Hillman Commons project nearing completion

By Randy Bell

A long-awaited mixed-use development in the Olde Towne Clinton area should be ready for its first tenants August 1.

The Board of Aldermen at its June 20 meeting approved a change in the type of streetlight to be used at Hillman Commons Lofts, a project which faced lengthy delays because of soil issues.

“It’s a tremendous relief,” said David Kelly with Chartre Consulting, the owners of the building. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Mississippi College sold the 2.7 acres to the Oxford-based company in 2017, and the Board approved the project in December of that year. The site was cleared in early 2019, and construction initially was expected to be finished in early 2020; but later pushed back as the company dealt with Yazoo clay, an expansive soil notorious for shifting as its moisture content changes, which had to be dug out and replaced with good soil.

“We couldn’t go as deep as we needed, because it was over thirty feet deep in clay,” Kelly said. “And because of its location and being in a low spot, it never dehydrated. So, we finally had to find a place to where the engineers were comfortable in the mitigation process.”

Kelly said wet weather complicated the clay removal.

“If you remember, a couple of years ago, we had an excessive rainy season,” recalled Kelly. “It took us the better part of a year to [replace the clay].”

Kelly said just under a hundred loft apartments will be available in walking distance to Olde Towne shops and restaurants, the university and the new development that’s being built between Highway 80 and I-20.

“I believe the final number is 99 [lofts]. We’re catering to the market, those folks that are looking for that lifestyle,” said Kelly.

He expects Hillman Commons to attract people with small families and empty-nesters, in addition to MC students.

The building has about 5,000 square feet of commercial space on the ground floor.

“We’ve been working on that,” Kelly said. “It’s too big for some, and it’s too small for others. So, we’re trying to find the right tenant to go in there. When [the lofts are] occupied, I think the list of qualified candidates [for the commercial space] will show up.”