This page was posted after a visit in April. Since then, the
development company has been negotiating with MS Development Authority.
The results of those meetings are in "The Agreement".
Senator Doug Davis of DeSoto County has earned much of the credit for moving
this project along.
On this page are pictures of a trip several of us took to view several
developments in Southern California. Phillips Development Company (Bill
Phillips, owner) is considering a 5,000 acre or so development in southwest
DeSoto County. Starting at the Tunica/DeSoto County line and going north
to Star Landing road, the project will also go from Highway 61 to the River.
The project includes some 9,500 homes consisting of single family homes,
condos, and apartments; three hotels and four golf courses. All of this
surround a 500 acre lake.
The developers are putting up more than $2.3 billion. They are asking
for $57 (see Agreement, as they have settled on $23 million) million in infrastructure work from the state. This commitment of
taxpayer money would include two interchanges along Highway 61, running water
and sewer lines to the property, and constructing a "ring road" which
would be a four lane boulevard. This money would be quickly recouped from
sales taxes on construction materials, income taxes, and retail sales to the
28,000 people who will be employed over the 15 year buildout of the project and
13,500 permanent employees working in the hotels, retail stores, commercial
offices, and landscaping, as well as sales taxes from sales in the dozens of
retail stores in the development.
I was a skeptic when this project was first announced. In my short
seven years in the legislature, I have attended more than one development
presentation in DeSoto County and come away feeling like someone was about to
get scammed. Not on this one. The developers are for real, having
similar projects in Paris around EuroDisney, Texas, and several in Southern
California. Honestly, if they were not serious, they wasted a lot of time
and money getting us out there.
Here are some of the pictures I took out there. They are thumbnails, so
click on them and you will go to a larger picture. Also, I apologize for
the blue tint. I believe I had the camera set on "indoor" with a
flash instead of outdoor for white balancing,
Click on picture to make larger.
This is Mr. Phillips and he is standing in front of a wall sized printout of the
Riverbend Crossing Project. The southern most part of the photo is the Tunica/DeSoto County
line.
Here are some of the fellow travelers on the trip. On the far left are Jim
Flanagan, supervisor Tommy Lewis. Others on the trip included
Mayor Gene Alday of Walls, supervisor Bill Russell, Sen. Doug Davis who helped Jim put the
trip together, Senator Tommy Robertson, Representative Percy Watson. The
latter two are chairman of their respective house's finance/ways and means
committee.
On the right is the Pacific Ocean. On top of the bluff is the Ritz
Carleton. This and the following pictures are two of the 5,000 acre each
developments the Phillips Company has done in Southern California. One of
them has 50,000 people living there. I learned what developers do.
As the development grew, the area incorporated. When homeowners buy, they
understand that in addition to whatever city and county taxes they pay, they
also pay a fee to maintain the landscaping design and upkeep of the development.
Here's a good view about a half mile east of the above picture showing homes
along the golf course.
This is one of the several shopping areas around the development. There is
a Target around, but folks, it's unlike any Target you've ever seen. Also,
part of the fee collected by homeowners in these developments is turned over to
the governing education board to pay for the construction of a school.
Land for the school is set aside by the developer.
Remember when I said my Ranger caught fire? Well, I failed to tell you all
that I traded it in for this little number...OK, pick yourself up off the floor
and get off the oxygen. The state elected folks flew out on the
plane. I have reluctantly voted for this plane each year. No
more. It's worth it, and if both of these projects does turn out, the
state will recoup its investment in the $57 million infrastructure improvements
and enough to buy a new plane (this one was purchased used) within 15 years or
less.
While in California, our group was the guest of Mr. Phillips at the Tutto Mare
Restaurant in Newport Beach. Betsy, a nurse at Cedars Sinai Hospital in
Hollywood and Agnes daughter was able to meet us for the event. Betsy is a
traveling nurse and works in the ICU at the hospital...she also lives out
there. This summer she will be giving up the glamour to be the camp nurse
at Camp Lake Stevens in Oxford.
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