Jackson Free Press

JACKSON — Hinds County Economic Development Authority Executive Director Blake Wallace recommended that the Board of Supervisors not go forward with funding a parking garage that is part of the Old Capitol Green project.

Developer Full Spectrum South asked the county to request a $17-million bond issue from the Mississippi Development Authority to help fund a 480-space parking garage. The garage is the first phase of 1822 Square, an $83.7-million mixed-used development to be located on the Old Capitol Green on Commerce Street.

Wallace said June 22 that he sent a letter to the Board of Supervisors in which he recommended that the county not request the funds for the garage because the project lacks financial strength.

District 1 Supervisor Robert Graham said June 21 that he had not received a recommendation from Wallace, but that he planned to go along with Wallace's recommendation. Graham said he didn't think Full Spectrum South had provided the financial information the county requested. While that was the case at one point in May, Wallace said the county has now received the requested information.

"I think we got more than enough to make the determination that we made," Wallace said.

Malcolm Shepherd, development director for Full Spectrum South, said Monday that he had heard that Wallace recommended the county not go forward, but that he had not seen a copy of the letter.

"It's very strange to me that (Wallace) would send the recommendation after we met (his) deadline with the documents, then (he sent his) letter to Robert Graham," Shepherd said. "Then, after the fact, (he) called me to say the board wants to meet with me. Well, (they) should have met with me before (they) made that decision."

Shepherd said he and other Full Spectrum South representatives will meet with the Hinds County Economic Development Authority at its monthly meeting July 25.

He said if the Board of Supervisors sides with Wallace's recommendation, Full Spectrum will talk with its investors, who have funded parking garages for the company in the past.

Wallace couldn't further divulge his reasons for not recommending the project because of a confidentiality agreement with Full Spectrum South. The JFP has submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to Hinds County for a copy of Wallace's letter to the board of supervisors.