The Fondren neighborhood, which hosts events like Fondren's First Thursday (pictured), could soon be home to a new hotel and manufacturing facility. Photo by Imani Khayyam.
Fondren could be getting a new hotel after all.
Tomorrow, July 10, Roy Decker of Duvall Decker will discuss plans for The Fondren, in one of Jackson's arts districts, at the weekly Friday Forum at Koinonia Coffee House.
The announcement follows last year's derailment of plans for a boutique hotel in Fondren. Those plans were for a 100-room, four-story urban boutique-style Hampton Inn with an underground parking garage at the corner of Duling Avenue and Old Canton Road.
Decker's hotel is the second big announcement for the Fondren area this week.
The City of Jackson announced Wednesday that China-based Seraphim Solar, a solar module assembly company, is planning to build a manufacturing plant in Jackson in the commercial district just west of Fondren near the railroad tracks.
The plant is expected to represent a $50 million investment and will create 250 jobs during its first five years. The jobs will range from high-level management to administrative and line worker positions, city officials said.
The modules it builds are used in residential rooftop solar installations.
According to the company's website, Seraphim expects the plant to be operational in August 2015, while the city's release says "by the end of 2015." Phase II will commence in 2016.
The Seraphim Solar website was decorated with an American flag and the words Opening Soon, suggesting that the Jackson plant will be their first foray into U.S. manufacturing.
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