Birmingham Development News

[Blazer85]

Former Cabana going condo
Sunday, June 19, 2005
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer

Modesto, Calif.-based Leer Corp. plans to invest about $20 million to turn the former Cabana Hotel into 65 condos and commercial space to be known as Leer Tower.

The 20-story, 158,000-square-foot building at 1631 Second Ave. North dates from 1930 and has been mostly vacant for 22 years.

"I think this building is perfect and it lends itself to this type of redevelopment," said David Leer, president of Leer Corp. "There is so much original beauty in this building, and we want to maintain as much of that as we can."

Leer Corp. is wrapping up work on the due diligence examination phase of its contract, and it has another 60 days to close on the purchase, which it plans to do at the end of August. The seller is represented by Chip Watts and Charlie Parrish of Watts Realty, whose Web site has said the hotel is listed for sale at $1.5 million.

If all goes as expected, Leer said, renovation work will begin in September and proceed in three phases over two years.

Leer's plans for the Cabana are detailed. Playing off the building's original name, the Hotel Thomas Jefferson, the project features four different two-bedroom floor plans, each named after a former U.S. president.

The largest units will be known as the Jefferson condos and are tentatively priced at $399,500. Next down are the Lincolns priced at $314,500, followed by the Roosevelts at $309,000 and the Washingtons at $225,000.

The condos will range in size from 1,097 to 1,665 square feet.

Leer Corp. says all the units will have two or three window views and will include granite countertops, double crown molding, and hardwood or tiled floors.

The plan also calls for a top-floor penthouse that will either be a single 6,000-square-foot unit or two 3,000 square foot ones. No prices have been set.

Plans call for removing the "C" from the top of the building and replacing the Cabana sign with one that reads "Leer Tower."

Leer says the building's roof is set to include a small pool where the water tower once stood. A hot tub and terrace garden will be added to the rooftop for penthouse residents. A sauna is a possibility.

The building will have a fitness center. The second floor is set to be used for restaurant space. The ballroom and banquet hall space on the ground floor will likely be used for commercial or retail space, Leer said.

Leer plans a twist to generate interest in the condo project: Each resident will be offered a lease on an electric car to make travel in and around downtown more convenient.

Meanwhile, the company is working with Operation New Birmingham to secure adequate parking beyond the 40-space lot in the deck on the property. Leer said he believes they have found enough parking for the short term and are working on solutions for the long term.

ONB President Michael Calvert said this project, along with other nearby projects such as the Phoenix Lofts, Jemison Flats, the future Jefferson Lofts condo conversion and the Pizitz renovation into residences, shows that activity in downtown's west side is accelerating.

"The level of vitality and energy in that area is going to dramatically change the character of that neighborhood," Calvert said. "That area is really transforming rapidly."

Leer Construction will be general contractor for the renovation. Leer Real Estate will handle sales.

Two of the company's representatives are relocating from California to handle the redevelopment.

Leer said most of the company's work has been restoring old warehouses and similar projects. Leer Corp. now has a portfolio of about 2 million square feet of office and residential space that has been developed, built, or remodeled in California, including a number of renovation projects in downtown Modesto.

Finding a hotel as ornate and attractive as the Cabana is rare, Leer said.

"Just this building's beauty and the fact that we are passionate about downtowns made this a natural," he said. "Just being able to get into a project like this is pretty excited." On the Web: www.leertowercondos.com

E-mail: mtomberlin@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

Old makes way for new $20 million high-rise
Kaija Wilkinson
Staff

"I don't do a development I don't like," says developer Tom Hinton when asked which of his many projects is his favorite. "I like different properties for different reasons. I like the architecture and character of Highland Plaza and Claridge and Hanover Court and Cobb Lane condominium. But I like Arlington Crest equally, for the views and the neighborhood we've created and the lifestyle that's there."

Now, Hinton is helping create a new high-rise in Highland Park. His $20 million-plus Capri Condos joins several other notable luxury developments, such as 2600 Highland, taking shape in the area.

Hinton is building the high-rise in conjunction with Euro American Advisers, which has corporate headquarters in The Netherlands and an office in Tampa, Fla.

He has worked with Euro American on other projects, and had been eyeing the Capri property since summer 2004. Since 1958, it has been home to the Capri Apartments. Hinton and Euro American were able to close on the property this year.

Most of the residents have moved out and the wrecking ball is scheduled to swing in August.

Construction is slated to start in September and the condos should be complete in December 2006.

Despite the contention of some residents that high-rises are bad for a historic neighborhood, those involved in the project stress that when an upscale, for-sale property replaces a run-down rental, the neighborhood wins.

"It serves to stabilize a neighborhood when you have home ownership," says project manager J. Michael Carpenter. "It creates a sense of community."

Carpenter says every effort will be made during construction to keep the streets clean and keep noise to a minimum.

Marketing director Margi Ingram says reservations have surpassed 60 for the 47 units, which will range from 1,180 to 3,300 square feet.

Tentative prices of $310,000 to more than $1.1 million have been set.

kwilkinson@bizjournals.com - (205) 443-5637



© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.
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SouthTrust Tower is getting $22M fix-up
Kaija Wilkinson
Staff

After buying the SouthTrust Tower last year for more than $50 million, Atlanta-based Barry Real Estate Cos. and VEF Advisors LLC are set to get started July 1 on a $22 million, five-year renovation designed to turn the building into one of downtown's most dazzling jewels.

Barry is confident the makeover will take the building from 60 percent occupancy to 100 percent. Barry has hired Birmingham's Brice Building Co. for the first phase of the project.

The price tag alone speaks volumes about investors' confidence in the project, which they hope will mirror the success they enjoyed with Sloss Real Estate Group Inc. at One Federal Place, which the team built for $50 million three years ago.

"On One Federal, we had very good partnerships with Sloss, our firm, and Bradley Arant (the building's largest tenant) and I think the building hit the market at a good time," says Deming Fish, Barry's director of leasing and management. "It has an excellent floorplate, which gave some of the users in downtown Birmingham an opportunity to grow and expand."

Earlier this year, the building was sold to a New Mexico firm, but Barry's Fish remains the leasing agent. Of One Federal's 300,000 square feet, 20,000 are available, he says.

'Great bones'
Barry's success with One Federal didn't escape the notice of developer Tom Hinton and Robert Simon of Corporate Realty Associates Inc., who brought the property to the Atlanta team's attention about a year ago.

"As a result of One Federal, they thought we would be a group that would aggressively go after a building of that nature," Fish says. "It's a great location, and it's got great bones if you will."

Completed in 1986, the SouthTrust Tower was partially designed by Giattina Fisher Aycock Architects Inc. It features gleaming blue-green reflective windows and stunning views of the city.

Fish says the exterior, aside from Wachovia logos replacing the four giant SouthTrust S's, will not be touched. The building also will get a new name.

Harvey Rudy, Barry's vice president of development, says his firm got a "great price" on the 454-foot tower, currently the tallest building in the state. Rudy is confident in the future of Birmingham's downtown office community, and says it will continue to recover as buildings like the SouthTrust Tower are renovated and parking becomes available.

"This building has a tremendous architectural heritage, and it's very recognizable," Rudy says. "Our goal is to bring it up to 2006 standards."

After Charlotte-based Wachovia Corp. bought SouthTrust Corp. in a $14 billion deal last year, the future of the building was in limbo. Enter Barry, which closed on the deal on June 30, 2004. Wachovia ended up retaining five of its original 11 floors in the tower, plus the lobby. Fish says that's a considerable vote of confidence and he hopes the banking giant will expand its presence even further.

Barry already has upgraded the building's air conditioning and safety systems, and will next tackle the lobby and common areas, including 11 sets of restrooms and three multi-tenant corridors. Fish emphasizes that the lobby will not be completely changed. "We're taking the good elements and improving on them, warming the space up," he says.

The 19,000-square-foot lobby has green granite panels, which will be incorporated into the new design. The drop ceilings will be replaced with drywall and plaster. In addition, space will be carved out for two or more retail tenants, preferably restaurants, Fish says. The restaurants will front Fifth Avenue North and boast outdoor seating.

Phase 1 lobby, bathroom and common area renovations will be completed in three to four months and represents $2.5 million to $3 million of the total renovation cost, Rudy says.

The issue of parking
One question hovering over the tower, and the downtown office market in general, is parking. The building currently has a 224-space deck and an agreement with the city of Birmingham to acquire space in various city decks as it becomes available, Rudy says.

Several months ago, it was announced that the nearby Regions deck on Fourth Avenue North would nearly double its current 769 spaces as part of a mixed-use city project to be completed in 2006. The parking authority has said the expansion is on hold, and city spokeswoman Renee Kemp-Rotan says although she doesn't have a time frame, "we still intend to go forward with that project and we're working on the details now."

Such a project would enhance the tower's appeal "since that deck is right in our back yard," Rudy says. "We would be thrilled to get it. It would be huge for us."

Fish says the building's owners are firmly committed to bringing the building to the top of its market and filling it. To that end, Barry has hired property manager Jeannie Knowles, who will work with tenants and oversee the day-to-day operations of the building.

kwilkinson@bizjournals.com - (205) 443-5637

© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.

[Blazer85]

Nothing specific... just interesting.
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ADO working on 50 projects
Sunday, July 03, 2005
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer

The top Alabama industry hunter says the state's success at landing high-dollar projects is pushing officials to work harder to stay ahead of competing states, even as rumbles grow there is another big project out there to win.

Neal Wade, executive director of the Alabama Development Office, says his agency is now working with companies behind more than 50 projects. Automotive and aerospace plants, warehouse operations and call centers are among them, he said.

"The good thing is they are looking throughout the state," Wade said. "They're not concentrated in one place."

The seven-county Birmingham-Hoover metro area is in the running for several projects, while at least one of the companies is looking in the Birmingham City limits, Wade said. He wouldn't disclose any specifics about the projects.

Wade also declined to discuss "Project Pinetree," a major project that's veiled in secrecy. Site selectors are said to be considering a site in Limestone County. Wade said if the project is legitimate, Alabama will do all it can to try to win it.

Speculation on "Pinetree" has focused on the automotive industry. Officials have theorized the project could be an Audi or Kia assembly plant, or a factory for German auto supplier Karmann or another company. Nobody knows for sure, as is often the case in a major project's early stages.

Limestone County's competitor is said to be a site in Chattanooga.

Wade said ADO and others are taking steps to keep the state competitive with its neighbors. Just last month, Southern Business & Development magazine gave Alabama and North Carolina a shared title as the best states for economic development in 2004.

Between 2002 and 2004, companies in Alabama spent $8.4 billion on capital investments, creating 58,166 new jobs through new operations or expanded existing ones.

"The state of economic development is good," Wade told members of the Economic Development Association of Alabama at meeting last week. "It's not great, but it's real good."

Before Mercedes-Benz chose Alabama for its first U.S. plant in 1993, Wade said, the state was rarely considered for a major project. Now it's a virtual certainty that Alabama is on the list for any major project in the Southeast.

"We expect to compete for projects," Wade said. "We expect to win projects."

To continue that winning streak, Wade wants the state to create so-called "mega sites" that are certified and ready for big projects. Such a certification would assure that a site is either assembled or under contract, is already fitted with the necessary infrastructure and meets all other general criteria for an industrial prospect.

Wade said there are two pieces of unfinished business from the last legislative session that need to be addressed in an upcoming special session.

The first is a bill allowing for a multi-state authority allowing cooperation between Alabama and Mississippi in the recruitment of industries near the state lines. Mississippi has approved its part of the agreement. Alabama must do the same, Wade said.

A second bill would come up with money for $4.4 million in promised site preparation grants around the state that have not been paid.

Meanwhile, ADO wants to expand its work in Asia through its offices with Troy University in Japan and South Korea. The state also needs to be more selective in the pipeline of projects it works from Europe.

Some internal restructuring due to retirements and resignations at ADO is also in the works, Wade said.

E-mail: mtomberlin@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

Inverness condo projects clear planners
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
DAWN KENT
News staff writer

The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission on Monday approved plans for 243 condominiums to be built in the Inverness community in separate projects near U.S. 280 in Shelby County.

The projects include an eight-story building on the site of the existing Inverness Country Club and a four-story building behind Inverness Corners Shopping Center.

Both developments are set to include condominiums with prices of $300,000 or more.

Hoover planners said developers have agreed to traffic improvements, including a left-hand turn lane that will be built along Inverness Parkway for the country club project.

Meanwhile, the condominiums behind the shopping center may prompt a traffic signal change on Valleydale Road.

Planners also said the type of condominiums planned are not likely to draw many families with school-age children, suggesting they will have little effect on the Hoover school system.

The Hoover City Council will have the final say on the projects. Each developer is requesting conditional approval to allow the condominiums, and the country club project also requires a rezoning.

On the country club site, plans call for demolishing the existing golf clubhouse. The new building will have a golf club on the first floor and 118 condominiums in seven stories above it.

Developer Bill Ochsenhirt said the condominiums, which are targeted at empty-nesters, will have an average price of about $400,000. Ochsenhirt and partner Jon Kimerling bought the country club earlier this year and are planning improvements to the property.

Near the shopping center, developer David Keith's plans call for 125 condominiums in a four-story building, along with a two-story office building and restaurant. Base price for the condominiums will be at least $300,000.

Neither of the projects drew opposition at Monday's meeting.

Noel Chambless, president of the Inverness Master Homeowners Association, said he has met with Ochsenhirt about the country club project. Chambless said residents are excited about getting a new clubhouse, and the condominiums provide an alternative for retired or elderly people who do not want to leave Inverness.

E-mail: dkent@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

Unanimous vote gives money for Sloss center
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
BARNETT WRIGHT
News staff writer

The Birmingham City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $900,000 beginning in two years to help build a $15 million visitor center and museum at Sloss Furnaces.

The council voted one week after city officials announced at a finance committee meeting the city intends to come up with $300,000 in fiscal 2008, 2009 and 2010 for the project.

Bob Rathburn, executive director of Sloss Furnaces, said the money will help in building a new entrance road, lighting and other infrastructure.

The Sloss Master Site Plan, prepared in 2002, calls for the construction of a 30,000-square-foot visitor center and museum with 6,000 square feet of exhibit space near the west end of the site.

Construction could begin by January and is expected to take 15 months, Rathburn said.

In other business, the council:

Delayed for three weeks appointing someone to the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority to fill the unexpired term of Bob McKenna, who resigned last month. Councilwoman Carol Reynolds nominated Guin Robinson, but council members asked for more time to review resumes.

Voted to sell property along Eighth Avenue North to Opus South Corp. for $3.5 million for the Social Security Administration's Southeastern Program Center and a 1,755 space parking garage.

E-mail: bwright@bhamnews.com

http://www.slossfurnaces.com/media/images/foundation/site_plan2.jpg

[Blazer85]

Bayer plans Summit hotel
Sunday, July 24, 2005
SHERRI C. GOODMAN
News staff writer

Now that most of the retail slots are filled in the Summit's fourth phase, developer Bayer Properties Inc. is focusing on the final component of its vision for the lifestyle center - a luxury hotel.

Bayer is in negotiations with a hotel operator to build a 200- to 300-room hotel in the fourth phase of the Summit, said Jeffrey Bayer, principal at Bayer Properties. Bayer said he hopes to announce an agreement next quarter and have a hotel open by 2007.

"We still think there is room in the market for an upper-end hospitality provider and we've been led to believe we have the best site in the region," Bayer said Friday. Bayer said the 900,000-square-foot mixed use project may even have room for another hotel in one of its other phases as the tenant mix evolves.

"We have set aside areas that we could come back and in-fill with additional construction," Bayer said. The developer will make sure any additions won't over-tax the area's transportation system, he said.

Most of the retailers in phase four will open Aug. 17, anchored by a 10,000-square-foot Anthropologie, an urban-Bohemian clothing and housewares retailer. Other phase four retailers include women's clothing store Coldwater Creek, wine and tapas bar The Grape, and Swoozies, a stationery and gifts chain started by a former Neiman Marcus executive.

Bayer recently signed leases in phase four for an Aveda hair and skincare store, and Franchesca's Closet, a boutique-style women's clothing store.

"We want to create so much diversity at the Summit that it becomes even more regional in its draw," Bayer said.

Bayer is in negotiations with a "major home furnishings and gift store" for phase four as well as a smaller, bistro-style restaurant and more fashion retailers, he said.

The center is also adding new tenants in its older phases. Trendy dungaree designer Lucky Brand Jeans will open a 3,000-square-foot store in the center later this year.

"Our goal is to continue improving the merchandising mix of all phases of the Summit so it remains the fashion center of the Southeast and don't lose any of our momentum," Bayer said.

E-mail: sgoodman@bhamnews.com

[BhamDKH]

Hey Admin, can this thread get a sticky too? Please?

I hope the new hotel is something along the lines of a Westin, Four Seasons, or the like. Anyways, article in B'ham News yesterday:

Catching condo fever
Sunday, July 24, 2005
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer
Mike White does not look like a typical condominium developer - though with today's condo boom in Birmingham, it's hard to say what's typical.

White, president of an electrical contractor, and partner Tom Carruthers III are investing $3.2 million to create 16 condos in the New Williams building in the 1900 block of Third Avenue North. It's their first project of this kind.

Their condos, ranging from 850 to 1,600 square feet, will have oak floors and high ceilings. Rather than exposed brick, though, the New Williams condos will have a finished look. A new mezzanine is being built, creating a fifth level, including the ground floor that will become a parking garage.

"We feel like when everything is done and said, this block is going to be the premiere place for downtown living," White said, standing on an upper-floor balcony and peering at the Alabama Theatre sign a block away.

A couple of blocks to the east, an Atlanta developer is investing $20 million to transform the 27-story City Federal building into 90 condos, and a few blocks to the west, a California developer is spending $20 million to create 65 condos in the old 20-story Cabana Hotel.

Condo development is exploding in Birmingham, with recently announced or completed projects adding nearly 1,700 units in a metro area where condos have never been hugely popular.

They are appealing to those who like the low maintenance and free lifestyle of an apartment but would rather own than rent. The projects dot downtown and extend to the Southside and over to the Highland Avenue neighborhood.

Condo-mania doesn't end at the downtown grid. Suburban communities such as Inverness, Liberty Park and downtown Homewood are feeling the condo craze, with projects featuring luxury-level amenities, golf courses and fitness centers.

In some cases, prices for these new condos around Birmingham are topping $1 million.

"I think this is a relatively recent phenomenon for Sunbelt cities, excluding Florida, of course," said Leonard Zumpano, a real estate expert at the University of Alabama. "I don't know that condos were ever in favor in the South."

Margi Ingram, head of Ingram & Associates, whose Condominium Shoppe division handles sales for more than 16 condo projects in the Birmingham area, said it's not a matter of condos making a comeback in the Magic City. They've simply never been this big.

"When we started doing condos, we were probably one of the first companies in 1980 and then the high interest rates hit and condos kind of went away," she said. "We've been waiting 20 years for them to come back."

What's driving this boom?

Zumpano believes there are lots of reasons.

"Increasing congestion, noise, aggravation with traffic and commute times and a changing of the demographics so that condos appeal to a larger segment of the American population now than it did 15 years ago are all factors," he said.

"A lot of it is demographics, a lot of it is market and some of it is speculation," he added.

White is being drawn into the condo game as a developer by simple economics - one condo recently sold for $1.2 million and future ones are expected to fetch as much as $1.5 million. White's condos will sell for a more modest $180,000s to $300,000s range and are being listed by Don Acton and Pete Graphos of RealtySouth.

Some buyers are already selling their condos at a profit - even on those that have not finished construction.

Ingram said more than a dozen of the 76 sold-out condos in Soho Flats in downtown Homewood have been re-sold at profits of $15,000 and up.

The condo craze is not limited to Birmingham.

Ingram said her counterparts in other large cities across the country tell her condos are selling briskly there as well.

"I think it's probably a national craze in almost every major city," she said, adding that it appears to be reaching into all demographic groups in these cities.

In Birmingham, identifying a "typical" condo buyer is as difficult as pointing to a "typical" condo developer these days.

Young professional single women are as likely as young professional single men to buy a condo, Zumpano said. Generation Y newlyweds are as apt as empty nester Baby Boomer couples to go condo, though what each may be looking for could differ.

"There are all different types of profiles of people who are buying. It's not just the very young people. Every age group is buying."

Ingram added: "The young professionals are looking for more of an entry level with different amenities than the empty nester group that is looking for more quality, security, larger units and all of the things they enjoy in their homes and even some things they don't have," she said.

A growing part of the condo trend are people who own second homes at the beach or the lake and are willing to downsize their day-to-day home, Zumpano and Ingram said.


Landmarks:

Nowhere is the condo boom a bigger boon than downtown, where it is helping drive revitalization of old buildings, including landmarks such as City Federal and the Cabana.

"The fact that people are interested in coming back to the city is a very good thing," Zumpano said. "Whether that is just a flash in the pan or a long-term sustainable trend really depends on what the city does to encourage that kind of movement back into town. That means building infrastructure, encouraging development of not only restaurants and retail, but cultural activities and good, safe, quality schools."

The reason for the increase in suburban condo development is different, Zumpano said. Those projects have more to do with increasing the opportunities for would-be residents to buy into already attractive neighborhoods.

"Part of it may be that it's getting very expensive to find land to build on in the suburbs," he said. "The only way builders can keep things quasi-affordable is to intensify land use and condominiums is one obvious response to that."

In the end, however, the condo boom is an offshoot of the general housing boom boosted by historically low mortgage interest rates and a better educated consumer.

"I think there is a whole confluence of things going on all of which are important, but the linchpin for everything is the credit availability - underwriting is relaxed, rates are low and people are more aware of the benefits of owning versus renting," Zumpano said.

[Blazer85]

I wouldnt bet on a Westin, though I guess it is possible. Westin is still looking at building a 25-story Westin Grand Bohemian on the Birmingham Board of Educ. site. We need only to reach an agreement between the City of Bham and the Board of Educ.... but we all know how difficult a chore that can be sometimes, so we'll have to see.

[Blazer85]

Rumor has it that Birmingham has now given the FAA a tower proposal of about 675-700ft (excluding spire height). It is expected to be a mixed-use facility and has an expected completion date of possibly as soon as 2007.

[Blazer85]

ALDOT plans to widen US280 from 6 lanes to 8 lanes. The widening will be from I-459 to Hugh Daniel Drive. It's not a permanent solution to the problem, but it'll certainly help!

[Brillemeister]

Rumor has it that Birmingham has now given the FAA a tower proposal of about 675-700ft (excluding spire height).

Seriously now? You guys are sneaking up on us...

[Blazer85]

Seriously now? You guys are sneaking up on us...

Yep... we'll just have to see whether the FAA approves it. From what I understand, if approved, construction would take 18 months. There is also a 27-story tower proposal that is closer to a reality than this 45-story proposal. There are also still plans for a 25-floor Westin downtown. Could be several highrises on the way for Birmingham. Either way, with more than 3 highrise proposals currently out there, youd think at LEAST one will get built. We can only hope, however, that all are built.

[BhamDKH]

Blazer, great info. The FAA thing will be tricky. I flew in just yesterday and we basically approached by following I-65N to I-20/59E. We just cleared the TV towers on Red Mountain (I almost crapped my pants). That's the third time in the last 2 months my plane's followed that flight path. The way things are there's not much room for error. Do you have any links regarding the Westin? Last I heard the school board was dragging ass on this one. DUDE, could you imagine the boost this city would get w/ a Westin?!

Also, if you have any links to the other stories you just mentioned please post as well. Thanks!!!

[BhamDKH]

I saw this in B'ham News yesterday in regards to US 280 traffic (too long to copy and paste):

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/112280137623870.xml&coll=2

Also, in addition to the widening of US280 previously mentioned by Blazer85, ALDOT announced:

I-22 (Corridor X): All lanes will be opened between Jasper and the Mississippi line before Thanksgiving. Within a few months, motorists on I-65 in Birmingham will see earth being moved to bring the corridor to I-65. Corridor X should be complete by 2011.

I-65 in Shelby County: Surveying is under way to add two lanes to the interstate from the Shelby County Airport to Valleydale Road.

I-59 at Trussville: A contract to repair the rough interstate surface from Trussville for 16½ miles into St. Clair County will be awarded in September.

I-459/280 flyover: Work should begin by November, or at the latest early next year, on the flyover from U.S. 280 westbound to I-459 south. The flyover will eliminate dangerous left turns from U.S. 280 to the interstate.

Northern beltline: It will be at least 18 months before work can begin on the road that is planned to complete the loop around Birmingham begun by I-459. There are problems with an environmental document that need to be cleared before construction can begin.

[Blazer85]

Large office complex to be built near civil rights district

A large office complex for the Social Security Administration will be built on the edge of Birmingham's historic civil rights district.

Opus South Corp. announced Monday it has signed an agreement with the U.S. General Services Administration to act as developer on the project, which consists of an eight-story office building set back from a 200,000-square-foot, two-story building for SSA employees. The 587,000-square-foot office building will be available for lease.

Opus, which will also serve as general contractor, will own the buildings. The company would not release the estimated value of the project.

However, Gary Mote, chief spokesman for GSA's South Sunbelt Region, says the federal agency will pay $15.4 million for a 20-year lease.

Site preparation is slated to begin in October. The office complex will be built between Eighth and Ninth avenues north and 12th and 14th streets north. The developer says the project is expected to be complete in late 2007.

The two-story building will house SSA's Southeast Payment Processing Center, which will move from its current location at 2001 12th Avenue North, according to Atlanta-based Opus.

"They are actually very close to each other," Mote says. "The old facility had become functionally obsolete since the GSA has done some downsizing. This building is better suited to the new program."

Mayor Bernard Kincaid called the complex "a very important project for the city of Birmingham and an important step in further revitalizing an urban area that has a significant place in our nation's history."

Opus is using the design-build approach, which brings together a team of real estate professionals, architects and building managers to oversee the project. Hellmuth, Obata + Kassabaum Inc. of St. Louis is the lead designer and interior architect.

Opus' news release on the project says the buildings will be designed and located on the site in a way that lets in as much natural light as possible. Government security features will be incorporated into the design.

SSA's approximately 2,200 processing center employees have been housed at 12th Avenue North for nearly three decades.

The new facility will have amenities such as a high-tech mail center, full-service cafeteria, day-care center, credit union, fitness center and auditorium.

To complement the other low-rise buildings in the civil rights district, the building closest to the street which will be two stories, with about 100,000 square feet on each floor. All areas will have large windows overlooking downtown and the historic district.

Opus South Corp. is a division of The Opus Group, a real estate development company founded more than 50 years ago.



© 2005 American City Business Journals Inc.

[Eddy Gordo]

Yep... we'll just have to see whether the FAA approves it. From what I understand, if approved, construction would take 18 months. There is also a 27-story tower proposal that is closer to a reality than this 45-story proposal. There are also still plans for a 25-floor Westin downtown. Could be several highrises on the way for Birmingham. Either way, with more than 3 highrise proposals currently out there, youd think at LEAST one will get built. We can only hope, however, that all are built.

ohhh...so y'all saw the RSA tower in Mobile and decided to make one just as big with more floors in it. don't be jealous. :rant: if it goes into motion, then B'Ham will be put on the map in America. :eek2:

[LSyd]

Mobile: home of the big spire.

:baeh3:

-

[Eddy Gordo]

:mad2:
:down:
:gunz: just bring it.

[LSyd]

:mad2:
:down:
:gunz: just bring it.

"ARE YOU THREATENING ME?"

http://www.mockingword.com/feature-articles/images/dean-beavis.jpg

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[Blazer85]

- Birmingham's famous Tutwiler Hotel has been purchased and there are plans for more than $5M in renovations to the historic hotel.

- New Orleans' Confederate Motor Co. (a high-dollar motorcycle designer and manufacturer) has opted to relocate to downtown Birmingham... primarily as a result of the proximity to the world-class Barber Vintage Motorsports Park and Museum. Confederate Motor Co. will spend more than $10M on their downtown Birmingham facility.

-An old 4 story building next to WorkPlay will be converted to condos by adding a fifth story, to make way for 35 condos. It will include roof top pool, fitness center, retaill on the 1st floor, and a new 2 story retail building next to the old one.
http://www.livonfifth.com/images/livonfifth.jpg

-The Birmingham International Airport, currently expanding the runway from 10,000ft to 12,000ft, has also decided to build an additional concourse that will have 747 flight gates and the offices of other federal international regulatory departments. The additional concourse would increase the size of the airport by almost 50%.

[LSyd]

^ that'll be cool to see, it looks nothing like that today.

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[Blazer85]

News on a couple new tall midrises (or short highrises depending on how you want to look at it).
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-Colonial Properties has announced plans for a 9-story corporate headquarters office building which will be situated beside the Parisians at Colonial Brookwood Village.

-Bayer Properties has announced plans to build a mixed-use 15-story tower at The Summit (which, though outside the Birmingham CBD, is still within the city limits).

[Blazer85]

Brown-Marx joins hot condo market

Sunday, February 12, 2006
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer

A group of Birmingham investors plans to spend $22 million to create condominiums and retail and restaurant space in downtown's 16-story Brown-Marx tower.

