STARKVILLE — Work is ongoing at the Mississippi State University Research and Technology Corporation’s Downtown Innovation HUB to convert its plaza into more green space and make it more user-friendly.
RTC Director Marc McGee told The Dispatch the $340,000 project began in mid-November to demolish the concrete plaza facing Main Street and replace it with new grass areas, sidewalks, park benches and tables, along with a new Americans with Disabilities Act compliant entrance to the front of the building.
“We’re updating it to make it more attractive downtown because we do want the plaza to be used,” McGee said. “I mean, it was a lot of concrete, and from our standpoint, it needs to be refreshed.”
RTC also received a $250,000 grant from the Small Business Administration in 2022 to help fund the project.
RTC purchased the Innovation HUB from Cadence Bank in 2019 and completed an interior renovation project by spring 2022 to create a space for new and research-based companies to locate downtown. Some of those businesses include Babel Street, Retail Strategies and Cadence Investment Services, to name a few.
McGee said the plaza remodel is the final leg of that renovation and expects the project to be complete by April.
“It was in the overall plan for us to do this from when we even purchased the building,” McGee said. “Essentially, we renovated the inside of the building, and now we’re renovating the outside.”
While construction continues, McGee said the HUB can be accessed through the rear parking lot entrance.
Econ Construction Superintendent Rivers Griffin said the crew finished demolition work to remove the concrete and stairs leading up the building last week, and is now doing the dirt work.
“We are just starting the new phase,” Griffin said. “We finished all of the demolition, and we are doing the dirt work now to raise the ground level up.”
Once that is complete, Griffin said the crew will install drainage on the sides, pour concrete for sidewalks, stairs, and an ADA-accessible walkway leading up to the building, as well as finish landscaping work.
“It’s going good so far,” Griffin said. “It’s a 180-day project, but we are trying get it done by early next year.”
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