Southaven leaders officially open a pedestrian bridge Thursday, April 14, to link a new town-square development, a chunk of the city’s park system and the aroma of economic sizzle.

That’s not just the smell of money at Silo Square. It’s the smell of pancakes.

Staks Pancake Kitchen, serving breakfast and lunch, opened its Southaven location seven weeks ago on a corner of Silo Square, a 288-acre mixed-use development patterned in part after Collierville Town Square. The only complaints the restaurant has received is the wait.

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It’s so popular, people cannot easily get in the door. A two-hour line forms on weekends.

“We’re non-stop,” said assistant manager Isaac Weston. “Every day, we’re busy.”

Brian Hill conceived of Silo Square as a place people could lunch, buy produce, shop high-end retail and live in single-family homes and luxury loft apartments. It would be built around the live-work-play concept. The first building went up about 18 months ago.

Now there are six buildings with four more ready this year, and another three more to go to completion.

Though the town-square concept came by Hill, Mayor Darren Musselwhite was the brainchild of the pedestrian bridge.

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Silo Square was being built on the west side of busy Getwell Road. Snowden Grove Park, home to the city’s annual baseball tournaments and the BankPlus amphitheater, was on the east. A traffic light was put in, but dedicated pedestrian space was critical.

Now the mayor predicts safely connecting the Snowden Grove district via the pedestrian bridge will be a tremendous success.

“This will pay huge economic dividends to our city for many years to come and pay for the initial investment many times over,” he wrote, announcing the Thursday opening festivities.

The $1.9 million passageway over Getwell was finished months ago, but an elevator sensor, snagged by supply-chain issues, prevented the state fire marshal signing off. The elevator is necessary to lift wheelchairs to the bridge platform.

Schindler Elevators worker John Deds, a Red Bull in his hand and a battery-powered screwdriver at his feet, put finishing touches on the shaft Tuesday. A shirtless jogger passed.

“Today, there’s been a good deal of traffic,” Deds said on the wind-whipped, sunny afternoon.

In the distance, the Springfest Ferris wheel and other carnival contraptions sat on a grassy plot, and beyond that, the amphitheater. The pedestrian bridge will connect Silo Square commerce and housing to trails inside Snowden Grove and Central parks. Southaven is shooting for pedestrian-friendly, a concept that has taken off at other cities.

On the other side of Getwell at May Boulevard, Planters Bank is at a corner opposite a dirt-covered construction site. The restaurants Georgia Blue and Belly Acres will break ground within the development soon, as will Fairfield Inn & Suites.

The commercial side of Silo Square is so busy, Hill is screening his calls. Folks want him to sprinkle success fairy dust on them, too. He’s happy to give a tour, but his time is limited.

“There’s a project in Flowood (in Rankin County, Mississippi). That developer has been up here three times,” Hill said. “The mayor came. They flew into the Olive Branch airport, rented a Mercedes Sprinter van, and drove out.”

Hill also has taken calls from a Senatobia representative and from the mayor of Olive Branch, Ken Adams. The developer appreciates the invitations to “do something like that” in their cities, however, not every city can offer a location like the spot off of Getwell: Ideal demographics, terrific traffic counts and proximity to a vibrant parks and recreation system.

The spot is hitting a home run, Hill said, with “access to everything we need to make it a thriving success.”