SAW Holdings LLC, led by former Pride Restaurants owner Arnold Whitmore, heads up the investment group, which aims to renovate the building and add an attached six-story, 200-space parking deck.

"I had been looking for about three years for a project like this downtown," Whitmore said. "I knew that downtown had to eventually do what it is now doing."

Downtown is seeing a rush of large-scale condo projects. Brown-Marx will join the push, with SAW Holdings' plans for 108 condos, including as many as four penthouses on the 14th and 15th floors. The 16th floor will feature an upscale bar with panoramic views. An executive suite on the top floor will be available for lease.

The ground floor is reserved for retail and office space. Plans call for a Southern cuisine restaurant, a coffee shop, a fresh food market and deli and a sales office for RealtySouth Inc. and Nationwide Realty, the firms marketing and selling the condos.

Bert Siegel, the RealtySouth agent handling sales, said the sales office will feature a condo model to help give would-be residents an idea of what's coming. Marketing of the condos is set to begin in April, Siegel said.

Studios to penthouses:

Condos will range in size from 650-square-foot studios to two-story penthouses that could be 11,000 square feet or larger.

One-, two- and three-bedroom condos will make up the bulk of the project.

Preliminary pricing ranges from $75,000 for a studio to more than $1.5 million for a large penthouse.

All the condos will be customized by buyers, who can choose from 28 different layouts and finishes.

There are plans for a roof-top swimming pool and lounging deck. Whitmore said investors are considering enclosing the pool so residents can have it for year-round use.

Other touches include a gym, health spa, concierge service, terraces and, in some condos, fireplaces, according to plans.

Whitmore's wife, Sunsiray, is a partner in SAW Holdings.

Whitmore said what attracted his investors are the same things that have enticed other condo developers - the growth of UAB, the strength of the financial district and growing restaurant and entertainment options downtown.

The location, Whitmore said, is prime. First Avenue North and 20th Street are two of the most traveled downtown thoroughfares, and Brown-Marx fronts both at 2001 First Ave. North. That intersection was once dubbed "the heaviest corner on Earth" in the early 1900s because buildings such as Brown-Marx and John Hand were considered large for their time. Brown-Marx was built in 1906 with additions in 1908 and 1930.

The 193,000-square-foot Brown-Marx has been eyed for redevelopment before, most recently by Atlanta's Inman Park Properties, which is selling the building to SAW Holdings.

Inman had planned to put in apartments or condos, along with ground-floor retail. Inman's project needed additional parking, and efforts with the city to create a deck stagnated.

Whitmore said the annex building will be torn down and the deck built where it and a surface parking lot are now.

Whitmore said the purchase of the building should be completed by the end of March. Work soon will begin on the retail and restaurant space on the ground floor with condo development following as units are sold.

The entire project could be complete by fall 2007, Whitmore said.

Michael Calvert, president of Operation New Birmingham, said the original designers intended for Brown-Marx to be offices a century ago, but it works well for condos today.

"We think it's an exciting concept," he said. "It is laid out very well for residential where almost the entire floor plan is well served by natural light."

Calvert said the building qualifies for historical tax credits and other incentives that apply to redevelopment projects.

[LSyd]

^ hell yeah...

construction crane is now up and working for Capri conds. pics to come tomorrow.

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[Blazer85]

Florida developer behind new Southside Residence Inn by Marriott
Birmingham Business Journal - 11:46 AM CST Friday
by Kaija Wilkinson

A new Residence Inn by Marriott in Southside will be developed by Jacksonville, Fla.-based The Clarkson Group LLC.

The Florida real estate firm plans to start demolition this summer of the Royal Inn at 821 20th St. South, and break ground on the new Residence Inn by late summer.

The Clarkson Group hopes to open its new, extended-stay hotel in early winter 2008, says David Clarkson, vice president of development and finance.

Memphis architectural firm Bounds & Gillespie Architects LLC has been tapped for the project, The Clarkson Group's first in the Birmingham area.

The hotel will follow a Marriott prototype, says Clarkson. "There are fairly strict guidelines about what needs to be included in a new hotel, so if there's a 10-year-old Residence Inn, it's not going to be the same as the one we would build today. Marriott is constantly upgrading and trying to improve the product."

Covering 85,000 square feet, Birmingham's new, seven-story Residence Inn will be oriented toward 20th Street South and include a parking garage in the rear.

Founded in 1976, The Clarkson Group has managed and invested in more than 5,000 multifamily developments and hotels with more than 1,000 rooms, in addition to office and industrial properties totaling more than 1 million square feet.

The firm is no stranger to the extended-stay concept, with three other properties, including a Residence Inn, in the Coconut Grove area of Miami.

Clarkson feels the extended-stay suites are a perfect fit for the Five Points area of Birmingham. "The UAB Medical Center and campus will be a big driver for extended-stay demand ... and there's no extended-stay hotel in the UAB-Five Points market, so we think this will really fill a need."

[Blazer85]

The NCAA just approved the Birmingham Bowl. The game will be played at Legion Field on December 23rd and will feature a CUSA/Big East matchup.

Great for Birmingham... Great for UAB!

GO BLAZERS!!

[Blazer85]

Couple newly-proposed buildings:

- 9-story Colonial Properties HQ
- 6-story hotel (by Corporate Realty)
- 14-story hotel/office development (by Melaver)
- 16-story mixed-use development (by Corporate Realty)

The Radisson Birmingham is also about to complete a $10M renovation. Set to officially re-open in July, the hotel will now become a Doubletree-- Birmingham and Alabama's first.

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Talks planned on BJCC options
Expansion considered, dome not ruled out
Monday, June 19, 2006
BARNETT WRIGHT
News staff writer

A BJCC marketing official said "alternative scenarios" are being considered for the $624 million dome project in an attempt to gain approval from the Jefferson County Commission.

BJCC officials had said a Plan B for the project was not an option. However, time is running out and officials want the county to explore the possibility of several expansion plans, said Gene Hallman, whose Birmingham Sports Ventures company is drumming up financial support for the project.

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex officials will meet this week with city, county and state officials to discuss alternative plans, he said.

"Time is working against us," Hallman said Saturday. "We need to expand the BJCC. The focus is on the expansion. We have to decide what form an expansion will take." At the same time, the possibility of a dome will not be ruled out, he said.

The cost of the BJCC project will increase by $2 million every month because of rising interest rates and structural costs, said Clyde Echols, chairman of the BJCC board.

Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot said talk of a dome has killed support for the entire project, and the commission could be more receptive to a scaled-down plan to enlarge and modernize the facility.

"People have said they don't want a dome," Smoot said Saturday. "They didn't say they didn't want more meeting rooms, the new hotels, the entertainment district. We can add the multipurpose facility later, if it is viable. We have to do something or we're not going to have anything."

The county has been asked to extend for 30 years its current $10 million-a-year commitment to the BJCC, which ends in 2008.

Commissioners Gary White, Bettye Fine Collins and Mary Buckelew, who is retiring, have opposed county support for expanding the BJCC, including the dome component. Commissioner Larry Langford and Smoot favor the project.

Langford said he believes room for compromise on the project exists. He said a majority of commissioners have talked favorably of an expansion, but not a dome.

"Shelia and I favor the dome stadium, the other three commissioners say they favored expansion of the existing facilities, but no dome," Langford said. "There's a way to satisfy all parties concerned."

One option could be separate bond issues, he said. One to pay for the dome that does not include county money and another to pay for the expansion and upgrade of the BJCC that does include county money, Langford said.

Commissioner Gary White, who twice voted for the expansion before changing his mind, said he has encouraged the BJCC since 2002 to come up with a "Plan B" because of the lack of support for a dome. "They may need some additional exhibition space. They may even need an arena. But what they don't need is that $624 million dome," White said.

Collins said she is opposed to extending the county's current funding agreement regardless of how the money is spent.

"It would be wrong for the commission to lock in $10 million for 30 more years when we have this sewer debt that will not go away," she said.

Efforts to reach Buckelew were unsuccessful.

Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid said the city will contribute $8.8 million to the project annually for 30 years.

Gov. Bob Riley's spokesman, Jeff Emerson, said this spring that the state will wait for city, county and BJCC officials to come up with a unified plan before considering whether to commit to the project.

E-mail: bwright@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

It's not downtown, but it sounds neat anyway.

Developer gets go-ahead on first phase of community plan
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
ANITA DEBRO
News staff writer

The developer of the planned Mt Laurel-like community near downtown Trussville has received approval for the first phase of the mixed-use project.

The Trussville Planning and Zoning board unanimously approved the plans for the first phase of Trussville Springs, a community to be built on 168 acres off Gadsden Highway.

Hearthstone Properties will develop Trussville Springs, a community with single family homes, condominiums, town houses, several small parks and a commercial district.

Nationally known town planner Andres Duany and his firm DPZ designed the community in Trussville with Mt Laurel in Shelby County in mind. DPZ also designed Mt Laurel.

Trussville Springs will be situated along a stretch of the Cahaba River. The planned community is part of the growing trend of new urbanism, which strives to recreate old-fashioned neighborhoods with sidewalks, parks and businesses within walking distance.

Narda Harp of Hearthstone said a variety of residences will be built in the first phase. Set to be built are:

42 town houses.

50 condominium units.

18 cottage homes.

19 river front homes.

Architect for the project, Marshall Anderson of the Birmingham firm Architecture Works, said the structures will have arts and crafts styling. The homes will be built with natural materials such as wood and brick.

The firm is currently working on renderings for the homes in the first phase.

Harp said no commercial buildings will be built in the first phase. The company expects to break ground in August.

Overall, Trussville Springs will have about 568 homes built in several phases.

E-mail: adebro@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

Riley says he'd back domeless BJCC plan
Thursday, June 22, 2006
ROY L. WILLIAMS and MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writers

Gov. Bob Riley said Wednesday that he backs an expansion of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex - even if the latest incarnation of the project does not include a dome.

Riley said he is waiting for the Jefferson County Commission to show its support for an expansion project before considering the level of funding the state will commit. "The state stands ready to support the project," he said during a stop in Birmingham.

BJCC board members sent signals Wednesday they hope dropping talk of a dome will help them win support from county commissioners, who must provide critical funding for even a scaled-back expansion some have dubbed "Plan B."

Board member Dennis Lathem said the proposed dome - derided by critics who think it's a waste of money - is hurting efforts to win backing from Republican commissioners for a BJCC expansion the board sees as overdue. The cost of the project including the dome has soared to $624 million, counting refinanced debt. That's double the estimate from eight years ago when the BJCC began pursuing the issue.

"People are too caught up in the word `dome,'" said Lathem, a lobbyist who has been on the board for eight years. "This isn't about bringing a pro football team to Birmingham. We're not going to get the SEC football championship again. We just need additional space to bring in new conventions."

BJCC supportive:

Lewis King, BJCC vice president and head of the expansion committee, said he has no problem with abandoning plans for a domed convention center with 65,000 seats and pursuing a more modest expansion.

"If deleting the multipurpose facility will generate support from the county and support for this expansion, then I'm all for it," King said. "We could always pursue the multipurpose later when we get more money."

BJCC board member Gil Wideman, meanwhile, said he hopes Riley can persuade county commissioners to support an expansion. "His involvement could give us the boost we need."

BJCC Executive Director Jack Fields said he plans to meet individually with all five Jefferson County commissioners to gauge their support of the proposed expansion and what it would take to win their votes. Fields already has talked to Commission President Larry Langford and Commissioner Gary White and meets today with Commissioner Shelia Smoot.

On Friday he is to discuss BJCC proposals with Commissioner Mary Buckelew, followed by a Monday meeting with Commissioner Bettye Fine Collins.

In these meetings, Fields said, he will address "an additional financing concept we have developed that we hope will allow the county to consider funding our project." He declined to give specifics about the proposed financing.

"We're trying to determine what they would vote for - a dome, a big exhibit hall, an arena or what," Fields said. "We are trying to break out the costs for each facility separately. I don't know how it'll be received but hope they will support it."

Last week, Smoot said the dome proposal has torpedoed support for the entire project, which includes an entertainment district, a hotel and new convention space. She said the commission could be more receptive to a scaled-down plan to enlarge and modernize the facility.

The county has been asked to extend for 30 years its $10 million-a-year commitment to the BJCC, which ends in 2008. White, who is leaving the commission after being defeated in the Republican primary; Buckelew, who is retiring; and Collins have opposed county support for expanding the BJCC, including the dome component. Langford and Smoot favor the project.

Kincaid urges support:

Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid, who serves on the BJCC board, said Wednesday he hopes county leaders will support an expansion. "The governor has said if the city and county get together and support this, he will too," Kincaid said. "The city has done its part."

Earlier this year, the Birmingham City Council approved a Kincaid plan in which the city would contribute $8.8 million to the project annually for 30 years.

Kincaid said the economic impact of this week's Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly - estimated at $5.9 million - demonstrates the need for an additional 200,000 square feet of exhibition space. The convention attracted 5,000 to 7,000 attendees from outside Birmingham, who filled up 14 area hotels.

"I hope the Presbyterian event shows the economic benefits of an expanded BJCC," Kincaid said.

The BJCC funding proposal the commission will discuss as soon as next week is not expected to include new taxes. The Legislature has approved lodging, liquor and car rental taxes to raise money for the project.

Lodging and liquor taxes already are being collected. A report to the BJCC board Wednesday showed those accounts held nearly $3.9 million at the end of May.

E-mail: rwilliams@bhamnews.com

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Neighbors can see Norwood growth plan
Monday, June 26, 2006
WILLIAM C. SINGLETON III
News staff writer

Norwood residents will get another chance to review a neighborhood plan at a Tuesday meeting.

Cheryl Morgan, director of the Auburn Urban Studio in Birmingham, will present more specific recommendations.

The meeting is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the Norwood Community Center.

In May, Morgan's presentation included a walking trail, amphitheater, town houses and condominiums, and retail development for Norwood and its outer borders.

Morgan also recommended a greenway along Village Creek, which borders Norwood. The greenway would connect with Patton Park in East Birmingham.

The presentation also encouraged continued residential redevelopment, starting with housing on vacant lots.

The studio will work with an economic consultant to determine the financial feasibility of some proposals. More definitive proposals are expected at Tuesday's meeting, said Robert Gilmore, Norwood Neighborhood president.

Norwood has been identified as the next residential redevelopment hot spot as young, single professionals have returned to the community to reinvest in its historic but neglected homes.

Gilmore said the neighborhood wanted to be forward-thinking and plan for any anticipated growth so it hired a consultant to devise a neighborhood plan.

"We'll probably have one meeting after this to finalize the thing," Gilmore said.

E-mail: wsingleton@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

This along with the renovating and revitalization of Century Plaza may make this area a very "happening" place once again.

Retail renaissance expected to accompany Wal-Mart at old Eastwood Mall
Birmingham Business Journal - 1:54 PM CDT Wednesday

Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid and other officials are expected to announce key details about the $50 million redevelopment of the Eastwood Mall into a Wal-Mart-anchored retail center during a news conference tomorrow.

The event is scheduled at 10 a.m. at the old Eastwood Mall, currently in the early stages of demolition.

According to a press release that will be handed out tomorrow, the new, 50-acre development will be named Eastwood Village and will have several bank branches, restaurants and retailers, including Old Navy, Party City, and Ross Dress for Less.

There will be seven outparcels that will be developed by banks, restaurants and others. Ruby Tuesday will take one of those parcels, according to a fact sheet from the city.

The Wal-Mart Supercenter will cover 200,000 square feet on 23 acres, while the other retailers will occupy 150,000 square feet spanning 27 acres.

Eastwood Village is expected to create more than 700 jobs and generate $3.7 million in tax revenue for the city.

"Attracting new businesses, jobs, and capital investments are priorities of this administration and the Eastwood development exceeds expectations in all areas," Mayor Kincaid said in the press release.

Of the $50 million expected to be invested in the project, $39 million is private and $11 million is public. Eastwood Village developer is MAP Development of Birmingham.

The plan, according to the city, is expected to be catalyst for further development. The city's Crestwood-Oporto master plan envisions revitalization of more than 2 million square feet of retail space that encompasses Century Plaza Mall, Eastwood Festival and Village East shopping centers, all along Crestwood Boulevard in eastern Birmingham.

Scheduled to be on-hand tomorrow are representatives from MAP and Wachovia Corp., which plans to relocate its existing branch at Eastwood elsewhere on the site.

Built in 1960, Eastwood Mall is one of the oldest malls in the country and the oldest mall in the Southeast.

Construction of the new Eastlake Village is expected to start in January 2007; the center is expected to open in fall 2007.

[Blazer85]

Thank goodness... what an eyesore.


Parliament House to be razed by UAB
Friday, June 30, 2006
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer

The University of Alabama at Birmingham has purchased the vacant Parliament House hotel for $3.7 million with plans to raze the building and use the site for future expansion of the university.

The UAB Education Foundation made the purchase, according to University of Alabama at Birmingham spokeswoman Dale Turnbough.

"While we don't yet have plans for the eventual use of the property, its proximity to the north side of our campus and to our medical center made this an important acquisition for future growth," she said.

Turnbough said the building will be torn down and new development plans will be drawn up.

"We do intend to raze the building but no timetable has been set for that," she said.

Michael Calvert, president of Operation New Birmingham, said leveling the building is probably the best option.

"I don't say this about many buildings but I think in this case the best thing to do is to take it down," he said. "The building is clearly obsolete."

The 11-story, 223-room hotel was built in 1964 by investors, including actress Doris Day. It has hosted celebrities such as former President Richard Nixon and O.J. Simpson.

It has had a troubled history, particularly in recent years when several owners have been unable to operate the hotel profitably.

An attempt four years ago to revamp it as a Courtyard Marriott never came to fruition.

[Blazer85]

Didnt realize the Stonewall was going condo too. That's a good number of units. More than 100 new units mentioned in this article.



Two historic Massey buildings going condo
Ticheli brothers sell live-work concept
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer

The building that held one of downtown's oldest businesses will house some of the city's newest residents after a $3 million renovation.

Brothers Ed and Leo Ticheli are heading up the development team transforming the J.T. Massey Mercantile and Massey Corral buildings into condos and live-work lofts.

The 26,000 square feet that make up the three buildings in the 2400 block of Second Avenue North will be renovated into 10 condos with price tags that could approach $200,000. The storefront, ground-floor space will be revamped into five or six so-called "live-work" units, allowing for an owner to operate a business in the front while having their residence in the back.

"We think these kinds of units can work really well in that area," Ed Ticheli said. "It seems like a great way to make the best use of space downtown."

The developers decided to pursue the live-work market because they wanted to make use of the large storefronts. Up until last month, one of those storefronts was home to J.T. Massey Mercantile Co., which had been there for 107 years. The company decided to move to a new location in East Lake.

The live-work concept exists in a few other downtown buildings. The concept best fits service type companies such as architects and designers but can also lend itself to retail or even artists needing studio or gallery space.

Ed Ticheli, a New York real estate developer, said construction could be under way this fall and the condos could be ready in about six months after that.

Condos in the project are expected to cost up to $195,000. Final pricing and a condo sales company have not been determined.

Other projects:

Plans for the Massey buildings come as the Tichelis are finishing work on the Gallery Lofts, a $5 million, 32-unit project across the street where the two brothers will be residents. Leo Ticheli is known in Birmingham for his work in the advertising production field.

They also are in the planning stages of renovating the Stonewall building at the corner of 23rd Street and Fourth Avenue North. That building could have as many as 70 condos on the upper 10 floors and commercial space on the bottom two.

The Tichelis purchased the former Red Cross storage and garage buildings next door to the Stonewall and have demolished them to make room for parking. Ed Ticheli said construction documents on the Stonewall should be ready in the coming weeks.

E-mail: mtomberlin@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

A couple of good articles on revitalization plans of some old Birmingham neighborhoods (one Norwood, the other Avondale)

Planner details ideas for neighborhood master plan
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
WILLIAM C. SINGLETON III
News staff writer

Norwood's greatest opportunity for improvement involves developing a retail-commercial strip along 12th Avenue North, a greenway system and building new homes and protecting the character of the homes within the neighborhood, a consultant said recently.

"They're the most important steps, and they're the kinds of things that our particular expertise can have the most impact on," said Cheryl Morgan, director of the Auburn Urban Studio in Birmingham.

Morgan's studio has been developing a master plan for Norwood to help the community manage its growth and plan for the future.

She described more specifics of that plan last week in the second of a series of neighborhood town meetings held at the community center.

Morgan said the neighborhood could focus on a few areas as it embarks on its revitalization.

The development of Village Creek at the neighborhood's northern border would fit in with efforts to develop a greenway from one end of the creek in East Birmingham to the other in Ensley, she said.

She suggested a walking trail, an amphitheater and a ball park along with a scenic road that would draw people to the neighborhood and improve its quality of life.

"Having people live along the path and having people drive along the path will ensure that the greenway is a safe place for you to be," Morgan said.

She also recommended retail development along 12th Avenue North on the neighborhood's southern border. It now consists of "a smattering of businesses and a lot of vacant land," she said.

Morgan proposes a mini-outlet center to capture downtown shoppers and conventioneers visiting the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.

She also said retail development along 12th Avenue would create a border to prevent commercial encroachment into the neighborhood.

Morgan also recommended "traffic calming" features to prevent cars from speeding along 28th and 31st Streets. That can be done by extending the sidewalks at pedestrian crossings to create the appearance of narrower streets, she said.

Morgan also recommended a mixture of housing development including duplexes and a high-rise tower for elderly residents.

The neighborhood, she added, should seek historic preservation status, which would allow it to protect its historic homes and give it more say in the type of homes built in the neighborhood. It would also allow the neighborhood's incorporated community development group to apply for federal funds to help in the historic preservation of homes.

Robert Gilmore, Norwood Neighborhood Association president, acknowledged that implementing the plan will be challenging.

"You look at it and say, `Well, is that possible?'" he said. "But I've been working at this thing long enough to know if you put the right thing in place then everything is possible. I think we can do that greenway. Not only will that greenway be good for Norwood, it will change the complexion of the whole northside."

Morgan said a master plan allows Norwood to compete with other communities vying for federal, city and private dollars.

"We know that there's a lot of resources out there," she said. "And money follows ideas, not the other way around."

Morgan said another town meeting will be held before the studio drafts a final plan.

E-mail: wsingleton@bhamnews.com



Workshop explores Avondale's future
Commercial district could have sculpture, walkways
Wednesday, July 05, 2006
VICTORIA L. COMAN
News staff writer

Avondale's commercial district could someday be dotted with sculpture, have walkways of decorative brick and boast a waterway and median along 41st Street South.

The changes would be designed to awaken a former bustling downtown in what used to be the Town of Avondale, a mill town built east of Birmingham that served the families and workers of Avondale Mills. The area currently has more than 30 businesses.

As part of an effort, organizations including Design Alabama Inc., Main Street Birmingham Inc., Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Regional Planning Commission of Greater Birmingham co-sponsored A City of Neighborhoods workshop to help craft a new vision for Avondale.

A City of Neighborhoods is a program of the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. It encourages civic participation, particularly among young people, and promotes public involvement in the design of neighborhoods. Similar workshops have been in New York, Washington, Charlotte and San Jose, Calif.

Any plan to revitalize Avondale would have to go through a public hearing process and meet City of Birmingham approval.

Participants in the workshop toured parts of Avondale, discussed the area's history, researched changes by looking at maps and brainstormed improvement ideas.

They also produced streetscape models to illustrate improvements they would like to see made along the 41st Street commercial corridor. The models will be on display at the Avondale Public Library through July 21, said Mary Allison Haynie, Main Street Birmingham's director of neighborhood initiatives.

Catherine Browne, a Forest Park-South Avondale resident and a historian who participated, said the workshop's emphasis on studying the town's history helps make the push to invigorate the business district meaningful.

"It was just enough to let them see that they were people like you and me," Browne said. Residents "were building a community and going to the businesses and churches."

Merchants who studied the models said they would like to see more lighting, better and fewer signs and more improvements at Avondale Park.

"That's our jewel," said Tim Burt of the park.

Burt is a neighborhood resident and owner of Parkside Home & Garden, a furniture and housewares store, and The Agency office building, both of which are in the commercial district. Burt said he would like to see the fountains that once graced the park's pond restored.

Fran Nagy, owner of Imagine Partners in Art, said she would like to see Avondale have its own signature to set itself apart from other places.

"I would like to see immediate things that could be noticed," Nagy said. One suggestion was to place signs with the area's name at main intersections.

Marc Bondarenko, owner of Bondarenko Photography, said that 25 years ago he was attracted to the area by Avondale Park, the area's proximity to downtown and affordable rent.

"It's home now," he said. "I like it because I'm 15 blocks from downtown, five miles from home (Homewood). It's a nice neighborhood."

Dan Graves is a lawyer who moved his office into Avondale from Riverchase about a month ago. Once he visited, he saw how close the area was to lofts and condominiums near downtown.

"Everybody was optimistic about this area," he said.

The emphasis on revitalizing the area is on how to create an ambiance in a community involving the past, the present and the future, said Mary Allison Haynie.

"Basically, you integrate history into future economic growth," she said. "You're maintaining a sense of identity and place that reflects how the area developed over time and builds on it."

Victor Blackledge, the City of Birminaham's urban design administrator, said the city would take suggestions into consideration.

E-mail: vcoman@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

A few notes from the ONB Newsletter:

- At least 2 deals (and more "certainly on the way") are in the works as a result of the Untapped Opportunities meeting in 5 Points South.

- The success of the meeting has led to the planning of a similar meeting to focus on a new area-- "The Entrepreneurial District." The $17M Innovation Depot will be at the heart of this district, and Calvert has hopes of attracting growing high-tech and bio-tech firms. The Untapped Opportunities for the Entrepreneurial District meeting is tentatively set for Sept. 28th.

- Corporate Realty is investing $130M over the next year or so in downtown (which that number sounds low considering the proposed 16-story mixed-use project was, alone, supposed to be in the neighborhood of $125M). The City of Birmingham and Corporate Realty have struck a deal in which they would, together, buy the block bound by 1st and 2nd Avenue South, and 20th Street. Half of the block will be developed by Corporate (ie, the 16-story mixed-use project). Corporate will hold on to the other half-block to sell ...the city of Birmingham would recover any costs.

- $2.5M is being spent to renovate the Red Cross' old garage at 3rd Avenue North. The building will house a growing tech firm (Revenue Discovery Systems) which expects to employ about 150 people.

- Work has begun on Athens Flatts

- The 20-story Cabana is indeed expected to be converted to condos regardless of who wins the court settlement... the issue is just who will win the case.

- With nearly $200M in construction going on along 14th Street (University House development, Railroad Park, SSA Building, etc), ONB is advocating significant streetscaping. (I hope this would be something along the same lines as 20th Street)

[Blazer85]

3,000 houses planned at foot of Oak Mountain
Chimney Rock using New Urbanism ideas
Friday, July 07, 2006
NANCY WILSTACH
Birmingham News staff writer

The village of Chimney Rock, a massive residential development with a mixed-use town center, is proposed to rise on 1,650 acres of verdant valley and hillsides at the foot of Oak Mountain, mostly south of the Jefferson-Shelby county line.

Ridgeview Development Co., associated with Destin, Fla.-based Exquisite Development, and Brian Wright of Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative are looking at building more than 3,000 houses and as many as 400 units with combined residential and commercial space on the west side of Shelby County 41. The site is south of Alabama 25, north of Fowler Lake Road and east of Lake Purdy.

The project is to be an example of the school of design known as New Urbanism, a return to traditional neighborhood developments where residents live, work and shop in the same area without necessarily having to drive from one place to another.

The development's town center is to include retail shops and restaurants, according to Exquisite's operations manager for development, Mike Dooley.

Shelby County Manager Alex Dudchock said he was impressed with the company's initial efforts to create a community that complies with the county's comprehensive plan.

That plan, approved in 2004, strives to combat suburban sprawl through development of walkable communities where automobile trips are kept to a minimum and housing is clustered around shops and restaurants.

For all age groups:

Dooley said the community would combine aspects of such developments as Mt Laurel in Shelby County and The Villages in central Florida. Wright was a part of the 1988 Kentlands development in Gaithersburg, Md., considered the first New Urbanism neighborhood intended for year-round living. Today, thousands of people live and work there.

"We want to create a community to serve all age groups," Dooley said. "Our thoughts are to include an area for assisted living, but we have to make sure an assisted living company is interested in coming in."

He said the developers recognize the strains development imposes on existing transportation networks

"We have plans to improve Grants Mill Road," Dooley said. Those plans include extending the road to the western edge of the Chimney Rock property. "We have discussed this, but it is by no means a done deal," Dooley said.

That arrangement would relieve some of the additional strain on crowded U.S. 280.

"We will be following the guidelines of the new comp plan, with green spaces and parks," Dooley said. "We plan to have 50 percent green space with the majority in a conservation easement, which means it cannot be developed in the future. A lot of the land along the ridge will be involved in that easement."

The land on the Alabama 119 side of the ridge lies in the Lake Purdy watershed, he said. About 20 acres of the site is in Jefferson County.

