Parkway to Open Pinelands

By Sylvain Metz
smetz@clarionledger.com

Vickie D. King/The Clarion-Ledger When construction is completed, the Hugh Ward Parkway will be a north/south connection running from Mississippi 25 to Spillway Road in Rankin County.

Hugh Ward Parkway is several months away from opening, but builders already are grabbing up lots for new houses.

The property "was just a hidden secret all these years," said Flowood Mayor Gary Rhoads, whose city will take in a portion of the parkway and the $100 million residential and commercial development known as The Pinelands.

Barry Jackson, one of three partners who built the $7.1 million parkway that could open by February, said the property sits "right in the middle" of a fast-growing area.Jackson said his research shows 130,433 people live within a 5-mile radius of the development.

Over the next two years, 2,000 new homes are expected to be built within a 1-mile radius of The Pinelands, Jackson said.

Vickie D. King/The Clarion-Ledger Construction of homes is underway along the Hugh Ward Parkway in Flowood. Built at a cost of $7.1 million on land once owned by late Jackson veterinarian Dr. Hugh Ward, it could open in February. Development The homes, to be built for about $110 per square foot, will range in size from 1,750 square feet to 5,000 square feet. A section on the east side of the parkway will include 1- to 1 1/2- acre estate lots and a section for housing for retirees. The selling price for the estates could be anywhere from $750,000 to $1 million. Retirement dwellings, which will include town houses and patio homes of 1,500 to 2,000 square feet, are expected to be priced from $190,000 to $300,000, depending on the size. Source: Barry Jackson, partner in the Hugh Ward Parkway development

"People are moving out here because of the school system," Jackson said. "It's one of the best public schools in the state."

A low crime rate and family environment are attracting people who have among the highest per capita incomes in the state, he said.

The majority of schools in the Rankin County School District are rated Level 4 or Level 5, the highest rating in the state system.Violent crime in Flowood declined 17 percent in 2004, according to FBI statistics.

And annual household incomes in Rankin County average $75,000, according to the U.S. Census.The development also is close to the Ross Barnett Reservoir and the Jackson-Evers International Airport, Jackson said.

It is being built on land that was owned by the late Dr. Hugh Ward, a Jackson veterinarian who died in an automobile accident in 1998.

Jackson said work on the parkway, which will stretch from the old Winn-Dixie on Spillway Road up to Mississippi 25 at Wal-Mart, began after he and his partners, Pete Alman and Richard Partridge, purchased the land through an estate sale in January 2000.Close to 350 of the 1,200-1,500 lots in the multi-level development already have sold, Jackson said.

Interest in the development was so high builders were required to draw for lots, Jackson said."There's something about that location," said Pat Harmon, president of Old Trace Homes who purchased 15 lots in Turtle Ridge Phase I where the minimum home size is 1,750 square feet. He bought 10 more lots for Phase II. "It's the thoroughfare ... (which is) like opening up the Panama Canal."

"I'm really impressed with the growth that's out there in the Lakeland area," said Michael Bizzell of Bizzell's Construction.

His family-owned company purchased 20 lots in Turtle Ridge Phase 1 and 10 lots in Phase 2. He says there's a shortage of homes of this size in the tri-county area.The Pinelands also will include 255 acres for commercial development, which will include a bank and nationally recognized pharmacy on opposite corners of Mississippi 25.

"We (also) are talking to a major company to develop 68 acres between Wirtz and Manship roads," Jackson said. "They've put together over 100 different shopping centers with large boxes (anchor stores) all over the country."Beka Fisher of Flowood, who works at Waffle House next door to the parkway, said she welcomes it and expects it will mean more business for the restaurant.

In addition to providing new residential and commercial development, the parkway is expected to help with traffic congestion.

Once opened, the parkway could divert as many as 15,000 to 18,000 vehicles from Old Fannin and Grants Ferry roads.Old Fannin, which runs for three lanes in the county and five lanes in Flowood, now draws about 19,000 vehicles per day, while two-lane Grants Ferry sees about 15,000 vehicles per day, according to traffic counts made by the Mississippi Department of Transportation.

Fisher, who lives in Flowood, said she welcomes the parkway because it could ease traffic woes. "It's really busy on Old Fannin," she said.Rankin County State-Aid engineer Buster Parker said plans call for widening Grants Ferry Road, which will ease traffic congestion.

Parker said he's not too concerned about the additional homes to be built along the parkway. If each home averages three vehicles, that's 3,600 to 4,500 more than what's now there.

"I think it's going to be an asset out there," Parker said.In addition, Farmington Station, a new residential development going up off Old Fannin Road, will be connected to the parkway, Parker said.

Richard Young, who lives in the reservoir area, said he believes the parkway will help alleviate traffic off Old Fannin and Grants Ferry roads."They can't build it fast enough," Young said.

Young said he's not concerned about the new rooftops, noting the growth is inevitable.

"They are already planning (more) houses from Spillway Road on Old Fannin to Lakeland Drive (Mississippi 25)."