Open containers and 80 more acres: Southaven's Silo Square progresses

Between adding tenants, an open container designation, and 81 acres to Silo Square, developer Brian Hill has been a busy man lately.

Since the Southaven project's 2018 groundbreaking, the development team has completed four of the buildings on a "town square" poised to eventually contain 12 and signed 14 leases or letters of intent for them. A cheesecake shop, jewelry store, salon, and two boutiques are already open, as development progresses all around them. Hill's already-huge dreams of over 300 single-family homes and 700,000 square feet of commercial space, have grown significantly.

"[The project] is meeting my expectations, and we had coronavirus. If corona hadn't been here, it would be blowing my expectations away," Hill said.

On Dec. 1, Southaven's Board of Aldermen approved the development as a Leisure and Recreation District — a State of Mississippi designation that will allow visitors to drink while walking around the property.

Hill said he requested the designation for the sake of two new tenants he plans to announce in the coming months. One is "a famous Beale Street restaurant" that told him open container laws are "critical" to its business, he said.

However, Hill said he doesn't plan to sign leases with more than two bar tenants, because he doesn't want Silo to become a party district.

"I want there to be entertainment … but I certainly don’t want to turn Silo into a Beale Street," he said.

On Dec. 15, the Board of Aldermen is poised to approve the addition of 81 acres — located to the north and east of the existing 228 acres — to the project's planned unit development (PUD). The addition would bring with it 150 more homes, four more office lots, and additional retail buildings, Hill said.

Silo's apartment buildings have also grown. Instead of eight "pretty typical" apartment buildings with a combined 130 units, Hill said he's now planning two, U-shaped buildings that each contain 84 units. Hill said his team will break ground on the two buildings in mid-2021.

The 38 apartments that are located in the already-constructed mixed-use buildings are 100% occupied, Hill said. The fifth and sixth town square buildings are underway, and the seventh and eighth will break ground in January.

Hill said his team also has a contract with a hotel developer for a four-story hotel under a "very high-end" flag. He declined to name the flag, since it's not yet set in stone.