Brainstorming time:

Dudchock, county planners, engineers and public safety and school officials, along with neighbors from such developments as Shoal Creek, have been invited to a planning charrette that starts tonight and continues through Wednesday.

"Charrette" is planner-speak for an intense brainstorming session in which the developers solicit ideas from participants to shape the master plan for a project.

Dooley said the general public can attend the sessions that start at 7 tonight with an opening presentation at the Birmingham Grandview Marriott.

Workshops continue Saturday with a public meeting at 9:30 a.m. and a session with county and school officials at 2 p.m. Designers then will work with the information they have gathered to present a "Pin-up and Review" at 3 p.m. Sunday for public examination.

Subsequent meetings will involve public works, transportation, fire, police, builders and architects, with a grand final presentation set for 7 p.m. Wednesday.

E-mail: nwilstach@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

It's confirmed. Good for Birmingham. Great publicity and a big burst of tourism spending. :cheers:

'Idol' tryouts begin Aug. 8 By Gary Levin, USA TODAY

Here we go again.

American Idol will seek a fresh crop of singing stars when TV's top series starts its sixth-season audition tour Aug. 8 in Los Angeles.

Producers will visit seven cities, starting about a week earlier than last year, trekking from The Forum in Inglewood, Calif., to San Antonio, East Rutherford, N.J. (near New York City), Birmingham, Ala., Memphis and Minneapolis before winding up in Seattle on Sept. 19.

Three of those cities get their first visits from the Idol crowd: Memphis (which was dropped at the last minute last summer because of Hurricane Katrina), Minneapolis and Birmingham, the prolific hometown of previous winners Ruben Studdard and Taylor Hicks and runner-up Bo Bice.

"Because that's where so many of our Idols have come from, that's a must," says executive producer Nigel Lythgoe. "If they paid us a visit, we must pay them."

All of the auditions will shift indoors, to protect against the rain that soaked tryouts in Chicago, Boston and San Francisco last year and the stifling 105-degree heat that plagued Austin.

Otherwise, the song remains the same: Auditions are open to most anyone ages 16 to 28 as of Aug. 6 who's eligible to work in the USA. (Rules at americanidol.com).

Lythgoe expects 12 producers to see as many as 100,000 candidates in those cities during early rounds. About 1,000 will make it to a second round, where Lythgoe and executive producer Ken Warwick will cull the list to 250 — both good and bad — who will be visited this fall by Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Paula Abdul.

Idol, fresh off its highest-rated season yet, returns with audition segments in mid-January; live competition among 12 finalists is due in March. Lythgoe hopes to enlist Andrew Lloyd Webber and Carole King as guest stars.

Posted 7/10/2006 10:16 PM ET

[Eagle Empire]

So what's new in Birmingham?

[LSyd]

more hotels, 18 story tower w/hotel on top 4 stories to replace surface lot/rennovation of old building on site into restaurant.

-

[Eagle Empire]

Birmingham is a pretty cool city. I like a lot of the Alabama cities like Birmingham and Huntsville.

[Blazer85]

Currently and in the near future, Birmingham seems to be building more density rather than the real height-race seen in other cities. The two tallest of the buildings being proposed right now are 18 and 16-stories. Many more under construction or planned in the 7-12 story range. That's all for the moment. Lots of conversions and renovations of older structures as well.

[Blazer85]

:banana: :banana:

BJCC directors pick Memphis firm to create entertainment district

Posted by Birmingham News staff February 23, 2007 20:21PM

SALT LAKE CITY -- The firm that turned Beale Street in Memphis into an international tourist destination was selected Friday by BJCC directors to develop an entertainment district for Birmingham's convention center.

The Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex board directed its lawyer and executive director to negotiate a contract with Memphis-based Performa Entertainment Group, aiming toward being able to court prospective tenants for the BJCC entertainment district as soon as May.

In a related development, the Sheraton Birmingham told BJCC board members that it intends to add a 300-room hotel that would be adjacent to the entertainment district.

[Blazer85]

BJCC board unanimously votes to build arena
Posted by Birmingham News staff
February 24, 2007 12:02PM

SALT LAKE CITY -- The BJCC board today unanimously voted to support a $505.5 million expansion of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, including a 40,000-seat arena.

Board members approved a plan that includes:
-- $380 million for the arena, with 175,000 square feet of exhibit space and enough space to host football games.
-- $17 million to buy land for the expansion.
-- $10.5 million to expand parking.
-- $10 million for infrastructure improvements.
-- $6 million to upgrade the existing BJCC facade.
-- $5 million to build a skywalk to the existing basketball arena.
-- $2 million to refurbish the existing arena.
-- $75 million to pay off existing debt.

Board members rejected a $625 million plan which would have included a 65,000-seat domed stadium. BJCC officials said the larger stadium would have resulted in only about four more events per year at the facility. The board also rejected another expansion option, which would have added 200,000 square feet of exhibit space, but no seating for events; that option would have cost $291 million.

The BJCC board, including Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid and Jefferson County Commission President Bettye Fine Collins, is meeting on retreat in Salt Lake City, where the Salt Palace convention center was recently expanded.

The plans still face votes before the Birmingham City Council and the Jefferson County Commission.

--Roy Williams

[LSyd]

so no fabled dome, but an arena instead...interesting.

-

[Plasticman]

I thought you guys had a planned skyscraper of 50 stories? That would be over 500 feet and a new tallest. What happened to that?

[haldcottingham]

New tallest where? In the city?

[Timanator]

Birmingham is city of about 300,000 in city proper, right? Birmingham could use a new skyscraper, I mean, Birmingham is an economic center for the south, right?

[Blazer85]

At the moment, I know of nothing definite in terms of any large highrise. The largest planned new structure at the moment is an 18-story hotel/office complex to be built near the old Federal Reserve building downtown. Corporate Realty is also planning to build a 16-story mixed-use building just south of the railroad tracks. So, in other words, we've got several planned buildings in the range of 9-18 stories tall... but I know of none taller than 18-stories (at this time anyway).

[Blazer85]

Calvin Grigsby (of San Francisco) and Michael Roberts (of St. Louis) want to invest $40M in the area around the Civil Rights District. Part of it would be spent on the construction of a new hotel, part on retail/lofts, part on a conference center, and part on rehabilitating and turning the A.G. Gaston Motel into an interactive museum. The motel was one of the first available for African-Americans in downtown Birmingham and became a very important meeting place for civil rights leaders Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth. For this, the motel was bombed in 1963.

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/inde....xml&coll=2 (http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/117429268599120.xml&coll=2)

I personally think this would be an outstanding development. Currently there are no hotels in the immediate vicinity of the Civil Rights District, pretty much no retail, and no meeting space. Also is an excellent idea to rehab and turn the AG Gaston Motel into an interactive museum. If this development comes to fruition, in only adds to the appeal of the district to tourists and locals alike. Let's hope the city can work with the developers on this one and make it happen.

[Blazer85]

The Performa Entertainment Group's $55-million entertainment district to be built adjacent to the BJCC has been approved by both the County Commission and City Council. This will be a tremendous boost for downtown Birmingham... both for tourists and locals. The development will include a hotel as well as restaurants, bars, and nightclubs. Tenants that have already expressed interest include: The Pig (a BBQ restaurant), The Mesquite Steakhouse, and Wet Willie (a daiquiri bar).

This will be a big development because so many say that Birmingham has a lack of entertainment venues downtown. Between this and growing places like 5 Points and Lakeview, there's no reason one will be able to say there's "nothing to do downtown." This development will almost certainly spur more hotel development, residential units, and other retail development nearby to the BJCC. This is more than just $55-million... this type of development can really usher in a whole new era of development. And the beauty is that, for once, it's already been approved by all parties involved.

[Blazer85]

The 1,200-seat Lyric Theatre that opened in 1914 and was host to a myriad of famous acts and shows by Mae West, the Marx Brothers, George Burns, etc. It is now in the process of working towards restoration. This is fantastic news. Here's a picture from back several decades ago.

http://www.birminghamrewound.com/features/Photo15.JPG

You can see the Alabama Theatre on the right and the Lyric Theatre on the left. The Alabama Theatre is always booked and it would be nice to see the Lyric back in action.

Restoration experts from New York and Ohio have been in Birmingham recently drawing up plans for Phase I of the development. Phase I will cost about $12M and will consist mainly of restoring the great lobby. The folks leading the campaign to restore the Lyric Theatre are hoping that by people seeing the beauty of the restored lobby, that bigger contributions might begin coming in to speed along the process.

[Blazer85]

Isuzu will build truck plant in Pinson
Monday, April 09, 2007
RUSSELL HUBBARD News staff writer

http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2007/01/isuzutruck.jpg

Isuzu Motors Ltd., which bought land in Pinson late in 2006, plans to begin construction there this year of an assembly plant that will make commercial trucks, said a source close to the recruitment of the Japan-based company.

Isuzu is working out final details of its plan, the source said. The company, Japan's biggest maker of light-duty trucks, signed a preliminary agreement with state officials several weeks ago, the source said.

In January, The Birmingham News reported that Isuzu bought the vacant 300,000- square-foot Del Monte Corp. distribution center in Pinson Valley for almost $8 million. People close to the matter said at the time they expected the company to build trucks at the site. Today, a Japanese newspaper said the same.

Source of jobs:

The plant would create hundreds of jobs, and be the fourth vehicle factory built in Alabama by an overseas automaker. Ten years ago, there were none.

Aggressive recruiting efforts by state officials, tax incentives and a largely non-union work force have lured Mercedes-Benz, Honda and Hyundai Motor Co. to Alabama since the mid-1990s, creating 50,000 jobs at their plants and those operated by parts suppliers.

Ted vonCannon, president of the Metropolitan Development Board, declined to discuss Isuzu, citing the agency's policy of not commenting on economic development projects. Attempts to reach officials with Isuzu were unsuccessful Sunday night.

Japan's Nikkei newspaper reported today that Isuzu will open a plant in Alabama with a production capacity of 5,000 units a year by 2010. The newspaper didn't cite the source of the information.

Isuzu already makes commercial trucks in Japan - the ones with a low cab and boxy cargo area commonly used by contractors, delivery services and plumbers. Isuzu also operates a commercial truck assembly plant in Janesville, Wis., in a joint venture with General Motors.

Nikkei said Isuzu will assemble trucks with a load capacity of at least 4 tons. Engines and platforms will be shipped from Japan.

E-mail: rhubbard@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

Developer gets OK from neighbors for more condos
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
VICTORIA L. COMAN News staff writer

The Glen Iris Neighborhood Association is backing a developer's plans to build a second set of condominiums along 10th Avenue South.

Adam Cohen of Cityscape Development Group plans to build condominiums on vacant land at 10th Avenue South and 11th Street South, across the street from Glen Iris and EPIC Alternative elementary schools.

Cohen said the condo building would be "L" shaped, just like one he and partners are developing across an alley from the site at 10th Avenue and 10th Street South. The first building, called University Flats, has been under construction since December and is expected to be complete by October.

The proposed building would be four stories tall and contain 44 units with 63 parking spots in the rear, Cohen said.

The condominiums are expected to range in price from $187,000 to $280,000, he said.

Cohen is scheduled to appear before the Birmingham Zoning Board of Adjustment to seek variances for setback, height, density and parking on Thursday, according to city records.

E-mail: vcoman@bhamnews.com

[Blazer85]

UAB Academic Building under construction at University and 14th Street South...

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h123/Blazer85_photos/DSC02433.jpg

[Blazer85]

Some pictures of some downtown projects that I took this afternoon...

UNIVERSITY HOUSE BIRMINGHAM

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h123/Blazer85_photos/DSC02434.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h123/Blazer85_photos/DSC02435.jpg

INNOVATION DEPOT

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h123/Blazer85_photos/DSC02442.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h123/Blazer85_photos/DSC02441.jpg

LEER TOWER

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h123/Blazer85_photos/DSC02443.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h123/Blazer85_photos/DSC02440.jpg

SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION BUILDING

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h123/Blazer85_photos/DSC02436.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h123/Blazer85_photos/DSC02437.jpg

http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h123/Blazer85_photos/DSC02439.jpg

[LSyd]

that leer tower sign sucks. ugh. should've left it cabana. is it at least lit at night?

innovation depot looks a hella lot better than it did last year though. nice progress on that.

-

[Blazer85]

that leer tower sign sucks. ugh. should've left it cabana. is it at least lit at night?

innovation depot looks a hella lot better than it did last year though. nice progress on that.

-

The Leer Tower sign is supposed to be lit at night ultimately... not sure if it is yet. With black letters, it might just be lit up with spotlights near the roof.

Speaking of which... has anyone heard anything regarding spotlights or building lighting of City Federal? It was supposed to be bathed in white light, but that has yet to happen. Did they decide against it or is it just a matter of it not happening until the project is totally complete?

[Blazer85]

The Federal Reserve Tower proposal has been bumped up yet again... now proposed to be 19-stories.

[Blazer85]

Found some very preliminary renderings of the BJCC Entertainment District...

http://www.bwcitypaper.com/editorial/2007-04-19/1_PF_BJCC_site_LG.jpg


http://www.bwcitypaper.com/editorial/2007-04-19/1_PF_BJCC_B_LG.jpg


http://www.bwcitypaper.com/editorial/2007-04-19/1_PF_BJCC_C_LG.jpg

[Blazer85]

Alabama Adventure may get incentives for hotel
Posted by Birmingham News staff April 23, 2007 1:00 PM

Jefferson County Commission will set a public hearing for next month to discuss a $2.5 million economic development agreement with Alabama Adventure.

Plans are under way to build a 280-room hotel with an indoor water park and a 320-site campground near the theme park in Bessemer.

Commissioners said at a finance committee meeting today the public hearing could be as soon as May 8.

Commissioner Jim Carns said the project went through the county's incentive review committee for comment.

"This will be a new facility. They're talking about investing $90 million and we're giving them a tax break for the first five years," Carns said. "We're not giving them upfront money. We're asking them to earn it as the project unfolds."

Charles Gargus, community relations director for Southland Entertainment Group, the California firm that owns the theme park, said the campground could be complete sometime next year.

The area will sport bathhouses, playgrounds and an ATV trail.

[Blazer85]

Good stuff. Will be nice to see some life in this section of the Southside.

University House complex to open this fall
Birmingham Business Journal - 2:01 PM CDT Monday, April 23, 2007
Lauren B. Cooper

The $20 million University House will open this fall and developers have more than 40 percent of the units preleased.

Texas-based University Partners announced in 2005 it would build, own and operate a 162-unit, 496-bed student housing development near the University of Alabama at Birmingham, at 14th Street and Third Avenue South.

The company said its one-bedroom floor plans have sold out and that response is higher than it initially projected.

While the development is close to UAB, Byrne said several students from Samford University have signed leases. Roommate matching is available for the development's two- and four-bedroom units, she said.

University House will feature streetscape, interior courtyards and a parking garage.

A similar project by the company also is underway in Baton Rouge, near Louisiana State University. According to its Web site, the company operates more than 17,000 beds in 10 states.

University Partners hopes the Birmingham project will help to further revitalize the area with additional housing and retail, said Monica Byrne, a spokeswoman for the company.

[Blazer85]

Driving down 7th Avenue today, I was pleasantly surprised to see a vacant store-front building with a "Coming Soon" sign indicating that a new, authentic Thai restaurant would open just next to the Oriental Market at the corner of 7th Avenue and 22nd Street South.

Yay for multiculturalism downtown!

Looks like it will be run as a unique place rather than a franchise. In my experience, when it comes to ethnic foods, it's these type of places that are much more authentic.

[Blazer85]

BJCC board approves entertainment district deal
Posted by Birmingham News staff April 27, 2007 3:07 PM

The Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center board of directors this afternoon unanimously approved the construction of a multimillion-dollar entertainment district next to the BJCC convention center.

The board agreed to a 99-year deal with the company that manages Memphis' Beale Street. Under the terms of the deal, Performa will build and manage the district, paying the BJCC 5 percent of the district's gross income and 50 percent of net income after expenses related to debt.

BJCC officials said construction could begin as soon as this fall.

Stan Diel

[Blazer85]

Here's an interesting tidbit I found... this was posted a couple days ago on April 25th...

Downtown Notebook: Homegrown entertainment?

Everybody’s entertainment attention this year has been focused on Performa’s proposal to build a new entertainment district at the BJCC. However, the Weekly has learned over the last few weeks of another attempt to establish an entertainment district in downtown Birmingham.

Over the past few months, Joseph McClure, the owner and founder of Joseph McClure Commercial Real Estate, has been quietly pitching a 12-page proposal to prospective downtown business owners and current downtown property owners. The gist of the idea is to recruit at least eight new businesses to a core area downtown – roughly from First to Third Avenue North along 20th Street and from 18th to 20 Street on Third Avenue North – and have them all open at the same time.

McClure has thus far declined to comment to the Weekly about his proposal, saying he wants to wait until he has more details finalized. His main goal right now, he says, is compiling a list of potential properties – with willing property owners – for prospective business owners to view.

His 12-page proposal explains quite a bit, however. One thing is for certain – McClure doesn’t want this project to be viewed as a competitor with the BJCC plan.

“This concept has worked for years in [Five] Points South, and is doing wonders for the Lakeview area,” McClure wrote in his information packet. “There is little doubt that it will work at the newly proposed civic center development. And it will work in Downtown Birmingham, too … This can become the tie that binds Five Points South to the new civic center development plan.”

McClure’s ultimate goal, according to his proposal, is to “create a downtown nightlife featuring an upscale multi-venue entertainment area with food, coffee shops, music, theatre, art galleries, cocktail lounges and general after-hours entertainment.”

There are sure to be plenty of questions McClure will have to answer once he reveals his plan publicly – concerning how he plans to get various property owners on board, for one thing – but he may have picked a prime spot to promote late-night revitalization. What little after-hours activity exists downtown exists around the area he has targeted. What remains to be seen is whether McClure’s plan can build on that modest foundation.

Pick up a copy of tomorrow’s Birmingham Weekly for a full story on McClure’s plan.

[Blazer85]

Here's a longer, more in-depth piece from Birmingham Weekly on the proposal...

Organic entertainment
Real estate player has new plans for after-hours Birmingham
By: Phillip Jordan

The Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex isn’t the only portion of downtown that could become a bastion of late-night options. If Joseph McClure has his way, the intersection of Third Avenue North and 20th Street will also become an entertainment destination.

Over the past few months, McClure, the founder and owner of Joseph McClure Commercial Real Estate, has been pitching 12-page proposals to prospective downtown business owners and current downtown property owners. His plan calls for at least eight new businesses to open simultaneously in an effort to help downtown’s retail and entertainment offerings catch up with the area’s residential market.

McClure’s ultimate goal, according to his informational packet, is to “create a downtown nightlife featuring an upscale multi-venue entertainment area with food, coffee shops, music, theatre, art galleries, cocktail lounges and general after-hours entertainment.”

People familiar with McClure’s idea call it a more organic approach to building an entertainment district compared to the from-scratch BJCC plan. McClure declined to comment to the Weekly about his proposal, saying he would prefer to wait until after he finalizes more details – including a list of potential properties for new businesses.

The 12-page proposal making the rounds among downtown business folks says plenty, however. In it, McClure claims businesses have failed to meet the demands of downtown’s residents and workers because there has been no coordination or strategy involved in how (and where) new stores open.

McClure is offering himself as the conduit to achieve this sea change. Once all details are made public, it will be up to business owners to determine if his plan is truly organic or simply dictatorial. It also remains to be seen whether his plan can work to link various entertainment districts in the city, or if it will become simply another competitor for limited local resources.

“This concept has worked for years in [Five] Points South, and is doing wonders for the Lakeview area,” McClure writes. “There is little doubt that it will work at the newly proposed civic center development. And it will work in Downtown Birmingham, too … This can become the tie that binds Five Points South to the new civic center development plan.”


Defining the district
According to McClure’s documents, the initial boundaries of the district would stretch along Third Avenue North between 18th and 20th Streets, and on 20th Street from First to Third Avenue North. His plan refers to the area simply as the Downtown Birmingham Entertainment District.

It’s easy to see why McClure might have chosen these few blocks for infill development. There are numerous ground-floor vacancies within these boundaries. The city of Birmingham’s online mapping reveals there are more than 20 vacant, ground-floor spaces available in the district – in all manner of shape or disrepair – that could fit McClure’s guidelines.

However, if you take a walk around this area of town after sunset, you’re still more likely to find activity here than anywhere in points further north downtown – or points further south across the railroad tracks in midtown.

What nighttime entertainment options do exist downtown, exist here. The Alabama Theatre, McWane Science Center’s IMAX Theatre and the live-performance Summerfest Theatre can all be found in this area. (Fundraising for the Lyric Theatre’s renovation is also underway.) There are restaurants such as Café Dupont, Roma’s, Lyric Hot Dog & Burgers and Surin of Thailand, as well as several other light-fare lunch spots.

Safari Cup stays open some nights and another nighttime coffee house, Java & Jams, is scheduled to open later this summer. Bars such as Speakeasy 1920 and Metro Bistro are nearby, and there are even a handful of shops. McClure has even moved his own office to the neighborhood, renovating a building along 20th Street that is now filled with historic mementos of Birmingham.

It’s a modest foundation, but according to McClure’s research, it’s enough. Adding new businesses in this area makes sense, McClure argues, if they all open simultaneously.

“There must me an influx of a minimum of eight new specific businesses,” he writes, “which will construct their space and open their doors at approximately the same time.”


What’ll ya have?
With his company taking the lead on this project, McClure has a vested interest in seeing his plan succeed. He plans to provide information on available properties, provide as-built plans for each available space, coordinate implementation and find financing options. McClure Commercial Real Estate would compile floor plans, cost analysis, title work surveys and environmental studies. JMCRE would also handle marketing and advertising.

Parking availability, late-night public transportation, increased security patrols and financial help are just a few of the areas in which McClure will need assistance from either city government or from private investors. Carol Clarke, director of economic development for the city of Birmingham, says McClure has contacted her about the plan, but they haven’t begun seriously discussing what the city could offer. She indicated that the city’s primary interest right now remains with encouraging entertainment growth around the BJCC district and the Railroad Reservation Park.

“But his plan sounds exciting,” Clarke says. “I don’t think we’re a one-entertainment-district town by any means. The more things we have in the city center, the better.”

Clarke adds that McClure’s greatest challenge would be getting so many different property owners on board. “It’s a lot of different pieces to get together,” Clarke says. “It’s a lot of other people’s property.”

In his packet, McClure writes that he will persuade property owners to give qualified prospects free options on their space while leases or contracts are determined – that way prospective business owners won’t have to fear they could get stuck going it alone.

In return, McClure gets to guide and approve developments in the district.

“In order to make this District a cohesive whole, rather than an aimless hodgepodge of establishments, a tangible theme must flow through it all,” McClure writes.

To achieve that desired continuity, McClure’s notes mandate that a “District Committee,” be formed. “There is no intent to exclude any particular type of operations but it is also not the intent to end up with a group of homogenous businesses catering to one specific group,” McClure writes. “Birmingham is a wonderfully diverse city, and this District should reflect that.”

In the meantime, downtown observers await more public details from McClure. A new website for Joseph McClure Commercial Real Estate is being designed at www.jmcre.net, and McClure says he hopes to have property listings and other information ready within the next few weeks.

“There are few of us left who still have hope for the retail sector of Downtown Birmingham. Seldom do I meet someone from Birmingham who can visualize the potential and envision the possibilities of a vibrant city center,” McClure writes near the end of his proposal.

“I plan to start modestly; I am simply looking for eight entrepreneurs who share my vision, and property owners willing to cooperate.”

[Blazer85]

Interesting...

New hotel coming to downtown, insiders say
Project to include 255 rooms, spa and restaurant
Sunday, April 29, 2007
DAWN KENT News staff writer

A luxury hotel is planned for Birmingham at the site of the 17-story former Regions Financial Corp. headquarters at Fifth Avenue and 20th Street North, a source with knowledge of the project said.

Details about the project are expected to be announced Monday at a 2 p.m. news conference. A news release scheduling the event said representatives from Harbert Realty Services, the city of Birmingham and others will unveil plans "concerning a major project to transform a downtown property."

A major hotel company is expected to operate at the site, with a restaurant, spa, ballrooms and 255 guest rooms, sources said.

The new hotel would complement Birmingham's corporate offices, boost traffic for downtown merchants and raise the city's profile in the convention business.

The project also represents a return to the site's roots as the home of the original Tutwiler Hotel.

Regions, which merged with across-the-street rival AmSouth Bancorp late last year, put its old headquarters up for sale in March. The bank's base has since moved to the glass tower occupied for decades by AmSouth.

At the time, Regions said it expected to maintain a significant presence in its old building into 2008. It could not be determined Saturday whether Regions still owns the building or how much investment will be involved in the project.

Harbert Realty is part of the Harbert business umbrella tied to Raymond J. Harbert, son of the late construction magnate John M. Harbert III.

Efforts to reach Harbert Realty officials were unsuccessful.

Officials with the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Birmingham Convention and Visitors Bureau said news of the project is a welcome surprise.

"I think our hotel market is ready for a good solid expansion, and I think the location of that one would be great," said Russell Cunningham, president and CEO of the chamber.

The nearby offices of Regions, Wachovia Corp. and Compass Bancshares, along with the centers of city and county government and a host of law firms, make up a "terrific nucleus of business" that attracts corporate travelers, Cunningham said.

Enticing conventions:

The new hotel would aid those travelers, as well as people who visit the city for conventions, because the site is within walking distance of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, he said.

Now, about 850 hotel guest rooms are within walking distance of the BJCC that are available for convention visitors, said Dilcy Hilley, vice president of marketing for the convention and visitors bureau.

While Birmingham's convention business is growing, more hotel space is needed to keep competing with other cities that also are trying to woo the profitable gatherings, she said.

"There are groups that would love to meet in Birmingham, but we just can't accommodate their guest needs," Hilley said.

Convention and Visitors Bureau officials would like to have as many as 2,000 guest rooms within walking distance of the BJCC available for conventions, but 1,200 to 1,500 rooms would boost Birmingham's position, she said.

Available hotel space, specifically space that's convenient to a convention complex, is a consistent trait among cities that have growing downtowns, said Barry Copeland, the chamber's executive vice president.

A new hotel also means more pedestrian traffic for downtown businesses, such as restaurants, he said.

A building downtown:

There has been an ongoing building boom of hotel space in the city.

As of December, developers were spending nearly $100 million to build or renovate hotel space downtown and in Southside, for a total of more than 1,500 new or spruced-up rooms.

Recent hotel projects include a $9 million transformation of the current Tutwiler Hotel at 2021 Park Place, which officially became a member of the Hampton Inn & Suites brand earlier this month.

Additional hotel and office space also is planned for the former Federal Reserve property along 18th Street between Fourth and Fifth avenues North.

In the Civil Rights District, a developer is proposing hotel space as part of a renovation of the A.G. Gaston Motel. A hotel also is a part of plans for a new downtown entertainment district.

The original Tutwiler Hotel opened in 1914 on the site of the existing Regions Bank headquarters. It was a showplace of the city through the 1950s but was hurt by retail and residential flight to the suburbs.

It was demolished in 1974 to make way for the Regions building.

E-mail: dkent@bhamnews.com --

[mobyhead]

Interesting...

Regions joined Harbert Realty Services and Concord Hospitality Enterprises in announcing plans to convert the Regions Plaza at 5th Avenue North and 20th Street in downtown Birmingham, Ala., into a $50 million, 4-Diamond quality hotel. Harbert and Concord have formed a partnership to develop the hotel.

Plans are for the 400 Regions associates who have offices in Regions Plaza to move to the Regions Center later this year. Once unoccupied, the current Regions Plaza property will be completely renovated inside and out, and Concord Harbert officials estimate that construction will begin in 2008. The property will provide luxury accommodations, create new tax revenues and jobs for Birmingham and increase the city’s attraction as a business and convention center.

The facility will provide guests with the ambiance of a boutique hotel. It will feature conference and banquet facilities, a full-service restaurant and bar, coffee shop, fitness center and pool, concierge services, valet and self parking facilities and a business center. Concord Harbert Birmingham Hotel, LLC, the formal name of the hotel partnership, values the project at more than $50 million. Concord Harbert has selected Birmingham-based Hoar Construction Company, LLC as general contractors and the Birmingham office of Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood as its engineering firm.

Harbert’s partner in the investment is Raleigh-based Concord Hospitality Enterprises, owner and operator of some 50 North American hotel properties including brands such as Renaissance and Marriott.

[Levelup]

Can someone in here please direct me to some piccys of Birmingham?
I've aquired a new chat buddy from there and i was wondering what your city looks like.
I couldnt find any pics from a cursory search etc.

Thanx in advance :)

[LSyd]

Can someone in here please direct me to some piccys of Birmingham?
I've aquired a new chat buddy from there and i was wondering what your city looks like.
I couldnt find any pics from a cursory search etc.

Thanx in advance :)

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/search.php?searchid=1073794

lots of my photo threads of Birmingham (US and some of Birmingham England) are still here on ssc.

