Sitting just off Russell Street across from Mississippi State University’s campus, the Cooley Building stands as a symbol of MSU’s rich agricultural history.
The building stands in the final process of being granted permission to begin building renovations. The building served as a cotton mill until 1962 and currently houses MSU’s physical plant department.
MSU, in conjunction with the city of Starkville, has a three-fold plan to rejuvenate the building to serve once again as a bustling center in the Cotton District.
David Shaw, vice president of research and economic development at MSU, said the project is quickly progressing.
He said Castle Properties, located in Columbus, Miss., has recently been selected as the developer for the project.
The Cooley Building renovation will feature an updated structure and boast a 2,000 occupancy conference center, with the additional two-thirds of the building serving as office space for MSU and private businesses.
Mark Castleberry, project developer, said the 50,000-square-foot office space will see some updates, while retaining its original historical structure.
“The exterior of the Cooley Building will really have little modification with it being a historic building. You will see the windows improved… The bricks will be carefully cleaned and the mortar replaced and structural improvements,” Castleberry said.
Along with the renovation of the Cooley Building, a parking garage is in the construction plans for the east and west of the building.
The city of Starkville and state funding will supplement the construction of the parking garage.
Additionally, a 110-room Courtyard Marriot hotel construction is scheduled to be built.
Shaw said the renovation team will relocate the MSU facilities housed in the metal buildings currently situated on the land planned for the Marriot.
He said the project is coming along well.
Shaw said he expects the project to reach completion within a two-year time frame.
“Some pieces of that can happen sooner than that, but for example the hotel could be built more quickly, but we have to tear down the existing structure and that will take some extra time,” Shaw said. “And the hotel doesn’t need to be finished before at least the outside portion of the Cooley Building renovations have happened because you don’t want to be having guests there and they be watching a big construction project out their window. And of course you need the parking deck to be able to have the hotel.”
Castleberry said he hopes the addition of the Marriot and the renovation of the cotton mill will yet again centralize the community of the Cotton District.
“We’re trying to tie the community… The reason it’s called the Cotton District is because people used to work in the cotton mill. That (Cotton District) was the residential, and the community was the workers,” Castleberry said. “The connectivity of making the Cotton Mill kind of the center for activities. We’re going to have an event yard there for festivals, outdoor weddings and hopefully some very exciting restaurants.”
The final piece of the project lies with the National Park Service. The Cooley Building is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places. The honor entails that all renovation proposals must be approved by the NPS.
The project’s most recent proposal was denied, but it was returned with modifications that could lead to a future approval. Shaw said this was viewed as a positive by the team, and that once the project has gained approval, it is just a matter of “let’s make this happen.” He added there is a very positive momentum amongst all the parties involved.
Shaw concluded that the project is in a positive place, with a majority of the pieces in place for the renovations to begin.
“We’re right at a point right now where so much hard work has been done by so many people over a very long period of time,” Shaw said. “So it’s very exciting to be able to be at this point where we can say we just lack one little piece of paper to be able to have the entire project going and happening.”