Video: Starkville Is Continuing To Grow

[syndicaster id=’6026727′]

STARKVILLE, Miss. (WCBI)- Starkville is continuing to grow. The grand opening of The Mill at MSU is just one example.
What was once the old historic Cooley Building, is now transformed into a state of the art convention center.

“It gives us conference capabilities that we didn’t have before. Last week, we were able to host the MSU Municipal League for Conference here. We’ve not previously had facility we could hose the Mississippi Municipal Lead fall Conference in,” Starkville Mayor Parker Wiseman said.

The Mill is creating nearly 300 new jobs.

With more space and abilities to host groups, this creates a big boost in tourism dollars.

“The reason conference centers are economic drivers in communities is because you’re bringing people from somewhere else into your community that will spend money in your community while they attend your conference,” Wiseman said.

The building is also creating opportunities for MSU.

“The meeting, the conferences, the symposiums that we’ll be able to host here as a major research university, will afford wonderful opportunity for our faculty, our scientists, our researchers, and even our students,” MSU President Mark Keenum said.

Starkville city leaders and MSU worked together to make The Mill a reality.

“Absolutely, you got to look at the economic development opportunity that we have here. Bringing in the visitors, 22 million people visited Mississippi last year, I think a lot of of them will be coming to the mill this year,” Governor Phil Bryant said.

“It’s bringing amenities into the community that the community couldn’t support on its own,” Managing Partner at the Mill Mark Castleberry said.

With this investment complete, it’s possible more businesses could land in Starkville.

“We always felt like this would be a catalyst project for more development activity, and that’s exactly what happened. In fact, it’s probably exceeded our wildest expectations,” Wiseman said.
The Mill will be used to hold conferences, weddings, and even some of MSU’s classes.