-

[Jerome]

Hey Guys - why is so violent down there????

http://www.al.com/news/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/news/1195464066242670.xml&coll=2&thispage=3
Birmingham, Alabama, listed as nation's sixth most dangerous city
Detroit No. 1 but group's methods hit
Monday, November 19, 2007

Birmingham remains the nation's sixth most dangerous city for the second straight year, according to a study by a private research group that police immediately criticized.
The No. 6 spot in the rankings stems from the work of publisher CQ Press, a unit of Congressional Quarterly Inc., which studied 378 cities with a population of at least 75,000 people.
The 14th annual "City Crime Rankings: Crime in Metropolitan America," is based on the FBI's Sept. 24 crime statistics report.

The report compared per-capita rates for homicide, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary and auto theft. Each crime category was considered separately and weighted based on its seriousness, CQ Press said.
Through Sunday, there have been 79 homicides in Birmingham this year. There were 109 homicides in 2006.
The study drew harsh criticism even before it came out. The American Society of Criminology launched a pre-emptive strike Friday, issuing a statement attacking it as "an irresponsible misuse" of crime data.
Efforts to reach Birmingham police Chief Annetta Nunn and other police officials, were unsuccessful. Efforts to reach incoming police Chief A.C. Roper also were unsuccessful.
In another blow to the Motor City's tarnished image, Detroit pushed past St. Louis to become the nation's most dangerous city, according to a private research group's controversial analysis, released Sunday, of annual FBI crime statistics.
Last year's crime leader, St. Louis, fell to No. 2. Another Michigan city, Flint, ranked third, followed by Oakland, Calif.; Camden, N.J.; Birmingham; North Charleston, S.C.; Memphis; Richmond, Calif.; and Cleveland.
The study ranked Mission Viejo, Calif., as the safest U.S. city, followed by Clarkstown, N.Y.; Brick Township, N.J.; Amherst, N.Y.; and Sugar Land, Texas.

[Eagle Empire]

What's the latest in Birmingham? I haven't been down there for so long. WHat are they building right now?

[Blazer85]

They're giving away a free MRI to the team that wins this rap contest... Cooper Green Hospital is currently 7th but has a ways to go to move into 1st. Help them out. They could really use it. Keep in mind. You can vote once per day per computer.

http://www.winanmri.com/index.php?view=popularity

[envgraph]

Birmingham's Brookwood Pharmaceuticals adding 350 jobs in $40 million expansion

Company adding 350 jobs in $40 million expansion
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
BARNETT WRIGHT
News staff writer
Brookwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. will invest $40 million and create 350 jobs in a pharmaceutical manufacturing and training facility in Birmingham, a city official said Monday.

The city of Birmingham will be asked to provide $1.5 million in incentives on the project, said Tracey Morant Adams, the city's economic development director. Jefferson County will consider $1 million in incentives.

Brookwood has been a valued partner for the city and the expansion is an endorsement of Birmingham as a good place to operate a business, Adams said.

Brookwood has nearly 30 projects under way with major drug and medical-device companies and smaller customers to develop treatments in the diabetes, cancer, heart disease, orthopedics, nervous system and alcoholism markets.

Currently, the drug company has about 80 employees at its location on Tom Martin Drive in the Oxmoor Valley area. Adams said the expansion will bring approximately 100 new jobs into the city in the first phase and the rest in phases over as many as four years.

"In addition to the new jobs, this is broadening us as a health and science sector," Adams said. "It's a big deal."

Adams said Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford will discuss the project at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

The Jefferson County Commission's Finance Committee on Monday set a March 25 public hearing to consider the economic development agreement with Brookwood.

"We are very excited about it," said Commission President Bettye Fine Collins. "They were trying to decide between another state and they chose us. This is an example of cooperation between the city, county and state."

Efforts to reach officials with the Alabama Development Office were unsuccessful.

Brookwood President Art Tipton said the company received tremendous support from the governor, the mayor and county commissioners. "They have been very helpful," he said. "We are excited about the support we have obtained."

The jobs, which will be located in the old Saks Inc. headquarters off Lakeshore Parkway, include technology and senior-level positions, officials said.

Last summer, Birmingham's Southern Research Institute sold Brookwood to Eden Prairie, Minn.-based SurModics Inc., which agreed to pay $40 million plus an additional $22 million if certain milestones are met. Brookwood remained in Birmingham after the deal.

Brookwood started drug formulation research at Southern Research in the mid-1970s and was spun off as a for-profit company in 2005.

It has 20 patents for its injectable implant technology that uses biodegradable polymers to deliver medicine in time-controlled injections. About 60,000 of the particles can fit into a grain of salt.

E-mail: bwright@bhamnews.com

[envgraph]

Ridgeline production set for'09 in Lincoln
Pickup joins Odyssey, Pilot at plant
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
WILLIAM THORNTON
News staff writer
LINCOLN - Honda officials confirmed Monday the Ridgeline pickup truck will begin rolling off the automaker's assembly lines here early next year.

Gov. Bob Riley and Honda's Alabama President Hiroshi Sasamoto drew back a black drape at an announcement ceremony Monday to unveil a silver Ridgeline to an applauding crowd at the plant.

Riley said the Ridgeline announcement, coupled with news that Mobile will produce Air Force refueling tankers and the Shoals area is getting a plant to produce rail cars, illustrates Alabama's expanding industrial might.

"We are producing the best products in the world, and this shows you can come to Alabama for anything, whether it be planes, trains or automobiles," he said.

The Ridgeline news was expected since Honda's 4,500 Lincoln employees were informed last month. But the announcement represents the latest milestone for Honda Manufacturing of Alabama, which has kept up a steady cycle of adding new products and plant expansions since it began production in Lincoln in November 2001.

"Every year or so, something comes up and we have to share our good news with our friends," said Chuck Ernst, plant manager.

Honda has invested $1.4 billion in Lincoln since announcing plans to build in Alabama in 1999. Company officials said they do not expect significant new hiring to start production of the Ridgeline, and the plant's announced capacity won't expand beyond the 300,000-a-year mark.

Company officials said they haven't yet determined whether production will be ratcheted back on the Odyssey or Pilot to make room for Ridgeline, adding the decision will be dictated by market demand. Last year, the Talladega County plant turned out 313,957 vehicles, above the announced production ceiling.

Honda, which is wrapping up a $64.5 million project to add steel blanking operations to the Lincoln operation, won't require a plant addition to make the pickup.

Rick Schostek, a senior vice president for Honda, said the Lincoln plant will need only some new equipment and training for employees to begin making the Ridgeline. Ernst said the plant will receive about 50 dies from Canada and will need to recalibrate robotic welding machines.

For workers, the truck will present a change of pace because its plastic pickup bed is a marked difference from the carpeted interiors of the Odyssey and Pilot.

But by the time production is ready to begin, company officials anticipate an eight minute interruption on their No. 1 assembly line - when work converts from the Odyssey to the Ridgeline.

The Ridgeline, introduced in 2005, is Honda's only pickup model. It includes a cab and bed that are one unit, with a trunk at the bottom of the bed.

Last year, Honda sold 42,795 Ridgelines. Prices for the 2008 model start at $28,000.

Honda officials in Lincoln said Monday they were anxious to begin producing a pickup.

"I've always wanted us to do a pickup truck," Ernst said. "The news has been well-received in the plant, and we think it will be that way everywhere."

The news struck a chord with Riley.

"It's about time somebody brought a pickup to Alabama," said Riley, who is from Ashland. "In Clay County, we understand pickup trucks a lot better than automobiles."

The truck, which is now being manufactured in Canada, will join the Odyssey minivan and Pilot sport utility as the plant's products. Lincoln will be the sole source for all three models.

E-mail: wthornton@bhamnews.com

[envgraph]

Price tag rises on Birmingham airport terminal upgrade
$193.3 million estimate up 14% from '07
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
CHARLES R. McCAULEY
News staff writer
Birmingham airport officials said Monday a project to modernize and expand the 35-year-old terminal at Alabama's largest airport will cost $193.3 million, a figure that is nearly 14 percent higher than a year ago.

Upgrading the building to meet current and future demands is the largest line item in the five-year capital improvement budget approved Monday by the Birmingham Airport Authority.

The terminal was last renovated in 1993 and the estimate for the upgrade is up from $170 million a year ago and $161 million two years ago.

Spokeswoman Toni Bast said rising construction costs have a role in the revised cost projection. A definite price will result when architects complete a design and airport officials finalize negotiations with airlines on the renovation.

Airport managers list 19 other projects in the $355.3 million development plan for fiscal years 2009-2013. Among those under way are:

Land acquisitions under a noise reduction program, $54.7 million.

Build air cargo aircraft parking apron and a new roadway from Airport Highway, $21.1 million.

Installing a security surveillance system, $4.5 million.

Other projects will get started when federal funding is allocated. These include:

Acquiring land for more remote vehicle parking, $18 million.

Rehabilitating the north-south runway, $11.1 million.

Constructing a new maintenance building, $10 million.

The terminal upgrade calls for a centralized security checkpoint area, as is a new concourse for future international flights. Expanding toward the airfield side will allow passengers on the security side to visit each concourse.

Improvements in baggage screening devices and claim area, food and retail concessions, and parking deck elevators will be included.

Airport officials hope to begin construction this year after they and the air carriers agree on changes.

Fees passengers pay for flight takeoffs and landings and revenue from bonds will be used to pay for the terminal redesign.

Federal grants will finance most of the other active projects.

Also approved Monday was the budget to spend $30.4 million for operating expenses and revenue bond payments in fiscal 2009.

The $60 million operating budget proposed for fiscal 2009 shows $33.8 million in revenues and $26.2 million in Federal Aviation Administration grants, passenger fees and interest income for capital improvements.

Projected operating revenue is up 1.4 percent from the current budget and operating expenses are 1.7 percent higher.

"Parking deck revenues continue to be our largest source of (operating) revenue," said Finance Director Walker Johnson. Airport managers expect parking to contribute more, he said, because the daily long-term parking rate rose to $10 from $8.

E-mail: cmccauley@bhamnews.com

[envgraph]

Eventually Birmingham's population growth is going to catch up with the economic prosperity of Greater Birmingham...

Strong hiring pace seen for area
1 in 3 employers plan to hire more starting in April
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
WILLIAM THORNTON
News staff writer
A survey shows Birmingham area employers expect to hire at a strong pace between April and June, defying a national trend that is seeing companies jettison jobs amid worsening economic conditions.

The Manpower Employment Outlook Survey, which is being released today, shows that 33 percent of the Birmingham area companies interviewed plan to expand their payrolls in the second quarter. In contrast, just 3 percent of the area companies surveyed expect to reduce their payrolls in the spring and early summer, Manpower spokesman Chad Brewer said.

The Manpower survey was done prior to last Friday's federal employment report that showed the nation shed 63,000 jobs in February, the highest level in nearly five years. It also was taken before Alabama posted its highest unemployment numbers since 2005, with January's rate rising to 4 percent.

Chad Carson, assistant professor of management at Samford University's Brock School of Business, said the Birmingham area has managed to insulate itself from some of the stresses affecting the national economy. Two factors working in the area's favor are a committed workforce and a prosperous regional economy.

"Alabama as a whole has done well, and to pinpoint it to one thing is difficult," Carson said. "If you look at the Gulf Coast area, at Birmingham, there continues to be a demand for jobs. We are functioning well in the climate we have."

The Manpower survey shows a little more than half of Birmingham area businesses - 57 percent - plan to maintain current staff levels in the second quarter, while 7 percent are not certain of their hiring plans.

Area employers are generally more optimistic than last year, when 30 percent of companies surveyed anticipated increased staffing while 10 percent expect job cuts, Brewer said.

"Area hiring levels appear to be stronger," he said.

The national picture is much bleaker. Employers around America foresee a hiring decline for the second quarter, reflecting a wait-and-see approach in uncertain times, said Manpower CEO Jeffrey A. Joerres. "However, the survey data points to a gradual and measured downshift, not a sudden and overwhelming change," Joerres said.

Of the 14,000 U.S. businesses surveyed, 26 percent said they planned to expand their job rolls between April and June, while 9 percent expect to fire or lay off workers. The last time the outlook was this dim was in early 2004, Manpower said.

For the coming quarter in Birmingham, job prospects appear best in durable and non-durable goods manufacturing, education, services and public administration, Manpower found. Employers in the wholesale and retail trades voiced mixed hiring intentions in the survey.

Hiring in construction, transportation, public utilities and financial services and real estate is expected to remain unchanged.

E-mail: wthornton@bhamnews.com

[Stuck in Bama]

Mayor Langford proposes up to $20 million tax boost for Children's Hospital expansion Council upset to not be part of decision
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
ANNA VELASCO and JOSEPH D. BRYANT
News staff writers

Children's Hospital could get as much as $20 million from the city of Birmingham toward its planned $450 million expansion through a development proposal announced Tuesday by Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford.

The hospital wants to build a facility just north of its current location that would house most of its 275 licensed beds, a much larger emergency department, operating rooms and other services. Children's also plans to ask the state for more licensed beds as part of the Certificate of Need application the hospital will file with state health regulators in the next few months, said Mike Warren, Children's chief executive officer.

The expansion is still in the design phase, the price tag is a rough estimate and how many additional beds are needed is uncertain. But Warren said the project will be huge.

"This will be the largest single health care project in the state of Alabama," said Warren, who took over as CEO on Jan. 1.

Most of the project will be paid for through bonds the hospital will offer. Children's also has begun a $50 million capital campaign to raise charitable donations for the building, which is planned next to the Children's Harbor building on the block the hospital owns between Fifth and Sixth Avenues South and 16th and 17th Streets.

Warren said the proposed partnership with the city is an important show of support by local government.

"We're awfully glad for the moral support, and we're doubly glad for the financial support," Warren said.

Langford's proposal involves the city sharing with Children's the additional occupational taxes generated by the expansion - from both the construction jobs during the building and the added personnel after the facility opens.

$20 million maximum:

Warren said certain costs associated with the construction, such as permit fees, also could be split. The most Children's could benefit is $20 million, and the timeline during which the deal would run has not been set.

Warren estimates the expansion will create between 1,500 and 1,700 construction jobs during the three-year building process and as many as 500 hospital jobs over time. Children's employs 3,500 people today.

"It's a sharing mechanism," Warren said. "The city would have additional revenue from day one."

Langford said the plan is a model for the type of public-private partnership he intends to replicate with other businesses in the city.

Council unaware:

But the proposal is not a done deal.

The plan has to be approved by the City Council first, and most members of the council learned of the proposal moments before the press conference Langford held at Children's Hospital Tuesday morning. Langford asked the council to recess its meeting to join him at the event, but the council declined.

"It was disrespectful to the council that we haven't participated in the process," said Steven Hoyt, chairman of the council's economic development committee. "You're depending on the council to do their part for this project. Just as others were brought into the early planning of this project, where was the City Council? It just seems as if the mayor is deciding on what's good for Birmingham as opposed to mayor and council deciding on that."

Council President Carole Smitherman said she favors helping Children's Hospital, but she wants more answers before the council could vote on the project.

"I need details as to the number of jobs created, how long it will take to reach the requested $20 million and is there some work that the city can perform in lieu of a $20 million request?" Smitherman said. "We need to get all of our questions answered."

Langford told the council that the beauty of the development plan is that the city would keep the current level of occupational taxes and is pledging only a portion of what will be generated through the growth.

"We don't have to come up, out of the general fund, with any dollars," Langford said.

At the press conference, Langford said he would have additional announcements soon involving similar development projects, including one that could safeguard 1,000 jobs in Birmingham.

Physicians Medical Center Carraway, responsible for about 1,000 jobs, has asked the city for a rebate of occupational taxes collected from people who work at the hospital.

If Children's does not have opposition or delays through the state approval process, construction could start in the first quarter of 2009. The new hospital would open in early 2012. The first step would be in December, demolishing two buildings on the block where Children's wants to build. The Children's Harbor building will remain on that block.

Children's will keep its current hospital after the new building opens and use it for both clinical and support space, making a hospital campus that covers two city blocks.

"This is a generational project," Warren said. "This is not one that's going to be done again for the next 25 to 30 years." News staff writer Erin Stock contributed to this report.

[envgraph]

That's a a lot of good news for a thread that hasn't seen activity since December. I hope we can handle it.

[haldcottingham]

I applaud any and all efforts throughout the state to better it's self. It will always be my home. Good luck to Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, Huntsville, Tuscaloosa, Dothan and all other communities throughout the state with all of your economic endeavors.

[Stuck in Bama]

Blue Cross will build $55 million data center at
JeffMet industrial park
Posted by Dawn Kent --
Birmingham News
June 13, 2008 9:30 AM

Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama plans to build a $55 million data center at Jefferson Metropolitan Park Lakeshore in Birmingham's Oxmoor Valley.



The board of the Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority today authorized the sale of about 25 acres in the park to the company.

The 55,000-square-foot data center is expected to be occupied in 2010. The number of jobs tied to the project has not been determined.

EGS Commercial Real Estate is representing Blue Cross in the deal.

Earlier this month, Southern Co. announced plans to build a data center at Jeff Met Lakeshore. Companies have found the park attractive for such operations because of the availability of infrastructure, including fiber optics. They also cite the ability to provide a security buffer around their facilities.

[Infoman]

GREAT For you guys and for the Econmy.

[envgraph]

Frankly, I wouldn't be surprised if Lakeshore takes off like the 280 Corridor. It has plenty of undeveloped land; it's convenient to Homewood, downtown and Hoover and with BCBS, Southern Co., Brookwood Pharma and possible Solvay - I think it's headed for a boom. :okay:

[Infoman]

http://www.al.com/business/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/business/1218788156235470.xml&coll=2

Hotel slated near Barber, Bass Pro
cover youre eye's G-MAN we would not won't you to get map at the B.P. part. :nuts:

[Infoman]

http://birmingham.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2007/12/17/story2.html

A old story but im use to seeing Boom not explosion, they really most be ready to boom badly.

[envgraph]

Continued investment at UAB :)

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/large_wallace.jpg
Image Credit: al.com


University of Alabama System Board of Trustees approve $30 million renovation for UAB's Wallace Tumor Institute
Posted by Hannah Wolfson -- Birmingham News September 19, 2008 6:10 PM
Categories: Breaking News
The Wallace Tumor Institute at UAB would get a $30 million facelift that includes walls of windows, a new lobby and new lab spaces under a plan approved today by the University of Alabama System Board of Trustees.

"This will make a much more efficient, much more attractive building," Jim James, executive director of facilities for the University of Alabama at Birmingham, told board members.

The plan calls for renovating the entire six-story building, which sits in the heart of the medical district on the corner of Sixth Avenue South and 19th Street.

Construction would be completed in two phases so the radiation and oncology programs housed in the basement and first floor could stay in place until a radiation oncology building currently under construction is completed, which is expected for 2010, James said.

Most of the funding for the Wallace Tumor Institute renovation -- $28 million -- would come from state bonds, the remainder from UAB's physical plant budget

[envgraph]

This thread is about to become more active. There's a lot of good things happening in the ham and I'm bringing it front and center.

[envgraph]

Hotel projects topping $194 million are slated for downtown Birmingham. If all the projects are completed, at least 1,309 hotel rooms will be
added downtown, along with 1,280 renovated ones.

DOWNTOWN RENAISSANCE

The Marriott Renaissance is to include 255 rooms, spa and restaurant and will be located in the existing 17 story Regions Tower. Construction has also began to double the size of a downtown parking deck to accommodate the $50 million hotel.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/ren.jpg

Image of the 8 story deck expansion

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC__0020.jpg

[envgraph]

Construction continues on the 150-room, $26.5 million Hyatt Place Hotel.
The new hotel is situated at 20th Street and Fourth Avenue South.

4th Avenue South view
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC__0019.jpg

20th Street view
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC__0017.jpg

[Infoman]

$26 close $27 million for a 6 level Hyatt Place, that's crazy.

[envgraph]

$26 close $27 million for a 6 level Hyatt Place, that's crazy.

I've heard it's going to be really nice - a lot of very high end finishes. I'm expecting it will do great business with its proximity to the financial district and medical district.

[Cashville]

For over $175,000 a room it better have some nice finishes.

[envgraph]

Here's an article:

Hyatt Place helps lead hotel boom in the CBD
Deals of the Year # 7
Birmingham Business Journal - by Ty West Staff


Although it won't open for business until next year, Hyatt Place Hotel is already establishing its niche.

Located on the site of the former Tom Williams Cadillac Dealership on the northeast corner of 20th Street and 4th Avenue South, the six-floor, 150-room hotel will serve both UAB and the central business district.

"We were thrilled to be able to attract Hyatt to the urban landscape," said Corporate Realty Development partner Robert Simon.

"It's an ideal spot, because 20th Street is a major connector between north and south. We've also negotiated a long-term parking contract so there's a deck already in place."

The $26.5 million hotel is currently under construction and is scheduled to open in the first quarter of 2009. The project is being built on a redeveloped brownfield in the city center.

Corporate Realty Development, working with members of Welden Field Group, wanted to build a select-service hotel with a modern look that would blend with existing properties.

Offering a high-value product at a reasonable cost was also key, according to Simon.

The hotel will be one of several in Birmingham to open under Hyatt Corp.'s new Hyatt Place brand.

An AmeriSuites on U.S. 280 in Inverness was converted to a Hyatt Place in July 2007, and that was followed by the conversion of another AmeriSuites on Alabama 150 in Hoover.

"We've always looked at the hotel market in the city center as a pebble in the pond - there is a ripple effect," Simon said.

A ripple effect already seems to be occuring, as Hyatt Place is one of several hotel projects in and around Birmingham's central business district.

A Marriott Renaissance Hotel is slated for the former Regions Financial Corp. headquarters and Melaver Inc. has proposed a 200-room, four-star hotel in the former Federal Reserve Bank.

The city of Birmingham also recently approved a $1 million loan for a developer to begin construction on a Residence Inn on the Southside.

That's not to mention the hotels that are planned to accompany the proposed entertainment district, which is slated to be built near the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex in the near future.

"We haven't had quality hotel rooms in the area, so people stayed elsewhere and had to drive in to conduct their business. That won't be the case anymore," Simon said.

"We're pleased we can fill the void."

[Vulcan]

Mercedes-Benz supplier Kamtek plans to invest over $310 million, create 400 new jobs at plant bought from Ogihara

Kamtek bought Ogihara plant, plans to expandWednesday, July 09, 2008 MICHAEL TOMBERLINNews staff writer
A Mercedes-Benz supplier is expanding in Valley East Industrial Park with plans to invest more than $310 million and create more than 400 jobs.

Kamtek Inc., a subsidiary of Cosma International, part of Canada's Magna International Inc., is a major global player in the auto supplier industry. Kamtek has purchased the Ogihara plant in the park at 3900 Pinson Valley Parkway and will continue stamping parts for the Mercedes plant in Vance as well as pursue new work with other automakers.

"This is really a great story in that you are not only retaining 280 jobs that are there, but you now have the potential to grow to almost 700 jobs," said Patrick Murphy, vice president with the Metropolitan Development Board.

The Birmingham Industrial Development Board approved tax abatements for Kamtek earlier this week.

"This will be very significant in the company's plans to expand the former Ogihara facility, purchased several weeks ago by Kamtek's parent company, Cosma Body Systems," said Tracey Morant Adams, director of the Birmingham mayor's office of economic development.

Adams said a final value for the incentives have not been determined and the company is pursuing additional incentives from the state and Jefferson County.

"This is exactly the type of economic development project that we want to have in the city of Birmingham, providing more high paying jobs and more revenue for the city," said Mayor Larry Langford.

The 460,000-square-foot Birmingham plant, which was part of Japanese stamping company Ogihara Corp., had $140 million in sales last year.

Ogihara was Jefferson County's first auto parts supplier to locate after Mercedes announced plans for its initial Alabama factory. The Ogihara plant had numerous expansions and capital improvements before being sold earlier this year.

[envgraph]

^^ That's what I'm talking about!

[Vulcan]

SurModics says Brookwood Pharmaceutical expansion will create 300 jobs

SurModics Inc. today formally announced an expansion project for subsidiary Brookwood Pharmaceuticals of Birmingham that is expected to add about 300 new jobs to the city in the next three to five years.

Brookwood, a drug-delivery company, has acquired the former Saks Inc. headquarters off Lakeshore Parkway. Investment in the expansion is estimated at $30 million. The move will allow Brookwood to add manufacturing of final products to its existing research and development work in Birmingham.

The project will get incentives from the city and county, as reported last month in The News.

[Vulcan]

Southern Co. planning to build new data facility in Birmingham

Southern Co. hopes to have new facility up, running in late 2009Sunday, June 01, 2008 DAWN KENTNews staff writer
Southern Co., the Atlanta-based parent of Alabama Power Co., plans to build a data center in Birmingham that will help ensure the reliability of the utility company's services across the Southeast.

Plans call for an office facility that covers 72,000 to 75,000 square feet at a site in Jefferson Metropolitan Park Lakeshore in the Oxmoor Valley. Officials are currently completing due diligence before exercising an option on the property, said Perry Stowe, Southern Co. project manager.

The data center is expected to house about 100 workers, predominantly Southern Co. employees who now work at Alabama Power's corporate headquarters in downtown Birmingham.

"It will provide us the ability to know what's actually happening electrically on our system," Stowe said of the facility, adding that the data involved will include usage, as well as where the power's flowing and how the transmission electric grid is operated.

Investment in the project, which is currently in the early design phase, is estimated in the $20 million range.

Southern Co., which operates beyond Alabama in Georgia, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle, considered other sites before settling on Birmingham, Stowe said.

Jeff Met Lakeshore was attractive for a number of reasons, including the ability to provide a security buffer around the facility, said Ron Parsons, manager of transmission operations for Alabama Power.

While the data center will help Southern Co. maintain the reliability of its systemwide services, it also will act as a backup for similar Alabama Power operations here, he said.

"In today's world of concerns over security and concerns over what may happen in terms of business continuity, this offers the ability for us to provide a redundancy that we do not have today," Parsons said.

The design phase is expected to be complete by early fall. Construction should begin in late fall, with completion scheduled for December 2009.

Wachovia Corp. also has a data center at Jeff Met Lakeshore.

"The Lakeshore site has been attractive to these data facilities due to the availability of infrastructure that is required for their operations, including transmission and fiber optics," said Deborah McGill, outgoing executive director of the Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority, which operates the park.

Other pending projects for the park include Solvay Pharmaceuticals, which is eyeing a parcel for an influenza vaccine manufacturing plant.

If the pending projects materialize, less than 25 developable acres would remain at the 337-acre park that opened three years ago.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[Vulcan]

Groundbreaking held for Home Depot distribution center being built in McCalla
McCalla facility to employ 215

A new $33 million Home Depot distribution center being built in McCalla is on the front end of a wave of similar facilities planned across the country as the home improvement giant tinkers with the way it puts products on store shelves.

The project also is a sign that the profiles of the Birmingham metro area and Alabama as a whole are rising when it comes to attracting distribution centers, officials said Wednesday during a groundbreaking ceremony for the new facility.

Alabama Development Office Director Neal Wade said Atlanta-based Home Depot is a global player, with operations in Canada, Mexico and elsewhere. State officials even noticed the company's presence on a recent trade mission to China, he said.

"It's important to us to have this kind of logo in Alabama," Wade said.

The 657,000-square-foot facility is expected to initially employ 214 people, and that number could ramp up to several hundred people over time.

Wednesday's ceremony also served as a formal announcement of the project, which was made public earlier this year and has been granted about $2.2 million in tax breaks from Jefferson County.

Workers have been moving dirt on the 70-acre site in Jefferson Metropolitan Park McCalla for about a month, and the facility is scheduled to be complete by the end of the year.

It is part of a network of distribution centers being rolled out as Home Depot makes structural changes to its business, said Al Boschen, the company's director of real estate.

The current economic downturn is offering the chance to catch up and make changes in the way products are ordered and distributed, so the company will be prepared when the economy rebounds, he said. He added that the changes won't be noticeable to customers of Home Depot stores, except that products should be available when they need them.

The McCalla facility will help improve service and efficiency at stores in the southeastern United States.

Jefferson County Commissioner Bobby Humphryes said he remembers when the JeffMet McCalla park was farmland and noted that it is now home to major companies that employ 1,800 people and represent a $452 million investment.

[envgraph]

Looks like you're a "new jobs" seeker. I love surfing the net looking for new construction. Sometimes I forget to add the job aspect. :nuts:

[envgraph]

Construction began this summer on a new 129-room Residence Inn on 20th Street about five or six blocks south of the new Hyatt Place, the project is a $25 million investment. I think this one is 6 stories as well.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC__0005.jpg

[envgraph]

A planned $40 million investment on Fifth Avenue North includes an upscale hotel, retail, meeting space and lofts at the historic Gaston.
The developer is also considering enlarging the project to include property in the heart of the Civil Rights district.
Hopefully we will see this project take shape over the next year.

