University to embark on $4.2 million facelift of Capital City location

A Capitol Street location in downtown Jackson will get a $4.2 million facelift and a unique Mississippi State academic program will get a new home, thanks to private contributions and university financial support.

The university will use gifts of a building, property, and cash, along with bond sales, to renovate one building to house the School of Architecture's fifth-year program and to construct another facility for student housing.

"This is a significant boost for our program and for downtown Jackson," said Roy Decker, director of MSU's fifth-year program. "Not only will this serve as a dynamic tool for reshaping downtown Jackson into a thriving urban center, but it will help us better educate our future architects as well as provide architectural services to the area through our outreach programs."

The fifth-year program has been operating out of various locations in the Capital City since 1977, currently in a President Street building leased from the city. The program previously was housed in the Universities Center on Ridgewood Drive.

The school actively is involved in several urban revitalization projects in downtown Jackson through its Jackson Community Design Center, including renovation of Farish Street District shotgun houses and redevelopment plans for the historic Noble and King Edward hotels.

Jackson philanthropist Stuart C. Irby Jr., retired chairman of the board of Stuart C. Irby Co. and Irby Construction Co., is donating to the university the historic Kress "five and dime" building at 509 E. Capitol St., which when renovated will house the fifth-year program. The 20,000-square-foot, three-story building will contain classrooms, student studios, the Jackson Community Design Center, a distance learning classroom, a lecture hall, a public art gallery, and a university merchandise store. The College of Education will occupy an office in the building for its Jackson-based programs.

An eye on the prize (Left to right) Hardin Foundation Board President Mark Porter, board Vice President Robert Ward, Dean John McRae, and fifth-year program Director Roy Decker tour the donated property at 509 E. Capitol St. in Jackson that will soon be the new home of Mississippi State's fifth-year architecture program.

Irby, who currently is president of Soli Deo Gloria Foundation, was instrumental in the Bank of Mississippi's donation of an adjacent building at 515 E. Capitol St. to the university, said Decker.

Located next to the bank's main Jackson office, the existing structure will be demolished and a new 17,000-square-foot, four-story facility containing 16 student apartments will be constructed. The property was home to the old Standard Photo.

Renovation of the 509 E. Capitol location is scheduled to begin in January 1999, with completion set for the following December. Construction of the adjacent student housing will begin in April 1999 and be ready for use in July 2000.

The Bank of Mississippi will construct new offices at an adjacent 519 E. Capitol St. location, with the possibility for additional floors for future expansion.

The School of Architecture has launched a $1.5 million fund-raising drive to secure a portion of the money needed to complete the two projects, according to Liz Brister, the school's director of development. Irby and Meridian-based Phil Hardin Foundation have together pledged $300,000 toward the effort in the form of a challenge.

Brister said that the university will finance the remainder of the funding needed through the sale of Educational Building Corporation bonds.

"We are indeed fortunate to have friends and supporters who recognize the importance of the state's only architecture school," said John McRae, dean of the main school in Starkville. "We have been an integral part of the Jackson community for many years, and this move will give us a more prominent presence in the city, along with an opportunity to better serve the needs of the downtown environment."

MSU's School of Architecture is the only such program in the state. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, the school was the first in the nation to require students to use laptop computers in their design classes and laboratories. Last year, the school's student chapter of the American Institute of Architects was co-recipient of the national chapter of the year honor.

Students in the architecture program complete their fifth year of studies in residence in Jackson to take advantage of the urban resources of the area. It is the only program of its kind in the country where the final year is required at an off-campus location.

"The fifth-year program has received national recognition for the quality of its teaching and outreach programs," noted McRae.