to have a "closed mind" in regard to the King Edward project.
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Former Governor William Winter, a board member of the Mississippi Department of Archives and History and is an outspoken opponent of demolishing the hotel.
"The King Edward is a very well-built structure which will not be demolished cheaply. Also, its close proximity to other buildings in the downtown area and the need to remove asbestos from the building prior to demolition will not make the cost of removal any lower. The way I see it, if you have the money to tear it down, you've got the money to renovate it," Winter told the Jackson Free Press in an earlier interview.
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The Case for Preservation
6/8/2002
The Case for the Preservation of the King Edward Hotel, Jackson, Mississippi
Jun 18 '02
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City needs to stop spinning its wheels on revitalization
4/28/2006
In the movie Groundhog Day, actor Bill Murray plays a weatherman that keeps living the same day over and over.
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Clarion Ledger Blog
4/28/2006
This is a link to the Clarion-Ledger blog about the King Edward
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Edwards House Timeline
10/19/2004
a short time line of the Edwards House history
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A Visit to the King Edward by Mark Lyon
4/28/2006
For those of you who don't know, I live in Jackson, Mississippi. It's a nice town in the middle of a state with a lot of potential. I love my state, even though there are many things it needs to overcome. I hope to be part of that one day, to let everyone know how wonderful a place this is.
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