[envgraph]

:)

Construction continues on Homewood's $20 million, five-story Aloft Hotel.
Opening is scheduled for March 2009.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/aloft.jpg
www.hcarchitects.com

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0001-1.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC__0004.jpg

[envgraph]

Mayor Langford and Physicians Medical Center Carraway announced plans for a Korean Investor to pump millions of dollars into the hospital and adjacent Norwood community.
The plans include improvements at the hospital, an educational facility with dorms for Korean exchange students to study nursing and a hotel at the site of the former Parisian warehouse. No renderings have been released :yes:

[Vulcan]

Great post Envgraph, many great projects continue to shape the urban character of Birmingham. I'm absolutely amazed at all the development taking shape in Downtown Homewood. The above mention project, plus Hillman Hill development. It's becomming quite the urban core itself. I think a thread on homewood is needed. Great job.

[envgraph]

I'm absolutely amazed at all the development taking shape in Downtown Homewood. The above mention project, plus Hillman Hill development. It's becomming quite the urban core itself. I think a thread on homewood is needed.


Thank you Vulcan. Speaking of Hallman Hill...


The $100 million condominium and retail project in Homewood began construction and is scheduled to be complete by spring.

http://www.hallmanhill.com/

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC__0003.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC__0002.jpg

[envgraph]

Mountain Brook's 4th village slowly moving ahead?

Overton Village developers slowly moving ahead with $30 million project
Luxury condos, shops, restaurants all in works for Mountain Brook development
Sunday, September 28, 2008
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer
It takes patience to raise a village.

Developers of the $30 million Overton Village are discovering that reality as they slowly move forward with plans to create a third village to join Mountain Brook's established Crestline, English and Mountain Brook villages.

Already 2½ years in the making, it could be another two years before work on the condo and retail project is realized, developers said.

A new model of the four-building development now serves as a small-scale version of what is to come. The model is in the Overton Village sales trailer on the site of the future project on Fairhaven Drive off Overton Road.

"We're enthusiastic about the design and we believe this model will make it easier to share that enthusiasm with others," said Sally Tuttle, sales agent with Ingram & Associates and the Condominium Shoppe, the firm tasked with selling the 58 condos.

The enthusiasm has been tempered by the national housing and financial crisis, which has severely affected housing and condo projects throughout Birmingham, Alabama and the U.S.

But developer Ron Rich, principal with commercial real estate firm Leitman-Perlman-Rich Inc., said he believes Overton Village's location makes it less susceptible to what is happening elsewhere.

"We're concerned about the market but we feel like we're in a location that is not as market-sensitive as other areas," he said.

Rich and principal Marc Perlman are developers along with assistance from Formation Methods.

Grand plans:

The three-story buildings were designed by Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds architecture firm. They're meant to have an Old English feel that looks at home with the other Mountain Brook villages but yet stands on its own.

"We really studied the other villages for inspiration with what we're doing here," said architect Tammy Cohen, who is working on Overton Village along with Michael Hallisey in her firm.

Cohen said the project includes lots of green space, pocket parks and courtyards. The four small buildings in the master plan were meant to be more pedestrian friendly than one or two larger buildings. The buildings named Avon, Surrey and Redding are mirror-image buildings set to be built between Fairhaven and Poe drives. The Loxley building will front Fairhaven and is distinguished by a turret designed in the front.

Because three of the buildings are in Mountain Brook and the fourth one is in Vestavia Hills, Cohen said there were challenges to come up with a design and site plan both municipalities found acceptable.

In the end, she is happy with the final concept.

"I think it fits great in that existing neighborhood," she said. "Hopefully, it fits in with the entire area."

The 6,000 square feet of retail space will be spread along the ground floor of the buildings. Plans call for boutique shops and restaurants. The retail should mesh with the existing retail center and Publix grocery store but also is intended to not be disruptive to the nearby residential neighborhood, Rich said.

Luxury living:

But the retail is meant to be the supporting cast. The condos are the star.

Amenities like 10-foot ceilings, eight-foot solid doors, maple hardwood floors, carpeted bedrooms and ceramic tile bathrooms and kitchens are selling points. Custom wood cabinetry, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances and pre-wired audio-video and computer systems are others.

Each condo will have a balcony and its own fireplace with stone hearth and wood mantel. Though there are "chimneys" on the buildings, the fireplaces are ventless.

The condos' floor plans range from the $294,900 one-bedroom, 1½-bathroom Bishop to the $874,900 four-bedroom, 4½-bathroom Hartley.

Construction will start when a building is 80 percent pre-sold, Tuttle said. She did not disclose the current pre-sold levels.

Tuttle said there has been interest from potential buyers from all walks of life, but a prime market appears to be those who live in nearby homes who are either empty-nesters or at an age where the upkeep of a large home or yard is no longer appealing.

Others have expressed interest in the close proximity to The Summit shopping center and Interstate 459, she said.

"What we're finding is because there is nothing else like it in this area, we're getting interest even in this current market," Tuttle said.

E-mail: mtomberlin@bhamnews.com

[envgraph]

We still hope to see a start of construction on the 18-20 story hotel/office project by Melaver. Construction Fences and project banners are in place.

www.birminghamfed.com

[envgraph]

Trinity chooses Birmingham! :)

Trinity touts U.S. 280 location as best choice; Daniel, city officials rejoice
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
ANNA VELASCO and JOSEPH D. BRYANT
News staff writers

Trinity Medical Center officials said Tuesday that relocating to the former HealthSouth hospital on U.S. 280 will be far less costly, better for the environment and accessible to more people than the Irondale site where the eastern Birmingham hospital already has state approval to move.

Trinity, the city of Birmingham and Daniel Corp., owner of the half-built hospital, dropped a bombshell on Irondale and the health care community Tuesday when they announced Trinity's intention to abandon plans to build a new hospital at Grants Mill Road and Interstate 459 and to complete instead the old HealthSouth hospital, nine miles away.

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford has offered tax incentives worth $55 million to clinch the deal and keep Trinity, formerly Montclair Baptist Medical Center, from moving outside the city limits.

"It would have been a travesty to put a wrecking ball to this facility," Langford said at a midday press conference in front of the impressive but empty shell of a hospital.

Trinity won Certificate of Need approval in May to spend $316 million to build and equip an Irondale hospital, but hospital officials said the real figure would be $400 million or more because of the increase in construction costs since the application was filed in November 2006.

Trinity started the approval process over Tuesday, saying the new project would be more economical. Trinity will spend $205 million to complete the former HealthSouth facility and $70 million to equip the 424-bed hospital, officials told state health regulators in a hand-delivered letter of intent. That's in addition to the sale price, which Daniel and Community have not disclosed yet.

The U.S. 280 site also is in the heart of a huge corridor of growth with twice the population base as the Irondale location, said Wayne Smith, chief executive officer of Community Health Systems, Trinity's parent company.

"This site works so much better for us," Smith said.

The 154-acre Irondale site is close to the Cahaba River and has portions that can't be developed. The old HealthSouth hospital is also close to the river, but the exterior is already built. The 13-story hospital covers less ground than the original designs for the Irondale hospital, which was envisioned as only a few stories.

HealthSouth's 40%:
Talks between Daniel Corp. and Langford began in March, when Daniel bought the entire 103-acre HealthSouth campus, including the hospital, for $43.5 million. HealthSouth retains a 40 percent stake in the building and will get a portion of the proceeds from the sale price.

The hospital, once dubbed the "digital hospital," was the brainchild of former HealthSouth CEO Richard Scrushy and was to be a model of computerization in hospital care.

HealthSouth sank at least $200 million into construction but halted work in 2003 amid an accounting scandal that threatened HealthSouth's future. Scrushy was forced out, and the company tried to unload the building to a hospital operator for years, to no avail.

Talks between Trinity and Daniel began about three months ago, according to both sides.

Trinity has options to buy 14 acres where the hospital sits and a parking deck would be built, and an additional 13½ acres behind the hospital, where it wants to develop doctors' office buildings to complete the medical campus.

Trinity officials said the city's inducement was key to the deal.

Langford's incentive package is similar to one he structured earlier this year for a new Children's Hospital. The Trinity-Daniel deal involves up to $55 million in rebates from the city over 20 years on a portion of occupational, real-estate and sales taxes generated by the project. Of that amount, $40 million would be dedicated to the hospital and medical campus development and $15 million for the rest of the Daniel campus.

"We crunched all of the numbers," Langford said. "All the pieces of the puzzle work to the advantage of Daniel Corp., CHS (Community Health Systems) and the city."

The City Council must approve the agreement. From the appearance of most council members at the press conference, after recessing their regular meeting and heading to the hospital site by MAX bus, Langford will get a majority behind the concept.

"This is a win for the city of Birmingham. This is a win for the region," said Councilwoman Carol Duncan, who campaigned against the hospital's move to Irondale. "I fought very hard to keep Trinity in Birmingham, and now that we're keeping it in Birmingham, I'm quite happy."

Logic of Irondale site:

The HealthSouth hospital has had many hospital suitors but no takers until now. In fact, Trinity's two previous owners took turns investigating the location before settling on Irondale.

Smith said that was before Community bought majority ownership of Trinity last year. Community then bought out Baptist Health System's 35 percent stake at the end of June and became full owner.

Smith said he never understood the logic of the Irondale site, but Community came in too late during the first state approval process to switch to a new site.

One of the frequent complaints about the HealthSouth hospital has been that despite its attractiveness, it was poorly designed for convenient medical care. The emergency department, for example, is on the second floor and the bottom floor designed for retail.

Smith said Community has been working closely with Daniel to remedy any problems.

"We have a solution for the ER," he said. "It's clearly our intention to make our emergency services accessible."

Smith said he thought the project shouldn't be opposed by competitors because it's less expensive and would serve more people.

But it's also closer to key markets for Brookwood Medical Center and St. Vincent's Birmingham.

Both Brookwood and St. Vincent's have signaled their immediate desires to build free-standing emergency departments just a few miles from the former HealthSouth hospital, in Greystone in north Shelby County. Those hospitals are likely to oppose each other's projects as well as Trinity's new plans.

Brookwood has appealed Trinity's initial state approval in circuit court.

E-mail: avelasco@bhamnews.com

[envgraph]

Plans call for a Class A office building covering 150,000 to 165,000 square feet on the site of Bayer's existing Arlington Avenue headquarters,
which will be razed. The building will include five to six floors as well as underground and grade-level parking in an investment that is expected
to exceed $20 million.
I expect this structure to have high visibility from the Red Mountain Expressway.

[brad0022]

Im really glad to see B'ham growing so much. I have always been a bit disappointed in B'ham growing up. Seemed like it should have a larger, cleaner downtown. I mean Nashville is a more enjoyable downtown and urban city but B'ham is awesome when you know where to go. Just have to drive everywhere. Now that Im older I have grown to like it a lot but its still kinda dirty. Im glad that Homewood is being developed. I loved eating at that Italian place (Formajio's? sp), Purple Onion and one other place late at night after seeing a show to sober up before driving back to the Gump.

[LSyd]

Plans call for a Class A office building covering 150,000 to 165,000 square feet on the site of Bayer's existing Arlington Avenue headquarters,
which will be razed. The building will include five to six floors as well as underground and grade-level parking in an investment that is expected
to exceed $20 million.
I expect this structure to have high visibility from the Red Mountain Expressway.

crescent ii? they've been planning that for years.

-

[envgraph]

crescent ii? they've been planning that for years.

-

I don't think so. This is down the street at the current Bayer headquarters.
The plans were announced this summer.

[envgraph]

PIZITZ BUILDING
Office, retail and possibly residential space is on the drawing board for the Pizitz building. Pre-leasing dictates the project's timetable,
Bayer hopes to see the building open by late 2010 or early 2011.


FLORENTINE BUILDING
Plans call for carefully cleaning the terra cotta, marble and limestone facade of the building, putting an Italian restaurant, a bakery and
floral shop on the first floor and opening up the second floor as event space with a full commercial kitchen.


BURGER-PHILLIPS BUILDING
The six-story structure at 1914 Third Avenue North is being transformed into 35 loft apartments by developer Carruthers Real Estate Co.
Retail or office space is planned for the first floor of the building


FAMOUS THEATER
Developer and architect Nolanda Bearden plans to create the first set of lofts in the historically black business district and renovate the
80-year-old theater's first floor into offices.

[Infoman]

When Nordstrom's comes to Riverchase, will there be a new added or will it replace a current anchor, and if it is replacing a anchor which one is it replacing.
Thank You
Infoman

[envgraph]

When Nordstrom's comes to Riverchase, will there be a new added or will it replace a current anchor, and if it is replacing a anchor which one is it replacing.
Thank You
Infoman

Rumor is the old Macy's/Proffitt's will be demolished and a new Nordstrom and "open-air lifestyle center" will be constructed on that side of the mall.

Nothing official though. Just rumor.

[envgraph]

Birmingham's Capri Condiminium welcomed residents earlier this year with stunning views of downtown from Red Mountain. Thankfully, the building was completed before the developer filed bankruptcy because of bad investments in the Florida market. Could have been a real mess...

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/100_0580.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/Capri.jpg

[Infoman]

Isnt that building in the west part of Bham.

[envgraph]

^^
No, it's southeast of downtown on Niazuma Ave at 27th Place South in the Highland Park Neighborhood

[envgraph]

www.2600highlandavenue.com

Completion of the 11-story, $19 million project located on the corner of Highland Avenue and 26th Street was completed in 2008.

Construction Photos
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/100_0584.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/100_0582.jpg

Completed!
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/2600.jpg

[envgraph]

Good news for East Alabama and the Birmingham Region

Honda announces plans to build Accord in Alabama
Birmingham Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper Staff


Honda officials announced plans today to manufacture its V-6 Accord sedan at its plant in Lincoln.

The company will shift production of the V-6 sedan from its Marysville plant in Ohio to Alabama by mid 2009, said a news release issued by Honda Manufacturing of Alabama LLC. The Ohio plant will now focus on production of the 4-cylinder Accord sedan.

Honda currently manufactures the Odyssey minivan and the Pilot SUV in Lincoln and announced earlier this year its plans to shift production of its Ridgeline pickup truck to Alabama from Canada.

In preparation for the launch of Accord and Ridgeline production and to adjust to current market conditions, Honda said it plans to reduce production of the Odyssey and Pilot by about 22,000 units in Lincoln through the end of its fiscal year ending March 31, 2009, said the release.

Production adjustments will take place on Fridays in November and during the week of Thanksgiving, as well as in February and March 2009.

Annual production capacity at the Lincoln plant’s two assembly lines will remain at 300,000 vehicles and V-6 engines a year, said the release.

Honda employs 4,500 in Alabama.

[envgraph]

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/railroad.jpg

www.railroadpark.org
Birmingham work crews removed century old cobblestone at the site of the Railroad Reservation Park in preparation for construction of the 21 acre first phase of the project. Eventually, the park could extend east all the way to Sloss Furnaces, creating a linear park that would spur even more residential and commercial development. Completing all the phases envisioned for the park could cost $50 million.

[envgraph]

:cheers:

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy signs to open restaurant in BJCC entertainment district
Posted by Roy L. Williams -- Birmingham News October 15, 2008 2:27 PM

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy has signed a letter of intent to open a restaurant in the planned downtown Birmingham entertainment district, the developer said today.


John Elkington of Performa Entertainment Real Estate told board members of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex that the Atlanta-based comedian is expected to finalize his lease for The Forge within a few weeks.

"It will be a family restaurant focused on Southern cooking," Elkington said. "It will be a great fit for our district."

Elkington, whose company is known for the Beale Street entertainment district in Memphis, said the unnamed restaurant will also carry Foxworthy merchandise.

Foxworthy, host of Fox television's game show "'Are you Smarter than a Fifth Grader?" is known for his "You Might be a Redneck" comedy albums. ?
?

[envgraph]

www.bham.net/ruffner

Ruffner Mountain Nature Preserve plans an Environmentally Friendly LEED Certified Green “Treetop Visitor’s Center” and plans to expand the park by 500 to 700 acres. This will make RMNP one of America's largest urban nature preserves at around 1,511 to 1,711 acres.

[envgraph]

Good news for a real eyesore in a hot part of town. I hate to see a parking lot but I guess it's better than as is.

Screening Room, neighboring sites set for redevelopment
Redevelopment plans for eyesore
Friday, October 17, 2008
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer

The building that houses the former Screening Room theater, shuttered last year after complaints of lewd behavior, faces an appointment with the wrecking ball. Nearby structures, meanwhile, will be restored as new owners spruce up the buildings, create a courtyard and add parking.

As part of the project, the new owners recently completed the purchase of three buildings at the northwest corner of Second Avenue South and 22nd Street.

Jonathan Lindsey of Southpace Properties Inc. and Matt Lemak, managing partner with the Lemak Group of Companies, are tackling the redevelopment of a portion of that block.

The former Screening Room adult video store building, which some neighbors found disgraceful, will be demolished. The business shut down last year after its license was yanked following years of vice squad stings and complaints of raunchy behavior.

As part of the redevelopment plan, the adjacent one-story, 2,750-square-foot building at 118 22nd Street South will be restored to its original design and marketed for a restaurant or other use.

A courtyard is slated between that building and the two-story building to the north. The two-story property at 114 22nd Street South has 9,000 square feet and, once structural improvements are made, will be renovated for one or more office tenants.

Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds architecture firm designed the proposed redevelopment plans for the property. RBC Bank, formerly known as First American Bank, will be the lender, Lemak said.

Lemak said he believes the property is ready for the changes he and Lindsey have planned. Other redevelopments near that block are helping to revitalize that area of downtown, he said.

"We like it. It's a cool area," he said. "There are a lot of neat things happening there and we plan to be one of them."

Lindsey said demolition of the Screening Room, a billboard and a small garage will be done in a couple of weeks. A preliminary resurfacing of the parking area will follow along with the securing and re-roofing of the two remaining buildings.

Both buildings will have major improvements to their exteriors, particularly the fronts that face 22nd Street.

Windows will be restored throughout both buildings.

The courtyard entrance and courtyard improvements will be next.

Both buildings will be ready to market to potential users by the first quarter of 2009. A big selling point is expected to be the 27 parking places that will be created on the site

Owners plan to put up to $1.4 million into the project.

Lemak said he believes they lucked into the properties.

"We kind of slid into this," he said. "Sometimes those are the best kind of deals."

[LSyd]

^ lol...

that was a seedyass place. nice gritty character though. it'll probably help spur redevelopment though as it is prime real estate on a corner lot.

-

[envgraph]

Board members of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex have approved a plan to begin soliciting bids for an architecture firm to design a proposed multi-use facility/domed stadium. Eight firms from across the country and Australia have showed interest.

Other happenings at the existing facility include:
-- Renovation of the Concert Hall is completed and opened with rave reviews in August
-- Construction of 2 skywalks from the The Sheraton to the North Exhibit Hall and the South Exhibit Hall to the Arena.
-- Renovation of the Arena are slated for the near future
-- Develoment and Installation of a Wayfinding/Signage plan to help patrons navigate the campus.

THE FORGE - ENTERTAINMENT DISTRICT
Performa has pushed the opening date for The Forge until early 2010 becuase of difficulty finding financing for the $50 million facility in today's economic climate - Good Luck with that.
Confirmed tenants at The Forge include:
American Idol winner Ruben Studdard - Club 205
American Idol winner Taylor Hicks - Blues Club
A restaurant/club owned by Jeff Foxworthy.
The owners of O'Henry's Coffee and the Comedy Club at The Stardome said are also considering opening in the downtown Birmingham entertainment district.

Also, the BJCC announced plans to erect the Magic City sign over 23rd street.

[RON-E]

its good to see some new dev in bham

[envgraph]

Too bad they mutilated the trees lining 31 in preparation for the development. Seems to me they could have included the 50 year old trees in the landscaping plans. Stupid developers.

Builder ready for Chace Lake community project in Hoover
215 houses -- included in -- plan as well as -- commercial --
Sunday, October 19, 2008
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer
The 123-acre Chace Lake community in Hoover will begin taking shape next month when the first five houses are built in the project that will eventually have 215 residences.

Signature Homes, the builder on the Chace Lake project, said it has reservations for 33 houses already and all of the commercial space that fronts U.S. 31 is claimed. The project's total value could reach $100 million.

Houses in the development are expected to start at $240,000 and rise to more than $330,000.

[envgraph]

www.redmountainpark.org

The planned park consists of 1,100 acres—an area larger than New York's Central Park --- amenities include 18 miles of biking and hiking trails, 16 soccer fields, 5 softball fields, picnic areas, and a 20-acre lake.
The property provides the opportunity to connect a 64-mile network of greenways that would allow a person to bicycle from Bessemer to Mountain Brook without ever encountering vehicular traffic.

The Red Mountain Park Commission is allowing a series of tours of the grounds to allow supporters to get a feel for the location and scale of the land.

[envgraph]

Langford announced plans this summer for a $90 million project to transform Fair Park into a sports-themed residential and athletics village at Five Points West. The development includes plans for a Marriott, Foot Locker and Aldi.

Renderings have not been released

[envgraph]

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/tunnel.jpg

Birmingham officials and local businesses celebrated completion of the restoration of the historic 1931 overpasses at 20th, 19th, 18th and 14th Streets. The project was a public/private endeavor.

[envgraph]

www.barbermotorsports.com

George Barber is planning to nearly double the size of his world-renowned motorcycle museum and add a motocross track. Ground likely will be broken next year on an expansion that would add at least 100,000 square feet to the museum and enable the display of hundreds more motorcycles.
The existing 140,000-square-foot museum allows for the display of less than half of Barber's 1,200-bike collection, widely regarded as the world's best.

[envgraph]

I guess we're filling a need? Everybody needs storage? Right?

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/209865-600-0-2.jpg

Source: www.bizjournals.com/birmingham

Georgia firm to build storage units downtown
Birmingham Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper Staff


The city of Birmingham is planning to give $150,000 in sales tax incentives to the owners of a new self-storage facility being built in downtown Birmingham, next to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.

The storage facility will include 80,000 square feet of climate controlled space in four stories and 20,000 square feet of drive-up space, said Curtis Brown, with developer EGAD Group Inc. of Acworth, Ga.

Brown declined to disclose how much the company was spending to build the facility, but said it will be a multimillion-dollar project.

EGAD will build the facility for an unnamed partner and a national third party company will likely manage the building, which will be ideal for commercial and residential users in downtown, he said.

“We did our research about a year ago,” he said. “And with the efforts of people like (Operation New Birmingham) and all the redevelopment it was a positive. We found a huge lack in quality storage in downtown.”

ONB President Michael Calvert said his organization has worked with Brown and EGAD for several months to make the project happen, which included a meeting with Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford.

Brown said the developers thought building the storage facility now would be premature, but growth in the city’s loft developments and high occupancy in downtown’s office market moved the project forward.

Calvert said the storage facility is well suited for loft residents that don’t have a lot of space or are downsizing and need to store furniture, as well as for commercial users.

EGAD also consulted on the newly built Hoover Storage Facility off Lorna Road, partnering with the owners to build the four-story facility, said Brown.

EGAD Group is an architectural, engineering and consulting firm that focuses on the self-storage industry. Brown said the company built 33 self-storage facilities in the Southeast last year.

While the new storage facility took a dilapidated building off the block, it’s not necessarily an improvement for downtown Birmingham, said Mark Noyes, general manager of the nearby Sheraton Birmingham Hotel.

“It doesn’t show much progress,” said Noyes. “But I guess anything new for the downtown area is good.”

Noyes said he was surprised the new building will be a storage facility, since at one time there had been talks of putting another hotel near there.

“I wouldn’t want to put a hotel next to storage,” he said.

lbcooper@bizjournals.com | (205) 443-5635

[envgraph]

Southland Entertainment sold Alabama Adventure this summer and is now focusing on developing an adjacent 157-acre parcel where it has proposed
building a hotel/indoor water park, a possible RV park and other commercial and retail developments.

www.alabamaadventure.com

[envgraph]

Woohoo for good economic news!

Birmingham-Hoover metro area unemployment rate is seventh-lowest in the United States
Thursday, October 30, 2008
ROY L. WILLIAMS
News staff writer

Forget the economic gloom for a moment: The Birmingham-Hoover metro area had the seventh lowest unemployment rate among the nation's biggest cities in September, a report shows.

Metro Birmingham's 4.8 percent jobless rate was slightly behind Baltimore's and Austin's 4.7 percent rate, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Oklahoma City's 3.5 percent rate was lowest in the nation among metro areas with at least 1 million people.

Jody Jones, president of Savela Solutions, a recruitment firm, said Birmingham's job market is holding its own, though signs of weakness are beginning to appear.

"The good news is that the Birmingham economy is not falling as much as other cities, but we've definitely been seeing a slowdown," he said Wednesday.

Riverside, Calif., had the highest rate among big cities last month - 9.1 percent unemployment. Detroit, which has been hard hit by the downturn of the auto industry, ranked just ahead at 8.3 percent.

Despite the good news, the job market in Alabama's largest city has taken a step back, and faces more challenges. This week, American Cast Iron Pipe Co. said it is cutting 58 hourly jobs, effective Nov. 10, as the faltering national economy has cut demand for the ductile iron pipe and fittings closely tied to the housing market.

And last week, 1,000 employees at Physicians Medical Center Carraway lost their jobs when the hospital shut down due to financial woes. Though some of those workers will find positions at other area hospitals, the closing represents a blow to Birmingham's economy, experts say.

Last October, metro Birmingham's 2.7 percent jobless rate was the lowest among the nation's big cities. Alabama's 5.3 percent unemployment rate in September was 24th among the states; a year earlier, the rate was 3.5 percent and Alabama ranked among the 10 lowest states.

Experts expect the area's jobless rate to continue rising.

Birmingham's economy has done well over the last few years, thanks to its diversified employment base, said Ahmad Ijaz, an economic researcher at the University of Alabama.

Yet it, like other cities, will take a hit in coming months "due to a decline in commercial construction, and drop in consumer, business and government-related spending," he said.

E-mail: rwilliams@bhamnews.com

[envgraph]

Lots of good things happening at the BJCC!

Birmingham convention complex skywalk work under way
Thursday, October 30, 2008

Brasfield & Gorrie LLC has started work on $8 million Exhibit Hall renovation and skywalk projects at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.

The construction includes two exterior bridges and one enclosed interior walkway connecting the Sheraton Birmingham hotel, the North and South Exhibit Halls and the BJCC Arena. Interior corridor renovations are also being made to the North Hall and South Hall meeting spaces.

The new skywalk and corridor changes are meant to enable visitors to use internal access to get to meeting rooms and exhibit halls that originally had access only from outside the building. The improved access is expected to contribute to the BJCC's goal of attracting more conventions and out-of-town guests.

The work is part of the BJCC's six-year, $52 million capital improvement project.

The project is expected to be completed by July 2009.

Designform LLC is project architect.

Michael Tomberlin --

[envgraph]

Announcements were made this year that the city's 14th St. corridor is scheduled to get a makeover. Plans include parking and streetscape improvements in and around the district, as well as special signs that denote the area, like those in the Loft District.

Birmingham's Entrepreneurial District is the site of at least $47 million in planned, ongoing or new developments, a trend that downtown advocates expect to grow with last years opening of the expanded business incubator, Innovation Depot.

[envgraph]

Urban wildlife rises from the ground... literally... 25 feet


Ruffner Mountain sports new look with wetlands area; treetop center to come
Wetlands area phase precedes `treetop' center
Saturday, November 01, 2008
KATHERINE BOUMA
News staff writer

Construction is under way at Ruffner Mountain Nature Center on a "treetop visitor center" 25 feet in the air to put all the preserve's offices and indoor functions under one roof.

The $3.1 million visitor center, built to look like a treehouse, is the most expensive piece of the first phase of Ruffner's expansion and overhaul.

Another stunning piece of the makeover is already finished.

A three-acre wetland area has been built from natural springs about 1½ miles over the mountain from the entrance, on the side of the park facing Irondale. The area, a series of three ponds, is surrounded by native plants. It cost about $600,000.

Ruffner Mountain, which lies in eastern Birmingham and Irondale, has been known beginning in 1977 for amenities such as mountainous trails, views of the city, school programs and day camps. But the nonprofit hasn't embarked on a major project since it finished buying the mountain in the late 1980s.

Ruffner has increased its infrastructure little in that time. Its offices are in barely refurbished houses bought over the years from willing neighbors.

Only one circuitous route leads to the preserve, through an eastern Birmingham neighborhood. The entrance is off 81st Street.

With this project, Executive Director Kathy Stiles Freeland said Ruffner will finally appear permanent and established. It will also use the nature center to host weddings or parties.

Still, the preserve's goals don't change, she said: preservation, followed by education and low-impact recreation.

A later phase of the expansion project includes raising money to buy 500 more acres that are available. The addition should allow more entrances on the south, opening into Irondale, and a small parking lot on that side of the mountain.

Upon its completion, the treetop center is expected to be certified as an environmentally sensitive building.

It will include a system to gather its rainwater, take maximum advantage of sunlight and grow plants on the roof to avoid runoff. The furniture will be made mostly of recycled material.

Most of the animals now at Ruffner will be on display in the building: a variety of turtles, birds, snakes and other animals that have been wounded or abandoned there. An 8-foot-by-5-foot turtle aquarium is coming from California. Some of the birds will live in a garden outside.

