Legislature allocates $1M for Convention Center parking

JACKSON, Miss. (WLBT) - A $1 million allocation from the Mississippi State Legislature could help boost business, at least in the short term, for the Jackson Convention Complex.

The 2022 session recently wrapped up, and before lawmakers left the capitol, they allocated $1 million for improving parking for the downtown Jackson center.

For years, local leaders have said a key to the center’s long-term success is the construction of a convention center hotel.

However, boosting business at the Jackson Convention Center could be as simple as providing better parking for visitors, so says the center’s general manager, Mark Arancibia.

“For me, the biggest problem I have booking business isn’t a hotel. Hotels are an issue, don’t get me wrong. But the bigger issue is parking,” he said. “I’ve probably had three or four multi-day, overnight events that I’ve toured and talked with that want to come here, but the parking... At the end of the day, there are 7,000 spaces in downtown Jackson that can be used on the weekends with the parking garage, but their perception is that they’re far away because they can’t see them.”

While some event organizers won’t book, Arancibia says one organizer will pull out of the convention center if parking isn’t addressed. The group recently signed a three-year agreement with the center but added provisions to its contract that it would leave after 2023 if parking isn’t improved.

Arancibia wouldn’t say what event he was referring to but said it brings in around 2,000 people over three days and has an economic impact on the city of around $1.2 million.

“They may try to go somewhere else around the community. I don’t know where they’d go... it’s an event that would be tough to fit in a lot of places. I mean, it might fit in the Trade Mart. But... they pretty much use my entire first floor.”

The Jackson Convention Complex has about 75 spaces on convention center property.

However, most people who attend events at the facility park across the street in a makeshift parking lot characterized by uneven slabs of concrete, and patches of gravel with parking barriers scattered here and there.

The parcels are owned primarily by the city of Jackson, the Jackson Redevelopment Authority, and one private owner, and were cobbled together years ago in preparation for building a convention center hotel.

Plans to build that hotel, though, never materialized. In 2011, JRA rejected a proposal from Texas-based developer TCI to construct a hotel and parking garage at the site after the developer asked JRA to issue between $90 million and $95 million in bonds to pay for the construction.

In 2013, plans to build a $60 million, 305-room hotel at the site fell through because the project was never bid out, a requirement under state statute.

Later efforts to redevelop the site have also not come to fruition. Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba has twice issued requests for proposals to develop eight acres across from the convention center. Proposals received under the first RFP were rejected.

It was unclear what happened with the second round of RFPs issued in 2019 or if any additional RFPs were issued.

Jordan Hillman, Jackson’s director of planning and development, was not immediately available for comment.

The parcels are bordered by Pearl Street in the north, Pascagoula Street in the south, Roach Street in the west, and Lamar Street to the east.

“I feel pretty confident in saying that if I had 600 (to) 1,000 spaces out there, which is about what you can get if you turned Lamar to Roach into parking, I would probably generate an additional $200,000 to $300,000 a year in revenue,” Arancibia said.

The parking would generate additional revenue, in part, by allowing the convention center to charge for parking for center events. It also would allow the center to charge for other downtown events, like the Mal’s St. Paddy’s Day Parade.

The additional revenue, in turn, could help cut down on the center’s annual operating deficit. Until recently, the center has had an operating deficit of more than $1 million a year.

Under the convention center’s new management firm, losses have been cut to six figures. Oak View Group Facilities, or OVG, was named manager of the facility in late 2020.

Convention centers are not designed to turn a profit but rather to generate business for local businesses, like hotels, motels, gas stations, restaurants, and the like.

Operations at the Jackson Convention Center, in turn, are supplemented by special sales taxes placed on restaurants and lodging.

Even with the reduction in losses, center management had to ask for help from the Jackson City Council to help.

JRA Board of Commissioners Chair Alex Lawson said JRA agrees that a parking lot is needed and is now assessing the property to determine how much rebuilding the parking area would cost.

“We hope to receive that in the next few weeks,” he said. “There are some things that need to be worked on, as well as some infrastructure issues under the ground.”

The assessment is being conducted by Walker Consultants, which also provides consulting on JRA’s parking garages.

Lawson expects the project will cost around $1.8 million, the amount JRA had asked for from the legislature.

However, the exact costs won’t be known until the assessment is wrapped up.

As for the remaining funding, Lawson said he expects that to come through in short order as well.

Said Lawson, “We’ve got some promising leads.”

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