Jackson Free Press

Jackson State University is seeking retailers for a four-story mixed-use development on track to open this fall. One University Place will host 78 apartments on its top three floors. JSU's Center for University-Based Development is currently soliciting potential retail tenants for the building's ground floor, director Kimberly Hilliard said. The Center hosted an open house for retailers last week.

"Ideally, we would love to see a drugstore, some sort of sit-down restaurant, telecommunications services, dry cleaners--all the things that a young professional would want at their fingertips," Hilliard said. "Coffee and all of those fun things."

Hilliard said that the Center has several signed letters of intent from potential tenants, but no confirmed leases yet. The final design of the 20,000 square-foot ground floor will depend on the space needs of individual tenants, Hilliard said.

"It's going to be a custom build-out," Hilliard said. "It's almost like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, based on the tenants that come in."

A bimonthly outdoor market is set to open June 19 in Fondren. Restaurateur Jim Burwell, who owns Mimi's Family and Friends with his wife, Linda, is organizing The Market in Fondren with developer Mike Peters and Fondren resident Robert Mann. Burwell, Peters and Mann have created a Facebook page for the market and are currently recruiting vendors, musicians and volunteers. Burwell hopes to hold the market monthly or even twice a month, but the June event will be a test run.

"We're going to do one to make sure we should do more than one," Burwell said.

The market will run from 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. in the parking lot across North State Street from Mimi's. It will offer live music and children's activities along with arts, handicrafts and food for sale.

For more information, contact Jim Burwell at 601-832-4396.

The Hinds County Economic Development District is in the midst of a marketing campaign aimed at promoting the county's image as a hotbed of higher education. The television campaign, which launched earlier this month, is a collaboration between the HCEDD, WLBT-TV, Entergy and Saks Fifth Avenue, which operates a marketing center in Jackson on U.S. Highway 80.

The county's nine higher education institutions enroll 45,000 students, create 17,000 jobs and contribute $3.5 billion in direct and indirect investment in the Jackson metro area, according to the Economic Development District.

"With the combined enrollment of these institutions, Hinds County is the largest 'college town' in Mississippi," HCEDD Executive Director Blake Wallace said in a statement. "We are focusing our efforts on fostering and enhancing higher education in Hinds County because of the incredible return on this investment."