The building's most obvious feature will be a huge window that allows for bird-watching at the forest, which is a stopover for many Gulf Coast migrants, as well as home to forest birds.

The large window also should invite visitors to move outside and to hike or walk, Freeland said.

Launching pad:

"We wanted it to be a gateway to the outdoors," she said. "We are not trying to get people to come to the building and then leave. We want people to use the building as a launching pad to go outside."

Ruffner has never charged admission. School groups and day camps bring in some revenue, but Freeland said the group is considering fees for entry.

The nature center borders middle-class or impoverished neighborhoods, and Ruffner leaders want to be sure children and others from those neighborhoods can still visit Ruffner, and often.

"We are considering right now how to do that," Freeland said. "We want to encourage people to be regular visitors. A one-time visit is not enough."

Ruffner needs $500,000 to complete Phase I, and at least $16.5 million for future plans.

Freeland said she and her board are glad they began raising money before the recent economic downturn. But she said in her 30-year career she has learned to raise funds in all conditions.

"You just keep working," she said. "People who have the ability understand that we are hit very, very hard, and they tend to be more generous to us in times like this."

Parking lots have been uprooted by the construction but will ultimately have the same 74 spaces as now.

The visitor center is expected to be built in late spring and furnished and open in early summer.

The nature center's funding so far has come from a combination of federal and local sources, including both Birmingham and Jefferson County, as well as private fundraising, particularly through the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham and Region 2020.

E-mail: kbouma@bhamnews.com

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I went to the Children's Hospital Gala last night and saw the renderings for the new $450 million hospital. It is stunning!
It's about 12 stories with sweeping curves and purple and blue accents. The planned crosswalks to the existing facility and an existing admin building are curved and create and incredible form from the street.

There was also mention of a greenspace that will connect with the Railroad park.

This is really going to transform that part of town.

[envgraph]

As indicated in my last post.. Children's Hospital has been working with 17th Street occupants and GA Studios to develop a redevelopment plan along 17th Street between their campus and the Railroad Park. The improvements should coincide with the projected completion of the new hospital in 2011/2012. The combination of all three are going to transform Midtown.

[envgraph]

Some good news for Alabama's largest employer.:banana:

Scientists rank UAB fifth-best place to work in United States
Posted by Dave Parks -- Birmingham News November 06, 2008 2:53 PM
Categories: Breaking News
The University of Alabama at Birmingham is ranked No. 5 nationally in the "Best Places to Work in Academia," a survey of life science researchers published in the November issue of The Scientist magazine. The medical center jumped 42 places in the survey this year.


The magazine credited the university's rapid rise in the rankings to its strong interdisciplinary approach to research. It cited UAB's 17 research centers, and state-of-the-art facilities like the Richard C. and Annette N. Shelby Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building, which opened in 2006.

The rankings are based on an Internet poll of 2,300 scientists from 54 U.S. institutions. The researchers rated institutions on job satisfaction, pay, tenure and research resources.

[envgraph]

Corporate Realty still plans to develop a $33 million urban apartment and retail complex with 258 apartments, 18,000 sf of retail and a 400 space
parking deck at the 1st Ave S / 20th St and 2nd Ave S / 21st St

[envgraph]

No mention of where exactly...

Holiday Inn to open new hotel in Homewood
Birmingham Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper Staff

A 108-room Holiday Inn is set to open later this month in Homewood.

The new hotel, developed by Birmingham’s HP Hotels, will feature Holiday Inn’s new rebranding, which parent InterContinental Hotels Group announced last year.

The hotel will have a high-tech fitness center, large meeting rooms, state-of-the-art technology in guest rooms, an indoor pool and a dining facility, said a news release.

HP Hotels will manage the hotel. It currently manages more than 3,100 rooms in 16 states.

[Infoman]

A lot of development is going on in Bham, isnt it.

[envgraph]

^^ I guess we have a decent amount... I'd like to see more. I hope the economy doesn't put the brakes on what we have. :hammer:

[envgraph]

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0052.jpg

Birmingham's upscale open air shopping center currently is planning to add 50,000 square feet of retail space, with two floors of office space above it. Construction is expected to begin this spring, with opening slated for early 2010. No word on potential tenants.

[envgraph]

:)

Bayer seeks tax credits for Pizitz building makeover
Posted by Michael Tomberlin -- Birmingham News November 14, 2008 9:27 AM

A new life for the old Pizitz building downtown could be closer to reality.

David Silverstein, principal with Bayer Properties Inc., which owns the building at 1821 Second Ave. North, said the firm has submitted renovation plans to the U.S. Department of Interior as part of the process to qualify for historic building tax credits.


Should all go according to plan, Silverstein said work could begin in early 2009.

Plans call for converting the 225,000-square-foot building and parking deck into retail space on the ground floor and office space throughout the remainder of the building.

The building is viewed as a key project and is one of downtown's largest vacant buildings. Successful neighboring redevelopments such as the McWane Science Center have given a boost to a Pizitz makeover.�

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A couple of quick fall foliage pics in Birmingham

Colonial Brookwood Village

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0049.jpg

Linn Park

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0030-1.jpg

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a couple of updates... The Residence Inn is more impressive than I anticipated.

Hyatt Place
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0040.jpg

20th Street Residence Inn
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0042.jpg

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Rumor has it Colonial is planning a 12-15 story tower at the site of the Vincent’s Market adjacent to their wildly successful 8 story office building. There have also been rumblings that a high-profile national department store
will be taking the ground level.
I heard this has been put on hold due to the economy :tongue:... hopefully not.

This is the existing 8 story structure completed last year.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0048.jpg

[envgraph]

Here's an image I found on al.com this weekend.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/childrens-1.jpg

I went to the Children's Hospital Gala last night and saw the renderings for the new $450 million hospital. It is stunning!
It's about 12 stories with sweeping curves and purple and blue accents. The planned crosswalks to the existing facility and an existing admin building are curved and create and incredible form from the street.

There was also mention of a greenspace that will connect with the Railroad park.

This is really going to transform that part of town.

[envgraph]

I found a rendering....

We still hope to see a start of construction on the 18-20 story hotel/office project by Melaver. Construction Fences and project banners are in place.

www.birminghamfed.com


http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/melaverregionstj3.jpg

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According to an article on today's al.com:

Langford was approached by Daniel Realty about a mixed-use development to replace University Blvd's Southtown Housing Project and a possible partnership with The Canyon Johnson Urban Fund, a real estate fund connected to basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Apparently only Langford and Daniel Realty knew of the plan before Langford ran his mouth and much has to be worked out... with that said... can you imagine the possibilities if Langford and Daniel Corp develop a strong relationship?

[RON-E]

thats a great development, i cant wait to see it finished

[envgraph]

Trinity announced plans that it would be relocating its hospital from Montclair Road in Eastern Birmingham to the existing vacant digital hospital abandoned by Healthsouth on US 280. Originally the hospital had planned on relocating to Irondale but announced the surprise move after working out a deal with Daniel Realty and Birmingham Mayor Langford.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0053.jpg

[envgraph]

Five Points South is looking good. Here's a pic of refurbished light posts with new globes and fresh banners. You can't see it... but the streets are recently repaved and the actual concrete intersection has been painted red since this pic was shot last weekend.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0043.jpg

[LSyd]

According to an article on today's al.com:

Langford was approached by Daniel Realty about a mixed-use development to replace University Blvd's Southtown Housing Project and a possible partnership with The Canyon Johnson Urban Fund, a real estate fund connected to basketball legend Earvin "Magic" Johnson. Apparently only Langford and Daniel Realty knew of the plan before Langford ran his mouth and much has to be worked out... with that said... can you imagine the possibilities if Langford and Daniel Corp develop a strong relationship?

great news.

-

[envgraph]

University House

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0035.jpg

Rumor is the developer of University House is planning an upscale development at the intersection of 1st Avenue South and 14th Strret
to coincide with the construction of Railroad Reservation Park.

[envgraph]

PARK PLACE DOWNTOWN

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0029.jpg

Park Place Downtown is a 395 unit Hope VI revitalization project that completed an expansion this summer. The development is a drastic improvement over the old Park Place Apartments and has future expansions in the works.


Other Hope VI projects in Birmingham include:
- 306 units at Tuxedo Court in Ensley near the infamous Tuxedo junction
- 300 units at Glenbrook at Oxmoor Valley

Also, The construction of 25 single family homes in Fountain Heights neighborhood near downtown is planned as part of Hope VI.

[envgraph]

Pickwick Place in Five Points South is set to get a $1.5 million facelift from its owners, as a palpable shift in energy brings renewed life to the neighborhood.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0044.jpg

[Infoman]

Nice pics...I love that building where Trinity Medical Center is moving into. Keep up the good work.

[envgraph]

Nice pics...I love that building where Trinity Medical Center is moving into. Keep up the good work.

^^
Thanks, I should have taken a pic at an angle so you could better see the radius front and side detail. :nuts:

[envgraph]

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0045.jpg


All aspects of Hotel Highlands at Five Points South has been completely redesigned with a new, chic atmosphere that is both luxurious and cutting edge.

- Renovations included completely modernizing the guestroom bathrooms and replacement of all room furniture and furnishings.
- The hotel’s continental breakfast room has returned to its original state as a martini bar. A new glass storefront has been installed, opening to the sidewalk and pedestrian traffic.
- The lobby and sitting area now reflects a more sophisticated and modern feeling for guests to relax in during the day or enjoy a cocktail in the evening.
- The hotel’s breakfast area returned to its original location, near the courtyard of the building. Part of the courtyard was reclaimed, creating an area for outdoor eating, relaxing and socializing.
-The lower floor lobby is the new home of the property’s fitness room,
complete with all new state of the art equipment.

[Infoman]

^^
Thanks, I should have taken a pic at an angle so you could better see the radius front and side detail. :nuts:

It would have been nice, but its okay...Thank you anyway's.

[envgraph]

A skywalk over Richard Arrington Blvd went in at the BJCC today to help with pedestrian flow from the Sheraton to the North Exhibit Hall to the Arena.


Posted by Roy L. Williams -- Birmingham News
December 04, 2008 9:26 AM


The last section of the 150-foot crosswalk that will join the BJCC with the Sheraton Hotel was placed this week in downtown Birmingham, Ala.
A portion of Richard Arrington Boulevard between Ninth Avenue North and 23rd Street, closed since Tuesday as a contractor installs a skywalk from the Sheraton Hotel, should re-open by early Friday, an official said this morning.

Construction workers with Brasfield & Gorrie put the 150-foot skywalk in place Wednesday, but are checking connections today, said Jack Fields, executive director of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex. Depending on how long it rains, there is a chance the street could reopen late today, Fields said.

The $8.3 million skywalk, a part of the BJCC's upgrade project, connects the hotel with the BJCC Arena, North and South exhibit halls, Fields said. Sheraton Birmingham General Manager Mark Noyes said the new skywalk will allow hotel guests to visit other parts of the BJCC without going outside.

A separate skywalk already connects the Sheraton Birmingham to the east exhibit hall.

[envgraph]

CiTYVILLE Block 121 begins to take shape. :banana:
Thank goodness for some good news!

PDF Spec Sheet (http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2008/12/Block.121.Fact.Sheet.pdf)

Long-delayed building project near UAB starts demolition
Posted by Roy L. Williams -- Birmingham News
December 05, 2008 6:17 AM

A long-planned $35 million retail and apartment project near UAB is ready to take shape.

The Block 121 project has started with the demolition of existing buildings in the city block between First and Second Avenues South and 20th Street and Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard. A contractor hired by Corporate Realty started tearing down a building this week in the 100 block of 20th Street South to make room for the project. The concept will combine 256 upscale apartments with 22,000 square feet of retail space and restaurants and a 360-space parking deck, said Robert Simon, president of Corporate Realty.

Simon said he was attracted to the site because of its proximity to UAB and downtown. The block, formerly housed an Express Oil Change, Scott's Koneys and FedEx/Kinko's, was owned by one person, which made it easier to pursue, he said.

The city helped the tenants find other locations downtown, said Mike Calvert, president of Operation New Birmingham.


"It's a great location and we have the perfect partner to make it work," Simon said, referring to Inland American Residential Communities of Atlanta, which has built similar projects in Dallas and other cities.

Simon said the project, which he hopes to complete by spring or summer 2010, will fit in well with the $14 million Hyatt Place - another Corporate Realty project - a few blocks away at the former Tom Williams Cadillac site at 2024 Fourth Ave. South. That 150-room hotel is slated for completion in February.

"Anytime you are building two new developments simultaneously, it helps re-identify an area," Simon said. "We are looking to provide restaurants and retailers that will complement the area and people at UAB and professionals downtown."

Calvert said his group worked closely with the city of Birmingham and the developers to make the project happen.

"With the condos slowing down due to the housing downturn, apartments are appealing more to empty nesters and professionals who prefer to live downtown," Calvert said.

Simon wouldn't say how much the apartments would rent for, but added they will have upscale amenities and the complex will have a fitness center, swimming pool and Wi-fi capabilities.

The apartment/retail project could appeal to Southside hospital workers and students at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, as well as downtown professionals, said Bob Robicheaux, a retailing expert at UAB.

"I know UAB, the Birmingham Chamber and Regional Planning Commission hope there is a resurgence of people living, shopping and entertaining downtown," he said. "A lot of whether they are successful depends on what happens with plans for the downtown entertainment district and dome near the BJCC."

Corporate Realty's apartments and retail and restaurant mix also must have the amenities that would attract professionals and empty nesters who love living downtown. Simon said he has started talking to retailers and restaurants that would fit in to the neighborhood.

"It's hard to get people to live downtown now because there aren't too many place to shop and eat there," he said.

Staff writer Michael Tomberlin contibuted to this report.

[envgraph]

Too bad Mayor Langford's indictment has now cast an even darker shadow over Birmingham's chance to replace Legion Field.

Update: Panel selects two finalists to design proposed domed stadium
Posted by Roy L. Williams -- Birmingham News
December 05, 2008 3:25 PM

An evaluation panel has whittled down the list of firms interested in designing a proposed $500 million domed stadium in downtown Birmingham from nine to two, a BJCC spokeswoman said today.

Board members of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex will meet next Friday to hear presentations from the two architectural firms, HOK and HKS. The board is expected to select the lead designer for the BJCC expansion project by January.

The proposed dome will have 57,500 seats, with capacity to expand to 65,000 seats, and 160,000 square feet of flat floor space that will be used for conventions and trade shows.

HOK's experience includes designing the Phoenix Convention Center and Houston's Reliant Stadium. The firm is also part of the master planning team for the 2012 Olympic Summer Games bid in London.

HKS designed the American Airlines Center in Dallas and the Liverpool FC Stadium in Liverpool, England, as well as several other sports stadiums. HKS was recently chosen as the lead architect for the Children's Hospital expansion in Birmingham.

"We're excited to be taking the next important step toward this much-needed expansion project," BJCC Executive Director Jack Fields said. "We feel confident that our two finalists are the top firms in the country for the type of multipurpose facility we plan to build here at the BJCC."

[envgraph]

McWANE SCIENCE CENTER

McWane is celebrating the the installation of “Linear Motion”. Mounted to the facade of the building - the sculpture interacts with passer-bys on the sidewalk by moving in a linear-waving motion.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0018-1.jpg

McWane also recently completed installation of new signage and graphics.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0019.jpg

[Infoman]

That sounds cool...

[Expat Baman]

Pickwick Place in Five Points South is set to get a $1.5 million facelift from its owners, as a palpable shift in energy brings renewed life to the neighborhood.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0044.jpg
Really good to hear that Pickwick Place is being renovated. I remember when it was busy and full of tenants - Lion & Unicorn, Rube Burrow's, Upside Down Plaza, a really interesting mix. Best of luck to the owners in the revitalization effort.

[LSyd]

Upside Down Plaza...i miss that place.

-

[envgraph]

UAB WOMEN AND INFANTS’ CENTER

The project has been estimated at $140 million and will have 10 floors and cover 630,000 square feet. It is expected to be complete by the end of 2009.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0041.jpg

[envgraph]

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/large_BJCCconcept.jpg
Image Credit - al.com

Fingers crossed!

Firm shows off dome design during BJCC presentation
Posted by Roy L. Williams -- Birmingham News
December 12, 2008 12:07 PM

HOK Inc., the Kansas City, Mo.-based architecture firm that has been advising the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex for a decade, made what board members described as an intriguing pitch this morning as it seeks to win a design contract for a proposed $500 million dome.

Meanwhile, BJCC Executive Director Jack Fields said the board also has been impressed with the other finalist, the HKS firm from Dallas, which was still making its presentation shortly before noon today.

"We have by far the two best candidates for the job, firms that have designed multi-purpose facilities across the globe," Fields said.


HOK presented BJCC officials with a disc of images showing their ideas of how to tie the dome to a proposed entertainment district to be located across the street on Richard Arrington Boulevard, as well as to the existing BJCC facility. HOK also brought along a wooden model of what the facility would look like.

HKS officials did not provide a model or images of their proposed design, saying they prefer to talk to BJCC officials first to get ideas of how the facility should appear.

[card04]

HOK has done many arenas, and is currently involved with the arena in downtown Louisville. I like their work, the "dome" in Birmingham is a good example of what they can do.

[envgraph]

HOK has done many arenas, and is currently involved with the arena in downtown Louisville. I like their work, the "dome" in Birmingham is a good example of what they can do.


I think I'm pulling for them to win the contract. I want something the whole state can be proud of.

[envgraph]

Railroad, Transit Center and Fair Park set to move forward.

Langford declares month of groundbreakings - Railroad Park, transit center and Fair Park improvements
Monday, December 15, 2008
JOSEPH D. BRYANT
News staff writer

Construction of the Railroad Park downtown, the overhaul of Five Points West, and the creation of a downtown transportation center will all begin next month, Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford said.

Langford said bids for most of the projects are due within days while engineering and architectural services for others have been selected, making it possible for real movement on all three major initiatives.

Langford declared January "a month of groundbreakings."

The Railroad Park, a linear park between downtown and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, will be bordered by residential and commercial development.

Construction was expected last June but city officials said that was delayed by a dispute between the city and Norfolk Southern railroad over property it owns bordering the site.

The railroad company wanted to maintain its claim to a strip of about 90 feet of land that runs out from the railroad tracks and the four-block length of the park.

Three railroad companies had raised ownership rights at the park site earlier this year, prompting the city to file condemnation lawsuits against them. Two companies settled their dispute with the city while Norfolk Southern remained the only company to continue its fight.

The case was referred to the Surface Transportation Board, but Langford recently instructed the park designers to redraw plans around the disputed land instead of holding up the project.

"We've all grown somewhat weary waiting for the Railroad Park to get moving," Langford said. "It's been a long time coming, but I can assure you, once the park gets off the ground, the project will come together in no time, and downtown will never look the same."

The 21-acre green space is between 14th and 18th streets North. The $22 million first phase of the project consists of $12.5 million from the city and Jefferson County and $10 million in private funds.

Giles Perkins, president of the Railroad Park Foundation, formerly known as Friends of the Railroad Reservation Park, said the group is excited the project is back on track and a real construction date is near.

The foundation will operate and maintain the park under an agreement with the city. Perkins' group has led private fundraising for the park.

"We've got some more money to raise, but we've had great success," Perkins said. "Although the economy presents some challenges, we expect to be fully funded."

While Perkins declined to give an exact dollar amount of private money already raised, he said the group was close to reaching its goal.

Both the Railroad Park and the downtown Intermodal Facility have had ceremonial groundbreakings, and Langford said the next groundbreaking will include real construction.

"We have turned the corner and are prepared to move forward with the Railroad Park the first week in January 2009," Langford said.

At Five Points West, the city plans to transform the current Fair Park into a sports-themed residential and commercial district. The complex would include swimming facilities, an indoor track and an equestrian training center. In addition, Langford said the city is recruiting commercial development at the site.

The city is expected to contribute about $50 million to the project and has identified most of its funding.

The funding sources are: $20 million from the general fund, $19 million from the doubling of business license fees, $3 million from sales tax increases, as well as warrant and bond money.

The city has hired Brasfield & Gorrie as the project's construction manager, while Davis Architects was tapped to design the new Fair Park. Bids requested for demolition services are also due this month.

Construction of the Intermodal station, a $32 million expansion of the MAX bus central station that will include Amtrak, Greyhound and airport bus shuttle service, will begin around the same time, the mayor said.

Langford said a committee will select architects and engineers after the Dec. 15 application deadline.

"We're told a decision to name all the players will happen by January 2009 and that the construction on the new Intermodal facility will last 24 months," he said.

The project is expected to be complete in December 2011.

More than $23 million in federal money will build the station, along with the city's $9 million in matching funds that was set aside in January.

Langford identified the money from completed or inactive city projects, and the council approved its new use. The mayor had warned that the city risked losing the federal money if it didn't provide a local match.

E-mail: jbryant@bhamnews.com

[envgraph]

Good Job Birmingam! :banana:

Birmingham gets Davis Cup first-round tennis match
Posted by Solomon Crenshaw Jr. -- Birmingham News
December 17, 2008 9:09 AM


Associated Press


Representatives of the United States Tennis Association are in Birmingham for a 1 p.m. press conference where they will announce that Birmingham will host the first-round Davis Cup match-up pitting the United States against Switzerland and world No. 2-ranked Roger Federer, a USTA official said.

Birmingham won the opportunity to host one of the world's top tennis events, beating out San Antonio, Las Vegas and Greenville, S.C.

The three-day competition will be March 6-8 at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex Arena.

[envgraph]

HOK is the winner!


http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/large_BJCCconcept.jpg
Image Credit - al.com

Fingers crossed!

[card04]

Good choice for B-Ham, so is that the final design for the dome?

[envgraph]

Good choice for B-Ham, so is that the final design for the dome?


It's a preliminary design... they don't even have financing lined up yet. They're projecting a 2012/2013 completion.

[envgraph]

Hoover strengthens Birmingham Region retail dominance with 2 new centers.


Construction starts on Hoover Target project
Store first in 600,000-square-foot center
Birmingham Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper Staff


Construction has started on the SuperTarget store at The Grove, the new retail center in Hoover.

Derek Weaver, president of Apple Development, said he was unable to discuss specific details about the store, but a building permit was recently issued for its construction by Birmingham general contractor Stewart Perry Co. Inc. for $11.6 million.

And with construction started on Target, the rest of the 600,000-square-foot retail center at Interstate 459 and Alabama 150 in Hoover will soon follow, with the remainder of construction on the center slated to start in the new year, said Weaver.

Stewart Perry also will build the bulk of the shopping center, which is scheduled to open in October 2009, he said.

A spokeswoman for Target confirmed the store’s opening date and said it will be approximately 186,000 square feet and employ 200 to 300 people.

Other retailers that have signed on for The Grove include Lowe’s, Kohl’s, Books-A-Million and Petco, with Chick-fil-A and Compass Bank opening in outparcels, he said.

Weaver said he and development partner, Kimco Development, a division of New York-based Kimco Realty Corp. (NYSE: KIM), are currently in negotiations with other big-name retailers – and on sales of outparcels – that should be announced after the first of the year.

Kimco’s Web site states a location for electronics retailer Best Buy is in negotiations.

Hoover Mayor Tony Petelos said he is very pleased to see the shopping center finally come to fruition. Site work started on the 180-acre property last fall.

“The economy is in bad shape and we are hoping by the time it opens, things will have gotten better,” he said.

The booming Hoover area has been hit hard by retail’s downfall in the current recession. With some of the city’s major retail shopping centers within its boundaries, including the Riverchase Galleria and parts of U.S. 280, the city has seen sagging sales tax revenue – a nearly 4 percent drop – in the past year, according to previous reports.

“This is the first time in the history of Hoover that the sales tax has dropped,” he said. “Everybody is feeling the financial crunch out there and it’s affecting all of us.”

But construction starting on developments like The Grove and another mixed-use development in the Chace Lake area should help boost those numbers, he said.

Signature Homes recently started construction on a $100 million mixed-use development at the site of the former Chace Lake Country Club in Riverchase, which will include residential, office and retail.

AIG Baker Shopping Center Properties LLC plans to add retail and a hotel in a third phase of its Village at Lee Branch on 280.

And Petelos said that Watkins Associated Developers is still signed on to build a 100,000-square-foot shopping center near Regions Park, which will be geared toward kids and their families.

Businesses near The Grove are optimistic about what the shopping center and its additional traffic will do for the area, said Richard Nieves, director of marketing at Alacare Home Health & Hospice, which is situated near the entrance of the center.

“Our owners also own South Hall Self Storage, which is in the same building, and we’re looking forward to the added traffic to help our business,” said Nieves.

Road improvements in that area preceded the start of Target’s construction. At the interchange of I-459 and 150, lanes are currently being widened and on the other side of The Grove, a bypass is scheduled to be complete in February to ease the congestion on nearby Sulphur Springs Road.

[Expat Baman]

Yippee, more banal sprawl for Hoover.

[envgraph]

I can't wait to see some progress here...


Heavy construction has started on the Railroad Park
Phase one expected to be done by Christmas'09
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
THOMAS SPENCER
News staff writer

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford marked the beginning of construction of a $25 million downtown Railroad Park Tuesday.

Unlike previous ground-breaking events at the site, heavy equipment, not ceremonial shovels, was moving dirt, and backers expect to have the first phase complete by next Christmas. That includes two lakes, a restaurant and plaza, and trails through a wide expanse of greenspace with views of downtown, UAB and Vulcan. It also would include an amphitheater if a final fund-raising push succeeds.

"Merry Christmas, Birmingham," Langford said, as he viewed reconfigured plans and watched dump trucks and front-end loaders rumble around the 21 acres between 14th and 18th Streets along First Avenue South.

Plans for converting vacant land south of the railroad corridor into a linear park have been floating around for more than a decade.

Langford has long backed the idea and pushed it along. As County Commission president, he pledged $2.5 million toward the project. After waiting for the city to commit, he spurred action again by threatening to pull county funding if the city didn't move forward.

Most recently, Langford and park planners agreed to make changes to the plans so construction could proceed, despite a battle in the courts with Norfolk-Southern Railroad, which claims rights to strips of land within the park boundary.

Giles Perkins, president of the Railroad Park Foundation, said fences will be erected along the disputed land. That will leave off-limits an 87-foot buffer beside the elevated tracks at the north end of the property and a 26 foot-wide corridor down the center of the property. That central right-of-way basically follows the path of Powell Avenue.

Norfolk Southern's claim caused planners to rearrange elements of the park.

The amphitheater, which is being built to accommodate a crowd of 3,000, had to be reoriented. And a large central lake has been split into two lakes on either side of the right of way.

The dispute forced changes that, in some ways, have improved the design, said Chris Giattina, whose architecture firm is designing the park's central building. That building consists of two joined rectangular metal structures, one of which will be elevated. It will include a restaurant, restrooms, a shady terrace and, in the elevated part of the structure, a space for meetings and parties. In the redesign, the restaurant and meeting space will be closer to and have a better view of the lake. Other elements of the park include a trail that will wind through the park, passing a yet-to-be designed children's playground and a Greek-style open-air theater.

At each of the spots where Southside streets meet the edge of the park along First Avenue South, the design calls for entrance plazas, the largest being at the terminus of 17th Street where the central building will be. A strolling garden will run the length of the First Avenue South edge of the park. An interconnected series of small waterways and a biofiltration system will serve as a collection point for stormwater.

The land will be sculpted to provide levels of seating for the amphitheater, and the terrain of the park will rise to the north to hide the large concrete wall below the elevated tracks.

The master plan is being developed by Tom Leader Studio, a landscape design company based in San Francisco, with local firms Giattina Aycock Architecture Studio designing the building, Macknally Ross Land Design working on the landscape and HKW architects designing the amphitheater. Brasfield & Gorrie and Brantley Visioneering Inc. are serving as construction managers.

The park is being paid for with $2.5 million contributed by the county, $2 million in federal money, $7.5 from the city and $9 million to $10 million from private donors. Langford has offered an additional $5 million from the city if the Railroad Park Foundation can raise more for the amphitheater. Perkins said he believes the group will be able to raise enough to complete the project.

The private, nonprofit Railroad Park Foundation will operate and maintain the park under an agreement with the city. The park is seen as a key component needed to link downtown and UAB and provide outdoor recreation for the growing number of people living in converted office buildings and new condominiums in the city center. It is expected to spur further residential and commercial development along its borders. On the north side of the rail corridor the city is building a transportation hub.

"Something like this forces a facelift of the surrounding area," Langford said. "You needed a catalyst to get this done."

E-mail: tspencer@bhamnews.com

[envgraph]

This is an awesome location... I hope the project still goes condo at some point.

Friday, December 19, 2008 | Modified: Wednesday, December 24, 2008, 8:00am
Developer gets green light for Clairmont apartments
Birmingham Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper Staff

The developer of a 247-unit apartment complex on Clairmont Avenue in Birmingham said plans have been approved and construction is slated to begin next year.

The project is a development of an entity controlled by Euro American Advisors and a set of new joint venture partners from Texas, said Mike Carpenter, a principal at Formation Methods LLC, a local company assisting with the project.

