Abdul Lala and employees of Lala Enterprises pitched their plans for a large downtown development to the public this morning at the Quality Inn on Roebuck Dr.
Lala wants to build a large Hyatt Place franchise hotel and 1,000 person banquet hall downtown near the police station to partner with the Riley Center in bringing convention business to Meridian - but there's a catch. Lala said there is not enough room for two hotels downtown, and that he will not build the hotel if the city chooses to go ahead with the Threefoot hotel project as it is currently planned.
Project manager Dede Mongollon pitched Lala's ideas to locals today. She said that in addition to hotel and banquet space, the facility would include on site parking, along with a possible Starbucks, sundry shop, and gift shop.
The development would cost $30 million dollars, and none of it would be put up by the taxpayers. For the Threefoot project, the city would have to make an investment of more than $14 million in bonds.
Mongollon suggested that the Threefoot building be developed into retirement housing rather than a hotel.
She said Lala enterprises has so far had a "mixed response" from the city, who like the idea of not investing any taxpayer money, but do not like the idea of giving up on historical preservation. The Hyatt place would be all new construction and would require the demolition of several downtown buildings.
Look for more on this story in tomorrow's Meridian Star.
Local News
9:23 a.m. Lala pitches hotel to the public
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High Honor
The flowers and balloons Crestwood Elementary School Principal Kimberly Kendrick received at school Monday were not an early Valentines' Day gift.
Kendrick has been named Meridian Public School District's 2012 Administrator of the Year – an announcement that both surprised and wowed the 17-year veteran educator when made by MPSD Superintendent Dr. Alvin Taylor. -
Master Dance Class
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Digital system promises better communication
Hopefully in the near future you won't hear someone in the emergency services ask over the radio, "Can you hear me now?"
A digital communications system, one which is being pushed by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), is a few months away and, in some cases, is already in the testing phase in Lauderdale County. -
Inmate escapes custody
Mississippi Department of Corrections officials said Monday afternoon an inmate escaped from custody Friday and is still being sought.
Officials said Johnny Hall Jr. escaped from two Wilkinson County Correctional Facility officers’ custody while being escorted from his father’s wake at the Picayune Funeral Home in Picayune. Preliminary information indicates Hall left the officers and jumped into a waiting black vehicle with a white female driver. -
Citizen’s Police Academy begins today
The work law enforcement conducts on a daily basis is often misunderstood by the general public.
Officials at the Meridian Police Department developed a program to inform and educate citizens on what police do in serving and protecting the population. The program, The Citizen's Police Academy, has been gaining speed for a couple of years since it was first offered. Officials said it shows residents are interested in police work and how it is conducted. - Woman: decongestant brought meth charge in Alabama
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Star Of The Week: Dominique Goodwin-Jenkins
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SoMiSPO brings steel drum rhythms to MCC
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About face
Nothing is forever in the military and after a months-long battle to secure a C-27J Spartan flying mission and its field training unit at Key Field and the 186th Air Refueling Wing, it seems all of that is flying the way of the KC-135 tankers that used to fill the skies over Meridian.
- Marriages & Divorces: Sunday, February 5, 2012
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