OKTIBBEHA COUNTY – A pair of Mississippi developers is eyeing a $45 million redevelopment project to transform an old stormwater detention area off Highway 12 behind Walk-On’s into a mixed-use complex with a hotel and student housing facility.
Ridgeland-based Desai Companies and Hattiesburg-based York Developments are partnering on the Sandcreek Redevelopment Project, which would include a 100-room Home2Suites hotel and a 504-bed student housing development on the roughly 21.6-acre site off Highway 12 and Pat Station Road, behind Walk-On’s and La Quinta Inn.
To complete the project, developers are seeking support from both the city and county through a tax increment financing agreement. If approved, the TIF would issue up to $3.35 million in bonds, split evenly between the city and county, to fund infrastructure improvements, including construction of a 1,367-foot road to the site and upgrades to Pat Station Road.
Under the TIF agreement, developers would be responsible for completing construction and beginning operations before any bonds are issued. The city and county would then repay the bonds using new property tax revenue generated by the development for up to 15 years.
The public funds would only be used to reimburse infrastructure-related costs, not the construction of the buildings themselves.
Developers estimate the project will increase annual property tax revenue by $237,473 for the city, $384,572 for the county and $462,961 for the Starkville-Oktibbeha Consolidated School District. Construction of the site is projected to generate about 75 jobs, while completion of the site is expected to create about 33 permanent positions and generate about $4.2 million in annual sales.
Currently the undeveloped site produces minimal tax revenue, with $1,619 in city and $2,788 in county property taxes collections reported last year.
During their Monday meeting, Oktibbeha County supervisors set a public hearing on the TIF proposal for their regular meeting Nov. 3.
“It’s nothing we haven’t done in the past,” Board President and District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard told The Dispatch on Monday. “I think we’ll be OK with this.”
The Starkville Board of Aldermen is expected to set its own public hearing date during its Nov. 4 meeting. Mayor Lynn Spruill expressed support for the plan during the board’s work session Friday. Spruill said the old city lagoon site offers little value to the community.
The city lagoon was decommissioned, drained and remediated sometime around 15 years ago, Spruill said. The property was sold in about 2015 to Bennett York, founder of York Developments, and is now owned by TEP Starkville, a limited liability company formed by York in 2018.
“I do think the project adds value to an area that currently has minimum value,” Spruill said. “In fact, if anything, it’s probably a detriment.”
Budget Chair and Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk said she was also in support of the plan, and said the site is “fairly worthless to the city as it stands.”
If successful, the project could lead to additional development on the site. Desai Companies CEO Sunny Desai said he hopes to build a second hotel if the first is viable.
Desai hopes to begin construction of the hotel in the first quarter of 2026, Attorney Christiana Sugg told The Dispatch. Construction for hotels typically takes about 18 months, she said. A timeline for the student housing development was not available.
York Developments Director of Construction Donnie Hendrix said he also has hopes for further development at the site.
“There’s going to be much more going on there other than student housing, depending on cooperation from the city and the county to give us the infrastructure needed to support it,” Hendrix told The Dispatch on Tuesday. “… We have several other components planned in this development. It’s a large piece of property.”
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