Plans for the development shifted with the down economy to rental units from mixed-use with condominiums, but the neighborhood still has its eye on homeownership and approved the plans on the condition they eventually would convert to condos, said a neighborhood representative.

“We wanted a product that could become condos, but the market for condo financing wasn’t there,” said Sam Frazier, a local attorney and president of the Forest Park-South Avondale Neighborhood Association. “So they presented us with plans on how they could convert one bedroom apartments to two bedroom condominiums.”

Frazier said the developers spent a lot of time working with the neighborhood and while many didn’t agree with the final decision for apartments, they did recognize that, because of the amount of money involved in purchasing the land, a fairly intense development needed to go on the site.

The site is directly across from the Highland Park Golf Course and is the former home of several rundown apartment complexes.

The developers recently demolished the apartment complexes after neighbors filed a lawsuit saying the vacant buildings created a hot bed for criminal and drug activity.

With site work underway, Frazier said the immediate concern now is that the older Hackberry trees were cut down in front of the site, along Clairmont Avenue.

“The Hackberry (trees) were cut down by the power company with the blessing of the urban forestry, without consultation,” he said. “The new, younger trees were left alone and the ones that provide canopy were cut down. We are very upset about that.”

Formation Methods’ Carpenter said specific details about the new apartment complex are still being hammered out, including the size and name, and that the project value was scaled back to $35 million to $40 million for apartments from $63 million for mixed-use.

The Clairmont apartment project isn’t the only one in the area that shifted focus in the face of the economic downturn.

One block north, the 700 Condominium building is being marketed as apartments after being completed earlier this year as condos.


Here's a mention about 29seven. Another awesome location.

And in nearby Lakeview, plans for the 29Seven development have changed from condos to apartments but will still have retail space on the lower level. The project is slated to go before the Birmingham City Council next week for final approval on $850,000 in incentives.

The $12 million project will include 56 apartments and 20,000 square feet of retail and dining space.

Representatives from Tampa-based Euro American Advisors and the Texas joint venture partners could not be reached for comment.

An entity controlled by Euro American developed the nearby high-end Capri on Caldwell condominiums off Highland Avenue, which were finished this year amidst the downturn in the residential real estate market and when numerous other local condo projects were nearing completion.

In February of this year, the entity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Prices for the condo units were reduced and a sign outside the building now says all the units are sold.

lbcooper@bizjournals.com | (205) 443-5635

[Expat Baman]

^ Awesome news about construction beginning on the railroad park!

Is the 29seven site where the old Rocky's Pizza building was demolished?

[envgraph]

Is the 29seven site where the old Rocky's Pizza building was demolished?

I think so... I know it's across from The Rare Martini in Lakeview.

[brad0022]

Very sorry if this has been answered or talked about already but dont have time to reread all the pages. Any news about a proposed light rail mass transit system? I read or heard about a possible light rail from somewhere or someone. Montgomery had a serious proposition but money has not been given to the group for studies that Im aware of. I assume B'ham would have made some inroads about it.

[envgraph]

^^ Hoover Mayor Tony Petolas tried last year to work out a deal to use existing rail lines from the Ross Bridge area of Hoover through West Homewood into Downtown Birmingham. The deal fell through because the railroad company was unable/unwilling to share the rails.
Other than that... nothing that I know of?

[envgraph]

Happy New Year! Here's hoping banks open the flood gate and some of these stalled projects can move forward.


Push on for more outdoor seating at downtown Birmingham restaurants

Posted by Michael Tomberlin
Birmingham News
January 02, 2009 7:10 AM

Officials believe more outdoor dining could eat away at negative perceptions of downtown.
Operation New Birmingham and the city's economic development office are working together to streamline the process for restaurants and bars to get sidewalk seating.

More life spilling outside would be good for all of downtown, according to Michael Calvert, ONB president.

"Outdoor dining adds a level of vitality," he said. "I think it is something that enriches the downtown experience."

Although a handful of places offer outdoor dining, Calvert believes areas of downtown could benefit from more sidewalk seating.

One such area is Birmingham Green, the tree-lined stretch of 20th Street North from Morris Avenue to Linn Park.

Calvert is about to get his wish. Cafe Dupont's expansion will include a new bar and a large outdoor dining area. Owner Chris Dupont said he envisions the sidewalk seating giving his restaurant more options when it opens in a few days.

"Our real purpose was to utilize the beautiful large sidewalks we have on 20th Street," Dupont said. "We felt like we could capitalize on a space we have not been using."


Dupont said diners enjoy people-watching and many of them spend much of their days inside offices or cubicles and would rather spend some time outdoors. The weather in Birmingham is not too cold or too hot for more than half of the year, making outdoor seating attractive, he said.

"We are trying to incorporate as many elements as we can to appeal to a large number of customers," Dupont said.

A new bar and outdoor seating will go along with the indoor restaurant and private event space Cafe Dupont already has. Dupont said he feels as though his business did not attract enough events such as wedding receptions last year and hopes the added dimensions will help do that in 2009.

Calvert believes Cafe Dupont's outdoor seating could be a catalyst to others. He likens it to when ONB worked with The Mill (now The Grill) in Five Points South to add outdoor dining.

"That opened everyone's eyes to the potential," he said. "We think Cafe Dupont could do the same thing for Birmingham Green."

Calvert said it was working with Dupont that caused ONB to realize the permitting process could use some improvement.

`Streamlining':

"We've been working with the city to streamline the process," Calvert said. "It's not a difficult process, but there are a lot of steps and forms that have to be completed accurately."

Tracey Morant Adams, director of the Birmingham Mayor's Office for Economic Development, said those looking to add outdoor dining space should find an easier process through the planning and permitting department.

"Our office is assisting in streamlining the process of migrating through the city," she said.

Though no requirements have been cut, the necessary approvals have been pulled together to make it easier, Adams said.

"We want to make it easier," she said. "It's in the city's best interest to make this available to as many businesses as we can."

Critics of downtown have bemoaned its lack of nightlife and weekend activity. Others have criticized the fact that too many choose to drive rather than walk to their destinations during lunch time.

Calvert believes all of those issues could be addressed through sidewalk dining.

"Those accidental meetings on the street of people you know or want to see are what create that downtown atmosphere," he said. "Those outdoor tables are very inviting to people who want to share a drink after work or meet up on the weekend."

Dupont said he would like to see others add outdoor seating or expand what they currently have.

"I would like to see that happening more and more," he said. "The addition of the bar and outdoor seating puts us in another realm of getting more business."

mtomberlin@bhamnews.com

[envgraph]

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0032.jpg

Birmingham’s first LEED Certified structure opened last year and features a rooftop garden that will be the largest among government buildings in the Southeast. The "green roof" consists of up to 85,000 square feet of drought-tolerant vegetation planted in a four to six inch layer of soil, a technique
that reduces heat absorbed by a building and slows the flow of runoff into storm water systems.

[Infoman]

That's messed up that B-ham got a new Social Security Adminastration office but Baltimore didn't (SS is HQ in Baltimore)!!! :lol:

[envgraph]

Oh, but you should have seen the old one. ugghh.

[Infoman]

:lol: you should see ours, the buildings look like old federal 50's building's!!!

http://tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:vRROxj3VVHubfM:http://www.ssa.gov/history/pics/altmeyes.gif

But it's so expansive that it's considered a cbd!!!

[| BRAVO |]

FYI: envgraph = | BRAVO |

I screwed up something severely so Jan set up a new username/account for me. :nuts:

[| BRAVO |]

Woohoohoo for fresh pavement. I hope this includes the streets in UAB. They are HORRIBLE!

Birmingham City Council passes Mayor Larry Langford's paving plan
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
JOSEPH D. BRYANT
News staff writer

The Birmingham City Council Tuesday unanimously passed Mayor Larry Langford's $11.6 million plan to repair all downtown streets and begin paving neighborhood roads.

The 8-0 vote was a reversal for several council members, who just days earlier panned the mayor's plan as not doing enough for neighborhood streets and questioned how it would be financed.

Survey work will begin Thursday on the downtown paving projects and follow soon thereafter in neighborhoods throughout the city, Langford said.

He said the vote was a result of his lobbying council members and further explaining his plan.

"I met with most of the council members on an individual basis, extolling the virtues of the projects," he said after Tuesday's meeting. "The project really stands on its own merits. They did their due diligence and the city will be the biggest beneficiary."

The cost of paving downtown streets will be paid from money collected because of downtown's designation as a tax increment financing district. In a TIF district, when property owners upgrade their land or buildings, they are assessed higher taxes and the extra money is used to improve infrastructure in that district. Langford wants to borrow money from the city's general fund and replace it when TIF money is available.

The cost of paving neighborhood streets will be paid from money in the city's budget for building a 57,500-seat enclosed stadium at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex. Langford said that money isn't yet needed for the stadium.

When Langford proposed last month to pave 26 miles of downtown streets, city officials estimated the job would cost $11.6 million. But the low bid on the project was $5.7 million when bids were opened last week. APAC Mid-South Inc. of Birmingham had the lowest price, a tabulation sheet shows.

Langford says prices are lower than projected because winter is a slow season, and labor and material costs are unusually low because of the weak economy.

"We will never get this kind of price again," Langford said.

The measure passed 8-0, with Councilman Joel Montgomery absent.

Langford asked the council and got the OK to spend the original estimated cost. But now remaining money will be split evenly among the nine council districts to pay for road improvements. That comes to $600,000 per district.

"In this case I must say to the mayor ... I'm in agreement with you," said Councilwoman Valerie Abbott. "I know $600,000 won't go very far, but it's a heck of a lot more than zero dollars will get done."


Councilman Roderick Royal voted for the plan, but he said he'd rather the city select neighborhood roads to be paved using a rating system already in place that ranks each street according to the severity of disrepair. The money shouldn't be divided by district, he said, because streets in worse condition should be paved first, regardless of location.

"This sets up a territorial thing and I'm not comfortable with that," Royal said. "We had a plan and there's no need to reinvent the wheel."

Langford said he would soon meet with council members to discuss which streets they want paved. In addition, he agreed to give the council a list of streets and their ratings.

Councilwoman Carol Duncan said residents, including her constituents, have called and demanded that streets be paved.

"The paving is a critical part of economic development for the city," she said. " It's time to stop doing so much talking and move forward with some of these projects."

Council President Carole Smitherman said last week she supported the paving plan but would only vote for it after receiving verification of the finances. By Tuesday, Smitherman said she was satisfied with the information received.

"The numbers make sense to me," she said. "We will probably be able to accomplish more paving now than we would have later in the year."

Langford said the downtown paving should be completed in March.

E-mail: jbryant@bhamnews.com

[| BRAVO |]

SHELBY BAPTIST MEDICAL CENTER

Construction continues on a $96.4 million bed-tower project with completion projected for July 2009.

[Infoman]

FYI: envgraph = | BRAVO |

I screwed up something severely so Jan set up a new username/account for me. :nuts:

Oh I was thinking were is envgraph, so I stoped posting in this thread!!! :lol:

[| BRAVO |]

^^ Thanks. Yeah I couldn't get online for a couple of weeks because of the problem. But I'm back!


BROOKWOOD PHARMACEUTICALS
Brookwood Pharmaceuticals Inc. plans to invest $40 million to set up a pharmaceutical manufacturing and training facility at the former Saks Inc. headquarters off Lakeshore Parkway. Renovations are underway and should be complete by summer.

[| BRAVO |]

Colonial Properties continued their march last year across suburban Birmingham with the opening of Colonial Promenade Fultondale and Colonial Promenade Tannehill in Bessemer. The developments are the latest in a string of properties by Colonial that help balance the retail market for the north and west parts of the metro. Colonial previously opened two centers in Trussville and two in Alabaster

COLONIAL PROMENADE FULTONDALE
Opened in mid 2008 with anchors Target, BestBuy, Ashley Furniture and JC Penney

COLONIAL PROMENADE TANNEHILL
Opended in late 2008 also with anchors Target, Publix, JC Penney and a theater.

[| BRAVO |]

Two projects were announced for Oxmoor Valley in 2008 in addition to the recently completed Wachovia Data Center. Both anticipate a late 2009/2010 completion:

Southern Company announced plans for an office facility that covers 72,000 to 75,000 square feet at a site in Jefferson Metropolitan Park Lakeshore in the Oxmoor Valley.

Blue Cross announced plans to build data center. The 55,000-square-foot data center is expected to be occupied in 2010

[Infoman]

coool!!!

[| BRAVO |]

An excerpt from this mornings Birmingham News.
I'm super excited to see this structure started.

Children's clearing way for new 'green' hospital
Posted by Anna Velasco -- Birmingham News January 29, 2009 6:31 AM

Children's Hospital launches the wrecking ball this morning to tear down two buildings on the site where it will start construction of a new hospital this spring.

Hospital officials are holding an event at 10 a.m. to mark the moment and announce their plans to build the 12-story, 720,000-square-foot facility as a "green" or environmentally friendly hospital, thanks to a $5 million gift from the McWane Foundation.

[| BRAVO |]

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/large_130TRIN.jpg
Image Credit: al.com

Daniel plans $750 million development on U.S. 280
Posted by Michael Tomberlin -- Birmingham News January 30, 2009 6:44 AM
Birmingham News

Daniel Corp. is moving forward with elements of a $750 million development project at its U.S. 280 campus while it awaits the outcome of Trinity Medical Center's proposed move into the site's unfinished hospital.

Daniel says it is prepared to start development plans at the 103-acre Cahaba Center at Grandview property that it acquired last year from HealthSouth Corp. Those plans include hotels, office buildings, retail shops and parking decks.

"It's going to be one of the biggest commercial developments in the state," Daniel Chief Executive Charlie Tickle said in an interview this week.

[| BRAVO |]

Birmingham lands Alabama's first Mini Cooper dealership.
Cadillac makes the move to Roebuck... Mini Cooper in at Grant's Mill.


Thursday, January 29, 2009, 12:45pm CST
Mini Cooper dealership coming to Irondale
Birmingham Business Journal - by Jimmy DeButts Staff

Irondale is getting the state’s first Mini Cooper dealership.

The pint-sized and fuel efficient cars will be available at the auto mall off Grants Mill Road. The closest Mini dealerships are in Nashville and Atlanta.

The Mini Cooper operation will take the space Tom Williams Cadillac is vacating to relocate to Roebuck. The Cadillac dealership will remain in Irondale for six more weeks and the Mini Cooper lot should be open to the public by late June or early July, according to Sonic Automotive Regional Vice President Jeff Wiggins.

Sonic Automotive, based in Charlotte, owns the Tom Williams Porsche/Audi, Landrover, BMW and Lexus dealerships at the Irondale auto mall. Wiggins said Sonic was awarded Alabama’s first Mini franchise and is excited to bring the car to the state.

“We hate we are giving up Cadillac to do that but it seemed the right thing to do,” Wiggins said.

The 2009 Mini Cooper hatchback has a base price of $22,600 and gets 34 miles per gallon on the highway, according CarandDriver.com. Wiggins said the new dealership will employ between 25-30 with the number of new jobs hinging on how many Tom Williams Cadillac employees move to the Roebuck location.

Renovations for the Mini Cooper dealership will cost at least $500,000 and include a cafe, Wiggins said.

“There isn’t a good place to eat at that exit,” Wiggins said.

[| BRAVO |]

Bass Pro Shops opened in November to the pleasure of many jubilant outdoorsmen. The development includes the 148,000-square-foot Bass Pro store., a hotel and up to three restaurants, all next to a 35-acre public park managed and maintained by Bass Pro Shops. All of which is the beginning of the Grand River (http://www.danielcorp.com/properties/grand-river.html) development.

[| BRAVO |]

I can't wait to see some renderings...

Friday, February 6, 2009
Urban Art museum takes step forward
After decade of talk, Fourth Avenue project gets architect, new hope
Birmingham Business Journal - by Jimmy DeButts Staff

Charlena Jackson sees hope and a chance for urban revival in a chained and vacant Fourth Avenue North lot.

Jackson’s dream of revitalizing the once thriving but long-dormant business district with an $18 million museum dedicated to urban art recently took an important step forward. Jackson, founder and director of the Museum of Urban Art, secured the services of an upstart Birmingham architect/design firm.

The Museum of Urban Art has been mostly an idea for the past decade. And Jackson said her agreement with Place Design Studio LLC will spark interest and bolster fundraising for a museum that will be the nation’s first to recognize urban entertainers and culture. Land for the museum was donated and the city of Birmingham provided $35,000 for operational expenses in its current budget.

Place Design is developing renderings of the proposed five-story facility. Jackson said potential donors are more likely to give when they can see what the 80,000-square-foot facility will look like when completed.

“Even though we’re in Alabama, I feel sometimes we’re like Missouri – you know ‘show me,’” Jackson said. “For some reason it takes that for people to jump on the bandwagon.”

The Museum of Urban Art will include artifacts tracing the history of urban art, culture and entertainment, Jackson said. She said she has commitments from the family of Temptations singer and Birmingham native Eddie Kendricks to deliver his memorabilia collection. The museum will display original works of art and unique wax and bronze statues. It will also feature educational programs, including a library and learning center for children.

The master plan has three phases. It is now in the second phase, which consists of construction of the facility. The final phase includes building a multiplex theater and recording studio.

Place Design, launched 15 months ago by two recent Auburn University graduates, also is developing a strategic plan for the Museum of Urban Art. The renderings are scheduled to be unveiled at an April 28 fundraising gala.

The museum will be the anchor for restoring the decaying district, Place Design co-founder Mike Gibson said. Gibson envisions a parking deck and a mix of commercial and retail establishments sprouting up across the street from the museum.

Birmingham’s northwest corridor greets northbound Interstate 65 travelers. However, its current condition is anything but inviting to potential tourists, Gibson said. And the Museum of Urban Art, located at 1610 4th Ave. North, would be visible to those travelers.

“The northwest side of downtown needs this anchor,” Gibson said. “It should welcome people to Birmingham, but all it is doing now is showing its backside.”

A first-class facility could boost traffic to the Fourth Avenue Business District from tourists visiting the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, Birmingham Civil Rights Institute and 16th Street Baptist Church, Urban Impact Inc. Executive Director Nathan Hicks said. Many visitors would seek out the business district if it included a high-profile destination like the Museum of Urban Art.

“It would be an anchor for this district to bring some traffic to the western part of downtown,” Hicks said. “It would certainly be a plus because it would add to the tourist attractions we have in the district.”

The northwestern quadrant of downtown is ready for redevelopment, Hicks said. He said his group is trying to land a jazz club and restaurant in the district, including the possibility of placing them in the museum.

Cultural and heritage tourism is on an upward swing, according to Carolyn Brackett, senior program associate with the Heritage Tourism Program based in Nashville. She said tracing cultural heritage has become a passion among many Americans and those trackers are desirable visitors.

“The majority of studies in the last 10 years show that cultural heritage travelers tend to stay longer and spend more money,” Brackett said.

Two museum fundraisers are scheduled in the next three months. Jackson said she is hoping the inaugural Black History Bowl on Feb. 28 and the third annual urban art gala in April will generate $50,000.

The museum is working to reach its financial goals, but Jackson believes building the Urban Art Museum is an investment the city will reap rewards from for decades. The museum can resuscitate a downtrodden but salvageable area, Jackson said.

“That is one of our main goals,” Jackson said. “We want to enhance where we are. We want to increase tourism.”


jdebutts@bizjournals.com | (205) 443-5628

[| BRAVO |]

UAB

Construction of the Campus Green project is complete and plans to include a belltower/beacon is still planned.
The tower is expected to be around 112ft tall and have a golden-metallic cap.

[| BRAVO |]

Rumor is The Riverchase Galleria is still gearing up for a major renovation inside and out despite General Growth Partners financial woes. The renovation is in anticipation for Nordstrom opening in 2012. We'll See.

[| BRAVO |]

Not good news... I hope the project is not abandoned. >(

Developer plans to scale back downtown entertainment district
Posted by Roy L. Williams -- Birmingham News February 20, 2009 2:12 PM
Categories: Breaking News

Memphis developer John Elkington told Birmingham convention complex officials today that he plans to scale back his plans for a planned entertainment district in downtown Birmingham because he hasn't been able to get a loan for the project.

Elkington, who heads Performa Entertainment Real Estate, told members of the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex board at a meeting that he has made "major revisions" to his plans for the proposed district of nightclubs, restaurants and retail shops.

"No one will lend $20 to $24 million in an economic climate like this," Elkington said in an interview today.

Elkington said the entertainment district along Richard Arrington Boulevard between 22nd Street North and 24th Street will now be built in phases. The project, called The Forge, has carried various price tags ranging as high as $40 million. �
�

[| BRAVO |]

Growth on 280 is going to be even more astonishing once Trinity gets their CON.

Two hotels are coming to a site in Grandview Corporate Park on U.S. 280.

John Hardin and Michael Randman of Southpace Properties Inc. brokered the $2.15 million sale of 3.7 acres to Paragon Hotel Co., an Anderson, S.C.-based company that manages several hotels with a combined 1,600-plus rooms.

Hardin said the new owners plan to put a Holiday Inn, operated by Intercontinental Hotels Group, and an Aloft, operated by Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

The development will be a second metro location for trendy aloft, which is constructing its first Alabama location near SoHo Square in Homewood.

Grandview Corporate Park is owned and managed by Daniel Corp. The office park is already home to a Marriott and Drury Inn & Suites.
Michael Tomberlin --

[Infoman]

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/large_130TRIN.jpg
Image Credit: al.com

So this isn't built yet? It will be a future development, if so B-ham doin it up!!! :lol:

[| BRAVO |]

^^ It's partially built. The office complex with the partial dome near the center is complete. It is the HealthSouth Headquarters and the hospital in the background is partially complete.
It's a pretty big deal for an already booming part of town.

[Cashville]

Booming being a relative term I guess.

[| BRAVO |]

You don't know jack.
Now go troll another thread a--hole.

[| BRAVO |]

I caught wind today that the city and the Convention and Visitors Bureau have contracted with Corbin Design to develop a new wayfinding and signage package for downtown. Corbin is a very reputable firm and I am excited to see what they develop for us. They have done multiple projects across the South including Atlanta and Oklahoma City.

www.corbindesign.com

[| BRAVO |]

Bayer Properties announced today tenants for its fourth and final phase for The Summit. The new retailers include Juicy Couture, James Avery Jewelry, Brighton Collectibles and Gloss Denim Bar. In addition, the accounting firm of Sellers, Richardson, Holman & West LLP will relocate its two existing Birmingham locations to the office space component of The Summit's expansion.

Meanwhile, over in a more affordable part of town... Apple Development announce Kohl's will be joining SuperTarget, Books-A-Million, and Petco at The Grove development at I-459 and Hwy 150.

Also, as a side note. Five Guys Burgers have a sign in front of the new Chace Lake development in Riverchase. This marks their second restaurant in the Birmingham market.

[| BRAVO |]

Check this out... :)

http://www.placedesignstudio.com/Place_Design_Studio/Museum.html

http://www.placedesignstudio.com/Place_Design_Studio/Museum_files/corner%20perspective.jpg

[Infoman]

Ultra WEIRD!!! I like it... :lol:

[| BRAVO |]

Good Job Birmingham! :banana:

Roddick, U.S. defeat Switzerland in Davis Cup match
Posted by Jon Solomon -- Birmingham News March 08, 2009 5:17 PM
Categories: Davis-Cup

The United States Davis Cup team will leave Birmingham as a winner.
Andy Roddick clinched the first-round, best-of-five tie with an easy 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 victory today over Stanislas Wawrinka, giving the U.S. a 3-1 lead with one match still to be played.

Roddick moved into second place in career U.S. singles victories in Davis Cup play, with his 31st. He passed Andre Agassi and trails leader John McEnroe, who has 41.

The U.S. advances to play at Croatia in the Davis Cup's second round in July the week after Wimbledon. A crowd of 15,118 watched today's match, making Birmingham the most-attended first-round tie in U.S. Davis Cup history.

[| BRAVO |]

BIRMINGHAM-SHUTTLESWORTH INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT
Airport officials hope to begin construction this year of $194 million in renovations. The terminal upgrade calls for a centralized security checkpoint area, a new concourse for future international flights and improvements in baggage screening devices and claim area, food and retail concessions.

Also, new signage should be going up soon for the recently renamed airport in honor of Civil Rights Leader Fred Shuttlesworth.

[Cashville]

Is Fred kin to Jesus Shuttlesworth?

[| BRAVO |]

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/ASFA.jpg

The Alabama School of Fine Arts has plans to construct a Performing Arts Center downtown. I found this rendering on The Garrison Barret Group's website.

[| BRAVO |]

This could be a huge boost for downtown and in particular the BJCC.

Plan proposes sinking interstates in downtown Birmingham, Alabama
Posted by Michael Tomberlin and Ginny MacDonald -- Birmingham News March 26, 2009 6:00 AM
Categories: Breaking News


http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2009/03/326lowerI-59.jpg

Birmingham business leaders will be given a preview this morning of an engineering plan to entrench Interstate 20/59 through downtown and better connect the BJCC to the city center.

A briefing on the plan for the now-elevated stretch of interstate between I-65 and the Elton B. Stephens Expressway was to be given at a breakfast today sponsored by Operation New Birmingham.

Lowering the interstate through downtown was one of several suggestions proposed in 2004 when Pittsburgh-based Urban Design Associates updated ONB's City Center Master Plan.

"This was the project that raised the most eyebrows" in the plan, ONB President Michael Calvert said. "It would also be the most transformative of all the projects."

It would also be the most expensive -- with a projected price tag of up to $700 million. But Calvert said the benefits are worth the cost, considering the existing interstate is within seven years or so of its life cycle and could require up to $125 million to repair or replace.


Calvert said ONB has been pondering the idea even before the 2004 plan and decided to commit to a formal study funded by ONB, the Greater Birmingham Community Foundation, the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex and others.

ONB hired New York-based engineering firm Parsons Brinckerhoff Inc. to conduct a feasibility study. The firm performed engineering work on the similar, though more complex, Fort Washington Way reconfiguration project in Cincinnati.

Chris Hatcher, vice president of planning at ONB, said the results of the study show the project is feasible, and would improve traffic flow between the Red Mountain Expressway and I-65. The lowered stretch would carry four lanes of traffic in each direction.

"In addition to the urban design benefits to the community, it would be safer, add capacity and have a positive environmental impact by minimizing vibration and noise and keeping traffic flowing," he said.

Hatcher said the study found that nearly 20 acres would be reclaimed for development, most of which would be near a 57,500-seat arena and multipurpose facility proposed as part of the BJCC expansion.

But the biggest benefit would be in linking downtown to the BJCC area, supporters say.

"The millions of people attracted to events at the BJCC each year are confronted with an area that is not a pedestrian-friendly atmosphere," Calvert said. "The interstate serves as an unattractive barrier to the cultural, business, hotel and other components of our city."

The plan calls for pedestrian and traffic bridges connecting the BJCC district with the rest of downtown. Longer-range plans could include building block-wide parks that bridge the distance over the lowered interstate, according to the study.

The feasibility study did not specifically address stormwater drainage, but an engineer with Parsons Brinckerhoff said pumping stations likely would be added as has been done in other cities.

Calvert said the plan has been shared with the Birmingham Museum of Art, the Regional Planning Commission, the BJCC and Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford. All are supportive, he said.

"We're going to make every effort to make it happen," Calvert said.

Outdated design

Traffic engineers have said for years that the I-65 and I-20/59 interchange suffers from two major problems: too much traffic and design flaws that require mandatory lane crossovers.

The interchange, built in 1970, is the busiest stretch of road in Alabama with more than 162,000 vehicles traveling it daily.

The Parsons Brinckerhoff plan, if implemented, would eliminate the problem of drivers crossing multiple lanes along the stretch of interstate to reach exits.

The engineering plan points to the dangers of the current design. For example, a motorist gets on I-20/59 southbound at Richard Arrington Boulevard North trying to reach I-65 north. The motorist is entering the interstate in the left lane, then must cross three lanes of traffic in less than a half-mile to get to the I-65 north ramp.

Those lane crossings require drivers to weave, brake and merge continuously through the junction. Merge lanes in the junction are too short for the amount of traffic in the interchange, according to the study.

Parsons Brinckerhoff has worked with similar projects in Cincinnati, Cleveland and Columbus, Ohio; and Asheville, N.C., all cities split by interstates that were built in the 1960s under design standards less stringent than today's.

Local traffic would access the interstate through a series of frontage roads replacing the current system of access and exit ramps.

The proposed roadway system more closely meets current Federal Highway Administration and Alabama Department of Transportation regulations, according to Parsons Brinckerhoff.

Two segments of the interchange are ranked among the state's top five crash sites, according to ALDOT statistics from 2005 to 2007.

Most of the interchange crashes occurred between 7 and 8 a.m. and involved property damage only, and their primary cause was misjudging stopping distance, according to the Parsons Brinckerhoff plan

[Infoman]

Nice...

