Jackson Free Press

Watkins Development LLC Vice President Jason Goree is promoting the Metrocenter Mall as the potential new home for the Mississippi Department of Revenue.

"We thought our building would work because it wouldn't be a big adjustment for the current employees and the people that normally make business there, and the mall has easy access in and out," Goree said.

Watkins Development leases out the first floor of the mall's former Belk department store to the city of Jackson's water and sewer department and other city agencies. Goree said Belk's second floor is empty, however, and could easily accommodate, with only minor build-out, the Department of Revenue's need for 180,000 to 200,000 square-feet of space.

David Watkins, Watkins Development LLC chief executive officer, was one of several city developers and representatives, including former Mayor Kane Ditto and developer Ted Duckworth, who protested a legislative bond bill setting aside $50 million for construction of a new 190,000-square-foot building for the department at the corner of Lakeland Drive and Ridgewood Road.

Sen. Dean Kirby, R-Pearl, reduced the bond bill to provide $3 million for a study to find a new home for the department. Critics such as Ward 1 Councilman Quentin Whitwell say the state should not build a 190,000-square-foot facility at the Lakeland Drive location because residents abutting the land will not welcome the development. They consider the state of Mississippi a bad neighbor after construction of the Mississippi Department of Information Technology Services center at 3771 Eastwood Drive.

"(After construction) they did not prove themselves to be a good partner with the neighborhood because they have not replaced any trees to rebuild the buffer. That, in itself, left a bad taste in the mouth of the people who live in that area," Whitwell told the Jackson Free Press.

Whitwell said other locations in Jackson would better serve as the department's new location.

"There are a number of downtown sites that could be retrofitted and leased, as well as other sites such as the Metrocenter, that I think would allow the tax commission to relocate to nicer, more cost-effective places (that) would be better for the metro," Whitwell said.

Goree said the mall space can easily accommodate the department for "significantly less" than $50 million. The space is already modernized and energy-efficient.

He said the arrangement would also generate taxes for the city by encouraging a built-in customer base for mall merchants and by not adding to the city's tax-exempt state-owned property. A new state-owned facility on Lakeland Drive would create another drain on the city, which already suffers from more than 30 percent of its property owned by untaxed state agencies or non-profits, he said.

Downtown Jackson Partners President Ben Allen complained that the taxpayer-funded 190,000-square-foot building at its proposed Lakeland Drive location would be "more expensive than any building constructed by the private sector," including Parkway Properties' recently constructed Pinnacle office building, Allen wrote on DJP's blog.

Kirby said the department needs to relocate from its present facility on Spring-ridge Road in Raymond, a few miles from the Metrocenter. He said that facility recently suffered a dangerous gas leak and also costs the state $900,000 a year to lease.

The new facility, wherever it is, has to meet specific standards.

"Not just any building will work because of the work flow and the paper flow," Kirby said.

He added that the issue is now out of the hands of the Mississippi Legislature, leaving the state Department of Finance to make the final decision. He said the $3 million bond bill does not restrict the potential site to the Lakeland Drive area.

"Nothing is in stone by any means," Kirby said. "We'll see what they decide at DFA."

Whitwell said developers and city leaders need to work aggressively to prevent government agencies from relocating out of the city.

"A lot of our state leaders are coming from Rankin County, and Rankin County is looking at pursuing these buildings," Whitwell said.

"They want the Department of Public Safety and the state tax commission."

Kirby, a Pearl resident, said he had tried to move the Department of Revenue to Rankin County last year, but that the Democrat-controlled House rejected the bill because House members wanted the facility in Jackson.

Goree said Watkins Development would not be a sore loser if the DFA went with a different location, as long as the department moved to a private development similar to the mall.

"If (other Jackson developers) were able to offer them something better, we as a company would be fine. But ultimately we want it done by the private sector," Goree said.

"If you're building something that's not a museum, it needs to be done by the private sector because it's cheaper."