Pascagoula’s Flagship District to bring living, retail and event spaces to downtown area

Pascagoula, Miss. (WLOX) - Mixed-used developments are continuing to pop up in Pascagoula with the city now working to brand the downtown area as the Flagship District.

The historic building at the corner of Pascagoula Street and Watts Avenue has served as home to many businesses over the years, including Monica’s Restaurant, law offices, and even a pool hall several decades ago. Now, owner Ramsay Taylor is breathing new life into the site.

“This part up front here, this is where all the retail will be,” said Taylor, showing off the building’s layout. “Where that wall ends, this will be where the event space starts.”

The building has almost 9,000 square feet of space and is being divided into a development that will contain apartments, retail space, and event space.

“The problem with a lot of these old downtown buildings is the depth of them,” explained Taylor. “You used to have large department stores that required all that space, and now your smaller boutique stores are wanting a lot less space.”

Another downtown project Taylor is busy revitalizing is the Odd Fellows Building, which is on Krebs Avenue right next to Jacks on the Tracks.

Debra Venti is the project manager for the Pascagoula Redevelopment Authority. She said there are incentives offered for mixed-use developments like the ones being created by Taylor. There also grants that are helping investors to redevelop the downtown area.

“Mixed-use is where you get your highest tax incentives for your building owners and investors,” she explained. “So if you can have living spaces upstairs and then some sort of mixed-use down below, whether it’s a bar, retail, or anything like that, it just helps with the tax incentives.”

These incentives are attracting developers to the Flagship City, which is expected to see quite a bit of growth by the end of the year.

“We should have approximately 70 units in downtown Pascagoula that are available for rent and they are going quickly,” said Venti. “Scranton’s was four (units), and it went within 48 hours.”

Of the 70 units, Taylor is developing ten of them, and he says the demand is there.

“You can definitely feel the momentum changing. People are getting interested in locating a business down here,” said Taylor. “The more people you get living down here, the more neat businesses that we all desire will show up here.”

On Tuesday, the city council voted to approve branding for the Flagship District, which includes the artwork of longtime local artist AliceKate Berry.

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