[| BRAVO |]

I haven't posted in a while. I've been crazy busy at work... which is a good thing :lol:

[| BRAVO |]

This is going to be an awesome addition to Midtown


Construction to start on Block 121 downtown
Birmingham Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper Staff


The developer of CityVille Block 121 near downtown Birmingham said construction on the $33 million project should start next week.

A partnership between Chicago’s Inland American Communities Group Inc. and Birmingham’s Corporate Realty Associates, the development will include 255 apartments and 21,000 square feet of retail space.

Located on the block at 20th Street and First Avenue South, the apartment community is slated to open in mid 2010, said a news release.

Block 121 will feature a swimming pool, clubhouse, Internet lounge, fitness center and secure parking deck and offer lofts, studios and one- and two-bedroom units, said the release.

Birmingham’s BBVA Compass provided the funding, architect is Niles Bolton & Associates, general contractor is Golden & Associates Construction and civil engineer is Schoel Engineering Co.

Corporate Realty also is nearing completion of the Hyatt Place hotel several blocks south of Block 121, which also will include retail space.

Inland American Communities has developed and manages more than 70,000 apartment units, valued at more than $4.25 billion, across the country.

[LSyd]

i like the updates on this page.

-

[TampaMike]

I like the plan to entrench the freeway, very rad idea.

[| BRAVO |]

Good news. Good news. This is going to be an impressive structure.

Children's Hospital expansion to start in May
Birmingham Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper Staff

The 760,000-square-foot expansion planned for Children’s Hospital in Birmingham is set to break ground on May 14, said its director of institutional planning.

Speaking to the Birmingham Commercial Real Estate Women group Tuesday, Christi Napper said construction is set to begin next month, with a patient move-in date scheduled for the third quarter of 2012.

Napper said the expansion is the largest project ever approved by the state’s Certificate of Need board, coming in at $570 million, and will be the first hospital in Alabama to register for LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.

Once complete, the hospital will have 332 patient beds, among other additions, with two unfinished floors for 96 additional beds reserved for future expansion.

The entire Children’s Hospital campus will be connected through a series of elevated walkways and will also link up with the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Women and Infants Center currently under construction nearby, she said.

[Vulcan]

Good news. Good news. This is going to be an impressive structure.

The structure has a huge stature. Although only 14 to 15 floors, it has a huge footprint. I saw the renderings. It's location on the southside - just a few blocks from I-65 will be quite imposing on the skyline. 760,000 square feet will make it among the largest downtown buildings by square footage. Cool design.

[| BRAVO |]

Sitework at Cityville Block 121
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0046-1.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0045-1.jpg


Sitework at Railroad Park
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0047.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0048-1.jpg


Municipal Parking Deck at 5th Avenue North
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0044-1.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0041-1.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0042-1.jpg


The Redmont gearing up for the lunch crowd
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/DSC_0043-1.jpg


More to come soon...

[Vulcan]

Such a variety of projects happening. That RR Park will be suck a catalyst for that old warehouse district. It's like taking Downtowns worst eyesore and turning it into the best part. I drove by there last week. It's such a contrast between the new park being developed and the surrounding area - block after block of old brick warehouses. i think the first pahse of the park will be eight blocks long by three block wide. The second phase should take it all the way out to the Stephens Expressway - practically stretching all the way across the downtown core.

[| BRAVO |]

^^ I agree. There are several interesting projects under way. I'm excited to see what develops around the Railroad Park.
I know B&A Warehouse is poised to reap some rewards for sure.

[Vulcan]

Planned by nationally acclaimed park planner, Tom Leader, Birmingham's Railroad Park will re-define the development patterns of downtown Birmingham - taking a blighted warehouse district between UAB and Birmingham's financial district and making it into an open recreational / greenspace.

Monitor its construction at:

http://www.railroadpark.org/webcam.html

[Stuck in Bama]

McCalla chosen as site of cargo hub
New terminal on 316 acres near McAdory
Saturday, July 11, 2009
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer

Norfolk Southern will invest $112 million on a new cargo-loading terminal on 316 acres in McCalla, where some residents have formed a group to oppose it.

The railroad company ended speculation about the exact location of the facility at Friday's announcement, saying construction at the site near McAdory Elementary School will start early next year. The hub, where shipping containers will be unloaded from trucks and placed on rail cars, should open in 2012.

Norfolk Southern spokesman Rudy Husband said the economic impact could reach $4 billion by 2020, most of that in the area around the facility. In that same time period, the hub is expected to create 600 direct jobs and lead to as many as 8,000 spinoff jobs.
"Intermodal facilities are great economic development incubators," Husband said. "They create jobs. They create investment."

Economic development officials have been trying to land the hub for three years. Patrick Murphy, who heads economic development for the area's primary business group, said ripples from the project could be significant.

"This is going to enhance our opportunities as we try to bring light manufacturing and logistics operations here," Murphy said.

He said companies needing to be close to the facility could build distribution centers nearby. Companies looking to assemble parts into products will also be attracted by the prospect of getting those parts quickly through the facility, he said.

"We will be marketing this facility heavily going forward," Murphy said. "This gives us a real leg up."

The terminal will be built on land across from Jefferson Metropolitan Park McCalla and adjacent to Norfolk Southern's rail line on what is mostly farm land. The southwestern edge of the site is adjacent to the school.

The facility will be served by six intermodal trains a day, two more than now run on the Norfolk Southern tracks in McCalla. The hub will have three loading tracks and be able to handle 165,000 truck trailers and shipping containers a year.

[Vulcan]

Simulated savannah to house elephant study at Birmingham Zoo
Posted by William Thornton -- Birmingham News July 27, 2009 6:00 AM
Categories: Must See


Birmingham Zoo CEO Bill Foster shows the zoo's giraffes a model of the Trails of Africa addition.The Birmingham Zoo will break ground Wednesday on a $12.5 million Trails of Africa exhibit, a simulated savannah setting which will serve as home to what zoo officials are calling a one-of-a-kind elephant exhibit.
The project, expected to take 12 to 18 months, will add 14 acres to the zoo with possibilities for night simulated safaris and interactive exhibits.

The planned elephant exhibit will allow the zoo to become a center of study for male elephants, zoo CEO Bill Foster said.


"We're biting off a really big bite to focus on males. We're going to be the first zoo to try this," Foster said.

Trails of Africa will be the first addition to the zoo since it finished the Children's Zoo wing in 2005. Plans were announced in 2007, but construction is moving ahead after the city of Birmingham committed $1.5 million a year for the next decade to the zoo. That will help pay for the African exhibit as well as maintaining zoo operations. The zoo raised half of the cost for Trails through private donors.

The zoo has not yet secured a contractor, but Foster said work should begin in October. The zoo originally planned a more elaborate exhibit two years ago, but Foster said the facilities design allows the zoo to "grow" into it.

For the groundbreaking event Wednesday, zoo officials have planned various African touches, such as safari guides, African music and exhibits, and a video presentation on what the exhibit will look like, said Katrina Cade, the zoo's vice president of marketing. The event kicks off at 10 a.m.

Trails of Africa will allow elephants, giraffes, zebras, hippos and ostriches to roam around in areas similar to their native habitat. What zoo officials envision for the exhibit is a combination of interactive exhibits to get visitors closer to the animals, and a familiar environment for the animals to interact with each other.

Also included in the plans is the "Boma Yard," an area where zoo visitors can interact with the animals as they learn more about them. There will also be a Safari Cafe, restrooms and other amenities. In the future, the zoo will offer nighttime exhibits with "enhanced moonlight" to allow visitors to see animals not having to cope with daytime heat.

"It will take a little bit of time to get it all assembled," Foster said. "It won't all come together opening day. But it will be exciting, because it's a new way of exhibiting animals in a natural setting."

'Bachelor herds'

The centerpiece of the exhibit will be elephants, which the zoo has been without for two years. Elephants, Foster explained, travel in largely female-dominated herds. Young bull male elephants travel in smaller "bachelor herds" that roam free. While scientists know a great deal about the female herds, they are only now focusing on male groups. Most zoos have female herds, he said.

It will also allow zoologists to study, for example, how elephants communicate with each other. Scientists believe elephants use low frequency vibrations to send messages to assemble herds, disperse, or direct other elephants to travel to specific areas. If scientists can gain a better understanding of how elephants communicate, they might be able to direct elephants away from populated areas, he said.

"Elephants are in peril," Foster said. "What we will be doing here will impact how elephants are understood throughout the world."

The zoo has already identified three male elephants at zoos in Indianapolis, Pittsburgh, and Disney's Animal Kingdom in Florida for relocation to Birmingham. As construction on the exhibit progresses, the zoo could begin transporting animals within the next year. Foster said the elephants may be shipped to a different site to become familiar with each other before they arrive in Birmingham.

[Vulcan]

http://media.al.com/spotnews/photo/1004airprtcjpg-3edb0ed4bc008c6b_medium.jpg

http://media.al.com/businessnews/photo/airport-terminaljpg-749d3f97403b7d0b_large.jpg


$193 million overhaul planned for Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport terminal
By Ginny MacDonald -- The Birmingham News
October 04, 2009, 12:37PM

The Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport is planning a major renovation of its terminal, which will add a new boarding gate and customs office, with construction to begin in January 2011.

Remodeling the terminal is estimated to cost $193 million. The parking deck also will be refurbished.

The airport master plan calls for $351 million in improvements by 2014, but airport officials are hesitant to put a price tag on the planned renovations until money is secured.



[See the graphic in PDF]
"Funding is the key," said airport director Al Denson. "We really do not have a definite cost yet. We have to set priorities and determine funding."

The authority must negotiate with the Federal Aviation Administration, Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration to get funds. It is also seeking approval of the proposed renovations from the seven airlines that use the airport. Officials must also determine how passenger facility charges, which are estimated to bring in $5.8 million this year, will be used in the renovation. Then officials head to the bond market.

The authority has hired construction firms Brasfield & Gorrie and Formation Methods to determine the extent of the renovations and the cost. That should take about a year, with construction beginning in 2011.

Key changes

Highlights of the planned renovations include the addition of a concourse near the existing cargo terminal; a new apron, the paved area to park planes; and offices for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Security checkpoints and concessions will be moved to the first floor. Passengers leaving and arriving will be separated, and passenger and luggage screening will be centralized and concealed.

"Birmingham needs this project," Denson said. "I am very bullish on what we can do at this airport. It's not just an airport project, but a community. This is the hub of the community." MORE

[Vulcan]

$193 million overhaul planned for Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport terminal
By Ginny MacDonald -- The Birmingham News
October 04, 2009, 12:37PM

The Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport is planning a major renovation of its terminal, which will add a new boarding gate and customs office, with construction to begin in January 2011.

Remodeling the terminal is estimated to cost $193 million. The parking deck also will be refurbished.

The airport master plan calls for $351 million in improvements by 2014, but airport officials are hesitant to put a price tag on the planned renovations until money is secured.



[See the graphic in PDF]
"Funding is the key," said airport director Al Denson. "We really do not have a definite cost yet. We have to set priorities and determine funding."

The authority must negotiate with the Federal Aviation Administration, Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration to get funds. It is also seeking approval of the proposed renovations from the seven airlines that use the airport. Officials must also determine how passenger facility charges, which are estimated to bring in $5.8 million this year, will be used in the renovation. Then officials head to the bond market.

The authority has hired construction firms Brasfield & Gorrie and Formation Methods to determine the extent of the renovations and the cost. That should take about a year, with construction beginning in 2011.

Key changes

Highlights of the planned renovations include the addition of a concourse near the existing cargo terminal; a new apron, the paved area to park planes; and offices for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Security checkpoints and concessions will be moved to the first floor. Passengers leaving and arriving will be separated, and passenger and luggage screening will be centralized and concealed.

"Birmingham needs this project," Denson said. "I am very bullish on what we can do at this airport. It's not just an airport project, but a community. This is the hub of the community."

[| BRAVO |]

Much needed renovation...
http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/UAB_Cancer.jpg
Image Credit: al.com/Birmingham News/Linda Stelter

UAB cancer center building gets revamp
By Jeff Hansen -- The Birmingham News
December 30, 2009, 6:00AM

In the past month, construction crews at UAB's Wallace Tumor Institute have cut a hole in the roof and holes in the top two floors. Twenty-by-25-foot holes.

Next month the third and fourth floors will also get holes. Removing those areas will make the building at Sixth Avenue South and 19th Street a more effective and efficient research center, architects and researchers say.

Dr. Ed Partridge first saw the construction progress earlier this month.

"I was just blown away," said Partridge, director of the UAB Comprehensive Cancer Center. "It looks like it will become the prime real estate at UAB. Before, the building was pretty close to the bottom."

What had been wrong?
The building was a maze of corridors and small individual rooms. This has a chilling effect on collaboration, the chance meetings and conversations that can vault research forward.

"Collaboration is incredibly important," Partridge said. "As our understanding of the cellular mechanisms grows, the complexity just grows more and more. It's difficult for any single scientist to have all the answers."

To foster interaction, workers are creating a pillar of naturally lit space in the middle of the Tumor Institute, topped by a skylight on the roof. On each research floor, glass-walled offices will face the open well, and there will be space for a glass-walled conference room and common areas. State-of-the-art open research labs will wrap around the outsides of the floors.

'It's transformative'
Binx Newton, the project architect with Williams Blackstock Architects in Birmingham, said that when workers cut the holes in the top two floors with concrete saws, "it just got really exciting. You can see the next level; you can hear things on the next level."

Partridge's reaction was, "Man, it's transformative. It's just so open."

"With this space we are going to have a serious recruitment tool" to attract top researchers to UAB, he said. "Scientists are really going to like this."

Williams Blackstock collaborated on the project with Payette, a large architectural firm from Boston. Payette, which specializes in heath care projects nationally, is a leader in innovative designs for medical research laboratories.

The first phase of the $30 million renovation -- the top four floors -- is scheduled to be finished by November.

The second phase, rebuilding the bottom two floors to create a two-story lobby and space for administration, patient information and support services, will finish by August 2011.

That phase will also be dramatic.

Right now, visitors on the outside sidewalks see a brick wall. "It's difficult to find the front door," said Partridge. "There really is no front door."

The second phase will change that to a two-story glass front wall that wraps around the building on Sixth Avenue South and part of 19th Street.

Not hidden
"The idea is to open the building to the street where you can see into the lobby," said Joel Blackstock, principal architect with Williams Blackstock. The renovation will "provide a sense of identity for the Comprehensive Cancer Center, a great organization that's hidden away right now."

The center's research and administrative functions will be consolidated in the renovated Wallace Tumor Institute.

When the project is complete, the building will be open to the rest of the medical campus, giving the Comprehensive Cancer Center an identifiable location in the heart of the medical community, a site that Blackstock says is "like beachfront property," where clinical research can be done adjacent to the neighboring hospitals.

The Comprehensive Cancer Center has 228 basic scientists, 72 clinical science investigators and 56 people who work in cancer control. Last year its researchers garnered $139 million of research funding from outside sources, Partridge said in his annual report last month.

[krazeeboi]

Wow, that building will look tons better after the renovation.

[| BRAVO |]

Wow, that building will look tons better after the renovation.

You're not kiddin'

[| BRAVO |]

Here's a few views of Downtown's Railroad Park Amphitheater currently under construction.

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/large_HKWRender-1-Stage.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/large_HKWRender-3-Rear-of-Amphithea.jpg

http://s181.photobucket.com/albums/x264/hallman02/large_HKWRender-4-Restaurant.jpg

Image Credit: HKW Associates and KVA

[| BRAVO |]

It's good to be the benefactor sometimes...

With Walter Energy's departure, Tampa Bay area loses clout

By Robert Trigaux, Times Columnist
In Print: Thursday, September 10, 2009

So the company that was Jim Walter Homes that became Walter Industries and is now Walter Energy is calling it quits in Tampa after 60-plus years. The move to Birmingham will put Walter Energy an hour's drive from its Alabama coal mines, now its core business.

Not that Walter's much of a Tampa Bay corporate player or big local employer lately.

So why do we care if Walter's jumping ship for B'ham?

Try these five reasons:

1. Clout. Metro areas like Tampa Bay and Birmingham scrap daily for economic credibility against other metro areas. Economic development officials insist, vehemently, that metro areas that boast a bevy of major corporate headquarters gain big advantages. They can attract new business more easily. And they enjoy the executive and institutional power that makes communities higher-quality places to live and work.

"Corporate headquarters? Yes, they are always important," says Stuart Rogel, CEO of the Tampa Bay Partnership economic development group.

"Where it matters is in the headquarters' professional staff and their roles in the community, and their significant others' roles in the community," says John Long, CEO of the St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce. It is the stark difference, he says, between the clout of a headquarters budget vs. some company's regional budget.

2. One-upmanship. Walter Energy ranked as one of Tampa Bay's top 10 public corporations by revenue. The company's decision to relocate to a metro area less than half the size of Tampa Bay is a major coup for Birmingham. And it is a blow to Tampa Bay's corporate bench strength and ego.

3. Wealth transfer. Walter Industries, as the company was known last fall, saw its stock price drop during the market free fall to $11 a share. Since then, a renamed Walter Energy, refocused on mining metallurgical coal used for steel, has watched its stock price approach $60. In 10 months, Walter's market value has increased from about $560 million to $3 billion. That remarkable record of wealth building will now benefit Birmingham.

4. Historical depth. Walter's roots run deep in the Tampa Bay area, since the end of World War II. Walter's been a Fortune 500 member for 40 of those years, an impressive run for a Florida corporation.

5. Business retention. Nobody in Tampa Bay economic development — not the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce or its affiliated Committee of One Hundred business recruiting arm or the Tampa Bay Partnership — had a clue that Walter Energy was preparing to jump ship. (For that matter, Alabama was barely ahead of the curve. Walter decided with little input to relocate closer to its main business.)

"I wish they were all this easy," said a beaming Jim Searcy, vice president of business and industry retention at Birmingham Business Alliance.

How did our business eyes and ears miss departure signs at Walter? Because Walter had lost touch with the business community here? Or because the business community failed to stay in touch with one of its own?

It's doubtful it would have made any difference in Walter's decision. But it's better to shake hands and wave goodbye than to eat Walter's dust on its way out of town.

Robert Trigaux can be reached at trigaux@sptimes.com.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: In Thursday's Robert Trigaux column, Alabama business recruiter Jim Searcy works for the Birmingham Business Alliance. The name of his employer was misidentified.

[Eagle Empire]

Ampitheater renderings look great!:cheers:

[Stuck in Bama]

Downtown Birmingham's Pizitz building set to get makeover
By Michael Tomberlin -- The Birmingham News
January 29, 2010, 7:00AM

Bayer Properties' $60 million renovation of the landmark Pizitz building in downtown Birmingham will begin moving ahead this summer, after a major law firm agreed to take nearly one-third of the office space in the project.

The developer said Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz will be the lead tenant in the long-awaited redevelopment.

The firm will lease 55,000 square feet of the building's 169,000 square feet of office space and move its 140 employees from the Wachovia Tower once the renovation job is completed in 2012.

Bayer, best known in Birmingham for its Summit retail center, also plans to move its 50 headquarters jobs into Pizitz, claiming15,000 square feet of the office space.

"We believe the redevelopment of this project is a transformational milestone for downtown Birmingham," Bayer principal David Silverstein said Thursday.
Landing the law firm for the project has been in the works for several months, Bayer officials said, and having that lease in hand paves the way for the rebirth of one of downtown's highest profile buildings.

Once renovated, the seven-story, 211,000-square-foot building at 1821 Second Ave. North also will have 23,000 square feet of street-level retail and restaurants, including a grocery with a cafe. The attached private parking deck is also part of the project.

Bayer intends to both modernize and preserve the building, which dates to 1923 and was the flagship for the Pizitz family department store chain before the downtown location closed in 1988.

Bayer purchased the vacant building in 2000 for $1.6 million. Last spring,
Bayer got a low-interest, short-term $1 million loan from the city of Birmingham for the project. The law firm said it wanted to be part of a project that will revitalize a key part of downtown.

"Baker Donelson has a long tradition of active involvement in and commitment to downtown Birmingham, beginning with Abe Berkowitz's important work in the civil rights movement," Tim Lupinacci, managing partner at the firm, said in a prepared statement. "Relocation to the Pizitz building offers us not only state-of-the-art facilities for our offices, but also allows us to be an active participant in a powerful, positive change to this side of downtown."

Historic location

The building stands across Second Avenue from the McWane Science Center with its Imax Theater and is a block from the Alabama Theatre, the Red Mountain Theatre Company's Cabaret Theatre on the bottom floor of the historic Kress building, and the shuttered Lyric Theater.

"The Pizitz building historically stood at the center of Birmingham's commercial and theater district and, we plan on cementing a new history for the building as an epicenter for work and play in the city, propelling the revitalization of the arts and theater district," Silverstein said.

Silverstein said the renovation will create 800 construction jobs over two years and will boost real estate tax collections in Birmingham by $280,000 annually and sales taxes by $270,000 each year. When fully leased, the building will be home to 600 workers generating $350,000 each year in occupational taxes for Birmingham, he added.

The National Park Service has granted Bayer "historic preservation certification" status for the Pizitz redevelopment, making the project eligible for federal tax credits. Bayer Properties also is expected to pursue other incentives for the project because of its projected economic benefit.
Bayer plans to restore the building's original architectural elements such as the terra cotta facade, the mezzanine and the storefront display windows. Where renovation is not possible, elements of the original building will be reproduced in exacting detail to match the original, Silverstein said.

Going green

Bayer also will seek a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, signaling that it has used energy-saving technologies. The building will have 24-hour video surveillance and fiber optic networks.

Birmingham's KPS Group is the architect on the project, charged with recreating the original work of Harry B. Wheelock, who designed other prominent Birmingham buildings, including St. Paul's Cathedral and the Burger Phillips office tower.

The project moving from the planning stage to action represents a milestone, said Michael Calvert, president of Operation New Birmingham, a group dedicated to downtown rejuvenation.

"The Pizitz building is an icon in downtown Birmingham," Calvert said. "Its renovation will energize the entire surrounding area."

Calvert said a revived Pizitz will pave the way for private investment between the central business district and Innovation Depot, the business incubator in the 1500 block of First and Second avenues north.

"Having 600 people working in that building will have a positive impact on the ambiance of that part of downtown," Calvert said. "I'm confident Bayer, which developed the Summit, will be able to bring restaurants and retail that will enhance and animate the area."

http://media.al.com/businessnews/photo/pizitz-rendering---city-cafe-marketjpg-9a874d771959ee77_large.jpg

[Johnny Ryall]

Memphis Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper of the Birmingham Business Journal

Baker Donelson’s Tim Lupinacci and Bayer Properties’ David Silverstein worked out the first lease deal on the long-vacant Pizitz department store building. The inset picture is from the store’s heyday in 1949.
http://assets.bizjournals.com/story_image/676181-0-0-1.jpg

Law firm Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC said it intends to make the redeveloped Pizitz Building in downtown Birmingham its new home. The Memphis-based firm has signed a letter of intent to move approximately 140 employees from its local office at the Wachovia Tower on 20th Street North to 55,000 square feet in the Pizitz Building at Second Avenue North, or the top two floors, said Tim Lupinacci, Baker Donelson’s managing partner. The firm has until May to make a full commitment, he said, while an option to sign another 10-year lease is still on the table at Wachovia Tower.

Baker Donelson’s announcement, though, is a major step in getting the long-talked-about $60 million renovation of the cornerstone Pizitz Building off the ground, said David Silverstein, principal of developer Bayer Properties. Silverstein said Bayer Properties, too, will move its headquarters from Southside to 15,000 square feet in the downtown building, relocating about 50 employees. And the development team currently is in talks with a local gourmet grocery store and café to locate on the ground floor.

Baker Donelson’s Lupinacci said the law firm is excited to be part of a major renovation that will expand the city center, and it allows the firm to show its commitment to Birmingham. Memphis' largest law firm recently made a similar commitment to downtown Nashville, when it renewed and expanded its lease in the Commerce Center building. Baker Donelson signed a 96,000-square-foot, 10-year lease in that building, where it received naming rights and building signage. The firm received recognition last week from Fortune magazine. It was named No. 77 on the magazine's "100 Best Companies to Work For" list. The magazine also named Baker Donelson as the nation's top paying company: The firm’s 279 “shareholder” attorneys, or partners, earn salaries averaging $319,779 a year. Fortune chose its top paying firms from its Best Companies list.

In Birmingham, redevelopment plans for the former department store include transforming nine floors into 169,000 square feet of office space, 23,000 square feet of retail and improvements to an adjoining 375-space parking deck. Construction is set to begin this summer and the state-of-the-art – and sustainably designed and constructed – building will reopen its doors in 2012. Until the summer, Silverstein said Bayer Properties will continue to prelease the building and work with various lenders to finalize financing for the project. He did not disclose rental rates for the property, but said they were competitive with the area. Bayer bought the former department store property in 2000 from the Pizitz family, with plans to rehab the vacant building. Since then, the building has obtained Historic Preservation Certification status from the U.S. National Park Service and the project has received historical tax credits, New Market Tax Credits and a $1 million loan from the city’s Economic Stimulus Loan Program for the project’s design, said Silverstein.

The Pizitz Building was constructed in 1923 and was home to the major department store Pizitz until it closed its doors in 1988, when the family-owned chain was bought by McRae’s. In addition to the building’s rich history in downtown retail commerce, its surrounding sidewalks were the scene of demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement in the city. Silverstein said the building will be added to the new Civil Rights Trail that winds its way through the city.

Bayer estimates the $60 million redevelopment project will create 800 jobs during construction and house 600 once it opens, representing about $350,000 in occupational taxes to the city for the permanent jobs. Annual real estate taxes are estimated at more than $280,000 and annual sales tax revenue is expected to be more than $270,000.

[Vulcan]

V. Richards expanding to Birmingham's Pizitz Building
By Michael Tomberlin -- The Birmingham News
March 12, 2010, 7:00AM

Pizitz Rendering - City Cafe Market
The operator of V. Richards Market plans to open a 6,000 square foot grocery store, cafe and restaurant in the ground floor of downtown's Pizitz Building, which is being renovated in a $60 million project.

V. Richards is the first retail tenant to sign on with Bayer Properties' revival of the landmark building at 1821 Second Ave. North. The move also answers the frequent call for a downtown grocery from residents and workers.

V. Richard "Rick" Little Jr., president of the company that owns the V. Richards store in Forest Park, said the Pizitz project was attractive for him after a decade of proposals from others fell short.

"We've been approached for 10 years to come downtown," Little said Thursday. "We never really had the opportunity to be in the right situation."

For Little, the right situation means as many as 700 people working in the building, Bayer's solid reputation in retail development, and the lure of a one-of-a-kind edifice like the Pizitz.

Jeffrey Bayer, principal with Bayer Properties, said that a built-in market of potential shoppers is attractive to him as a retail developer. That's why his company is approaching the leasing of the ground floor of the Pizitz the same way it would The Summit, which it also developed.

"This is the equivalent of a small shopping center and not a one-off store, which is what was attractive to V. Richards and we expect will be attractive to other restaurants and retailers," Bayer said. "We're offering them a built-in clientele with the office tenants on top of the ability to capture more customers from those who live and work downtown and at UAB."

Little said his Pizitz store will be similar to the Forest Park location with typical grocery store sections and bakery, deli and meat departments. He said the cafe will be large to accommodate breakfast and lunch crowds and the dining area will be converted into a white tablecloth restaurant at night. An outdoor, sidewalk seating area also is in the plans.

The store also will offer catering services for corporate breakfasts, lunches and dinner parties. Birthday and specialty cakes for downtown offices and residents will be available.

Little said there are plans for fruit, vegetable and flower stands on the sidewalk, a feature found in other cities. Like its Forest Park store, the Pizitz location will offer grocery deliveries to area residents and a curb-side service for customers wanting to grab pre-ordered goods.

Bayer said he expects V. Richards to have broad appeal.

"This is not a store just for an elite few," Bayer said. "We wanted a store that would appeal to everybody from those who live in loft penthouses and those who live in Park Place (a mixed income housing community) and those who work downtown. We found that with V. Richards."

Little owns the grocery store business with his wife and 30-year-old son, a third-generation grocer in the family. Little said the Pizitz store builds on a business that includes other stores operated by the company -- Catherine's Market at Lake Martin and Enzo's Market set to open this fall in Chattanooga. V. Richards briefly operated a Homewood location a few years ago.

"This is a big step for our little company," Little said about the Pizitz move.

Bayer's plans for the seven-story, 211,000-square-foot Pizitz Building call for offices on the upper six floors and 23,000 square feet of street-level shops and restaurants. Three of the six office floors are leased, putting the project on pace for the start of renovation work by year's end. Completion is slated for 2012.

The Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz law firm is the building's lead tenant with plans to take 55,000 square feet, while architecture firm KPS Group has signed on to take 15,000 square feet. Bayer Properties also plans to relocate its headquarters there.

V. Richards is the first tenant committed to the project that is expanding with a new location rather than relocating from another part of downtown.

Michael Calvert, president of Operation New Birmingham, said the move should satisfy downtown loft residents and others who have called for a convenient grocery store.

"I think it would meet a major portion of the demand," Calvert said Thursday. "It would be a major amenity and one we've been seeking for a long time."