Ground broken at Rising Spring for medical office building
By Randy Bell
Things are going vertical at Rising Spring. An August 26 groundbreaking ceremony for Baptist Medical Group’s new facility signaled the start of construction for the first business at the 54-acre mixed-used development near Mississippi Christian University.
“This is a really exciting day for Clinton residents,” said Brad Beattie, Chief Operating Officer for Mississippi Baptist Medical Center. “Today really marks the start of a project that will have a meaningful impact on the health and well-being of this community.”
Beattie noted that the company has had a presence in Clinton since 1997, starting with the opening of the Baptist Healthplex on the MC campus and followed by the addition of primary care and physical therapy services in 1998.
“Recognizing the continued growth of the Clinton community, we are responding to that with a larger, more functional space to better support our providers, our patients and the community,” Beattie said. The medical office building at Rising Spring will include a new Baptist Heart satellite clinic providing expanded access to cardiac care.
Prior construction at Rising Spring has focused on infrastructure, including the water, sewer and power lines underground, and the streets, streetlights and sidewalks on top. A covered stage for an amphitheater was the initial structure to rise from the ground. But beginning work on the first business had been a long-awaited moment.
“It is a big milestone for this project,” said Laura Jackson, the university’s chief operating officer and chief financial officer. “The clinic locations that are currently in the HealthPlex, they will move those over here, and then they will add some additional services to what they have in the HealthPlex. So, we’re very excited about that.”
Jackson continued, “They will maintain a partnership with the university to provide medical services to our faculty, our staff and our students, just like they have done for decades.”
Several other projects, including a hotel, a grocery store, retail shops and restaurants, are in the works for Rising Spring.
“I think you will see some additional announcements coming that will be very exciting for the city of Clinton in the next weeks and months,” Jackson predicted.
When she hears people complain that the development is taking too long, Jackson said she likes to remind them that the property at the corner of Highway 80 and Springridge Road was “very raw land” with topography which required extensive dirt work.
And then, “We had to put all the infrastructure in place to support whatever ends up being built here.”
Project Manager Paul Collins said, now that all of that work has been accomplished, Rising Spring is ready for more groundbreakings.
“Without the stuff underground, which has taken two years, you could not have this stuff above ground,” Collins said.
Originally, there was talk of constructing a roundabout on Highway 80 to handle traffic around Rising Spring, but Collins said plans have changed.
“MDOT is not going to do the roundabout. They’re going to do a [traffic] light at McLemore Drive, and I think they’re going to remove the light at South Capitol.”
All entrances except McLemore will have drivers making a right turn into Rising Spring. They’ll also turn right as they leave and will not be allowed to cross to the other side of the road except at the traffic light.
