Business, economics, and what is coming next in Jackson.
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Companies, deals, jobs, and capital moving through metro Jackson, reported from the filings before the press release.
A Black Lotus just set a public auction record, Hasbro posted its first $600 million Magic quarter, and boosters change in 2027. Here are the numbers, the fine print, and the events and Jackson-area tables worth knowing.
Commissioners authorized a predevelopment deal with a Carlyle-led team on Oct. 26. The only cost figures on the record cover design, not construction, and the airport got one proposal.
Vero Fiber finished buying TEC on April 14. Six months later, docket 2026-UA-63 to move TEC of Jackson’s assets and customers to Vero Fiber ABS is still open on the PSC’s docket.
Henifin’s plan would have a new authority borrow $120.8 million to buy Jackson’s water and sewer systems, saving about $1.4 million a year. Horhn wants a hearing instead.
The Wire searched the Hinds County index for Trustmark Bank, Blue Owl, Owl and RCAF Acquisition Trust. No branch conveyance appears. The purchase agreement says the buyer may take title through entities it designates.
Stirling’s own case study dates the Westland Plaza closing to October 2025, and the deal nearly collapsed. A year later, no deed, permit, or lease filing names the new owner.
The purchase agreement says the 34 branch addresses and per-property prices sit on an exhibit the bank withheld. Six weeks after closing, the Hinds County index shows no deed from Trustmark Bank to any buyer.
Jackson’s monthly check from the Department of Revenue edged down from a year earlier, while Ridgeland and Brandon posted double-digit gains and Pearl fell sharply.
Prado Lofts is under construction and the Dolce hotel has started dirt work. The Prado Conservatory, rezoned in August, is still on paper, and the land is held by a company that is not PraCon.
The council adopted the per-ton rubbish fee on Oct. 6, resolving a question the Wire’s own coverage left open. The same week, the city said the Byram site still cannot take full loads.
The state’s Workforce Housing Program will fund only new single-family construction, capped at $4 million per project. Hinds County is the largest of six qualifying areas, and no local government has yet signed on.
The city posted RFQs for asphalt milling, paving materials, and housing rehab on Oct. 8, the same week the council amended engineering contracts for a resurfacing program that began in 2023.
Two March appraisals valued the city’s riverfront tract at $110,000 and $112,000, based on comparable sales of $1,566 and $3,500 an acre. The developer’s own consultant says comparable land costs up to $1 million an acre to make buildable.
The council ratified a 12-month Cityworks renewal on Oct. 6, the same week bids closed on an ERP system whose own addendum names Cityworks as a system to be integrated or replaced. The new software is not scheduled to start until Oct. 1, 2027.
MDEQ’s air division has concluded the 754-megawatt Traceview plant can meet every state and federal standard, and the decision now rests with a nine-member board that meets the second Tuesday of each month. The draft permit’s own fine print says the permit expires if construction does not begin within 18 months.
The Jackson Redevelopment Authority is taking proposals through Oct. 30 at 4 p.m. on JRA-owned parcels in the 200 and 300 blocks of North Farish Street. Its own property list prices the largest of them at $440,320, and the whole Farish Street inventory at roughly $1.9 million.
Midtown Partners won a three-year Community Economic Development award to expand three existing enterprises in Jackson. The money started Sept. 30, and the only public notice came from Rep. Bennie Thompson’s office.
The 183-day moratorium the council passed July 14 runs out in about 16 weeks, and the city attorney told the council in August there is no new draft ready. A 230-acre rezoning request in northwest Jackson is waiting on it.
The city’s own RFP says its legacy permitting system is hard to maintain, unintegrated with GIS, and still accepts paper. It also says a formal project budget has not been established, and that vendors’ cost proposals will set it.
The city’s second lease-purchase solicitation in two months lists 36 vehicles and machines, from a $385,570 street sweeper to a $1,452 bucket, and projects a Nov. 20 funding date. It also says the city expects to be non-bank qualified, which narrows who can bid.
Mississippi diesel hit an all-time high of $6.06 a gallon on Sept. 23 and sits at $5.99 today, up 83% from a year ago. For a 200-gallon fill that is $544 more per stop, and the metro’s 302,100-payroll economy moves on trucks.
The city’s RFP 94654-092926 asks lenders for an interest rate on a lease-purchase financing, with bids due Sept. 29. The solicitation names no asset, no principal amount, and no term, and it lands three weeks after the council adopted a 2026-2027 budget that never mentions the borrowing.
The city posted RFP 94654-092926 on Sept. 17 asking banks for an interest rate on lease-purchase financing. Bids close Sept. 29. The solicitation names no asset, no principal amount, and no term.
Jackson’s monthly sales tax diversion rose 9.5% in August 2026, and Ridgeland and Byram posted the metro’s largest gains.
Absentee voting opened Sept. 21 with a Jackson-only question on the November ballot: a tourism tax to fund the Convention and Visitors Bureau. The county’s own meeting record shows the money is already being counted in the budget cycle.
A Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business won the sealed-bid contract on Sept. 21, with work starting Sept. 30. The 18-month job is fully funded and drew just three bidders.
The Jackson metro added 3,500 jobs in a year, the strongest August on the BLS series. On the same day the state announced an $8.5 million federal grant to build short-term training pathways, the metro’s labor force is still smaller than it was in February.
A Sept. 3 filing shows the Jackson-based bank sold 34 branches to Blue Owl Real Estate Capital and leased them back for 15 years, then swapped $629.9 million of low-yield securities for higher-yielding ones to offset the gain. The bank says no branch will close.
The Sept. 22 agenda carries two amendments to Verizon Wireless antenna agreements at city tower sites on Riverside Drive and West Northside Drive, extending terms and swapping equipment on land Jackson owns. The city has not published what the extensions are worth.
The Sept. 22 council agenda carries a MetLife renewal for city workers, a new cafeteria-plan administrator, a solid waste fee ordinance and a quitclaim sale of three parcels to Wil-Mat Investments. None of it has been reported.
Mississippi diesel averaged $6.05 a gallon on Friday, up 84 percent in a year, while the national average set another record at $6.44. The bill lands in a specific order: farmers in the middle of harvest, owner-operators who pay for fuel before they get paid for the load, then a city that just passed a budget with no room in it.
A resolution on Tuesday’s agenda would let the city contract with Municipal Intercept Company to collect unpaid debts under a state setoff law, a step that puts a private firm between residents and money the city says they owe.
An ordinance introduced on the Sept. 22 council agenda would amend Section 106-148 of the city code, the section that sets what it costs to dump at Jackson’s solid waste facility. The same agenda carries a resolution to hire an outside firm to chase unpaid debts.
Federal regulators are fighting a request to pause their civil suit against Leigh Bridges, saying her own attorney signaled a bill of information is coming and a guilty plea is likely. The case has already cost the agency $225,625 in security alone.
Jackson’s bus workers voted 29-9 Thursday to end their second strike in two years. The deal delivers the raises they wanted, but it also concedes ground on who is allowed behind the wheel.