The Lamar County Board of Supervisors reemphasized its current moratorium on multi-family residences in the county and denied an Alabama developer’s request for a waiver to lease eight one-bedroom units. One supervisor said approving the waiver would “open up a can of worms.”
The units, which were once called Corinthian Court, are part of a redevelopment by Herrington Construction of Mobile, Ala., which owns the Westwood Square Shopping Center at 4400 Hardy St.
Colby Herrington spoke to the supervisors Monday, June 3, at their meeting at the William J. “Pete” Gamble III Chancery Courthouse in Purvis. He bought the property in 2017, renovated the vandalized units, and put them up for lease.
“We completely renovated and re-leased those apartments and added what I think is a tremendous investment with those apartments,” he said. “Of the eight apartments, 89 percent are leased already. Construction should end this week on the renovations. We think there is obviously a demand for more than one-unit apartments.”
The original Corinthian Courts included 132 units in 68 buildings. Amenities were to add a splash pad and barbecue grills.
District 1 Supervisor Steve Lampton praised Herrington for his company’s work in renovating the apartments, calling the improvements “phenomenal.” However, he said approving a waiver to the moratorium is ill-advised.
“The fact that you were aware the moratorium was there – you didn’t go into this blindfolded,” Lampton said. “Again, I appreciate what you did – I am going to motion that we deny this. I don’t want to open up a can of worms where everyone is investing in multi-family housing in Lamar County comes to us with exceptions to the ordinance.”
Lampton said approving these apartments would give other developers opportunities to challenge the moratorium.
“If we swing this door wide open and start building more multi-family housing, we would put burdens on our school system and creating a lot of problems that we are not dealing with now,” he said. “It was a wise decision of the board to do this when it was done, it’s worked, and in two years I would welcome the opportunity to look at it again.”
The redevelopment of Westwood Square intensified after Louisiana-based Walk-On’s Bistreaux and Grill decided to place a restaurant in Hattiesburg. Herrington said in May 2018 renovations had been planned before Walk-On’s announced its location.
Herrington redid the red awnings around the stores and replaced the signage. The lighting was changed to LED lights with the help of Mississippi Power Company. In addition to Walk-On’s, other Westwood Square tenants include Play It Again Sports, Winn Dixie, and Harbor Freight Tools.