The Future of Russell St.

Big plans are in the works for Starkville, and in particular Ward 4 and Russell St. The street that now leads into one of MSU's primary corridors is on the verge of major changes. For a while some have had their eye on the possibility of turning the Cooley Building into a convention center. In addition, Ergon and other developers are looking at transforming Russell Street with large scale development that includes retail on the first floor and office spaces/condos on the second and third floors. Another change is the possibility of boulevarding the street; however, it would have to come from seperate city funds than the money in our budget for road improvements as many other streets have road/drainage issues that still need to be addressed.

*click on images for a larger view*

Cooley Building, aka Physical Plant on Russell Street

The Village is one of the properties proposed for Russell St.

Layout of The Village development

In addition to this development, a request for the University to sell some of its land on University Drive was presented to the IHL board (and as far as I know approved) which would allow the following five story development to take place near the bridge leading to campus with a similar pattern of retail on the bottom and condos above.

University Drive Development