Metro Birmingham Projects List

[convulso]

UAB is a monster, and is becoming an even bigger monster.

don't know if that's viewed as a positive or negative, but i view it as a positive.

anyone noticed the skyline changing? driving south on i-65, bham almost looks like it has a downtown and an honest-to-god midtown. uab has gotten that dense. not that i would expect much more height in the area of a university, but there has been a definite build-out all around uab. from a distance it gives the city an impression of having more than one area of concentrated activity (even if most downtown activity is still of the daylight sort).

[convulso]

Blazer, I realize that the northern beltline is a done deal and has been for a while. I-459 drove most of the massive southward movement from the mid-80s onward, and the northern beltline will likely have the same impact. I doubt it will have much impact on the southern sprawl area, it will likely finish off Pinson, Center Point, Hueytown and such areas. The older areas, Wylam, Ensley, Woodlawn etc. will stay dead for years to come and the dead zone will extend to the older auto suburbs like Center Point.

Birmingham has sprawled further than much larger Boston already, and it will only get worse. The other 3 major cities in AL are on the same path. ALDOT doesn't do transit.

no one ever agrees 100% with anything, but i do with this (and your previous comment). not to add fuel to any fires...

[Blazer85]

- The Clay city council approved a large residential development that would bring about the construction of about 479 new homes in northeastern Jefferson County.

[Blazer85]

A new office/retail development has been proposed for Gardendale (separate from the $50M Caufield Square Promenade in Gardendale). It is to be called "The Plaza at Fieldstown Road"

- There will be two buildings behind Waffle House (north of Fieldstown Road and west of Mt. Olive Road). One will be a stand-alone restaurant & the other a 2-story retail building with shops, offices, and another restaurant. Total square footage: 60,000

Picture:

[Blazer85]

- 25 new homes are to be built in the Fountain Heights neighborhood in Birmingham at 14th Avenue and 16th Street North. The homes will be funded as part of the Hope VI project.

[Blazer85]

Colonial Promenade Fultondale (Under Construction)

[kayman]

Colonial Promenade Fultondale (Under Construction)

Honestly, I don't know if I should applaud or shake my head. I want Birmingham to grow but sprawl is becoming a real problem.

[Blazer85]

This location is only 1-mile north of the Birmingham city limits. Fultondale is really growing, and therefore, if development can continue and even spill over into north Birmingham, it becomes a VERY good thing. This area also falls within the future Northern Beltline, so any development within there is good news to me. This also may help in preventing the ever-southward-creeping population center.

Edited June 29, 2006 by Blazer85

[Blazer85]

- UAB bought the Parliament House and plans to raze it to make way for further additions to the UAB campus. Thank goodness... what an eyesore that building had become.

[Blazer85]

- Colonial Properties is working to secure 4-5 anchor tenants for their $60M mixed-use development at I-459, Eastern Valley, and Pocahontus Road. The 87-acre development will include hotels, a movie theater, and retail. Developers say it will be something on the scale of The Summit. Good deal for Bessemer. Construction expected to start in November.

[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)

- The Downtown Business Association now has a new website up and running. Check it out: http://www.downtownbirmingham.org/

[kayman]

That sounds excellent. I'm glad to hear more about the Entrepreneur District around the old Sears Building. I hope that will eventually boom into a 4-block research park.

Edited July 6, 2006 by Leonard23

[convulso]

my heart beats a little faster every time i read news like this. thanks for posting it.

[A2]

Guys I know this has probably already been highlighted in this thread, but what is being built around the "bend on I-59" once you leave Center City heading towards the I-65 ramp going to Montgomery. There are Two Cranes constructing a bldg. very close to the old concrete plant. I went by last weekend when I was in the "Salty Ham" visiting family. It was a quick trip from CLT, but I was really excited when I saw the two cranes. I thought that it might be the The Southern Power Co Expanding, am I right?

Please excuse my ignorance and lazyness for not searching all through this thread.

A2

Edited August 12, 2006 by A2

[AlabamaGuy2007]

Guys I know this has probably already been highlighted in this thread, but what is being built around the "bend on I-59" once you leave Center City heading towards the I-65 ramp going to Montgomery. There are Two Cranes constructing a bldg. very close to the old concrete plant. I went by last weekend when I was in the "Salty Ham" visiting family. It was a quick trip from CLT, but I was really excited when I saw the two cranes. I thought that it might be the The Southern Power Co Expanding, am I right?

Please excuse my ignorance and lazyness for not searching all through this thread.

A2

I don't know if I'm getting the name right, but it's the new Federal Reserve Building? It's supposed to be a twin tower sorta thing, not anything really tall, but very asthetically pleasing. A "Green" building.

[Blazer85]

A2... what you're referring to is the new Social Security Administration Building. It'll be 8-stories tall, but will be built on a very large footprint. The new SSA building will have nearly 600,000sqft.

AlabamaGuy... the Federal Reserve project by Melaver is somewhat near where A2 is talking about, but cranes have not yet been put up for this project. The Federal Reserve project will be about 14-stories tall.

[AlabamaGuy2007]

A2... what you're referring to is the new Social Security Administration Building. It'll be 8-stories tall, but will be built on a very large footprint. The new SSA building will have nearly 600,000sqft.

AlabamaGuy... the Federal Reserve project by Melaver is somewhat near where A2 is talking about, but cranes have not yet been put up for this project. The Federal Reserve project will be about 14-stories tall.

Haha, thanx for correctin me, I was trying to retrieve that from my memory, but it didn't come out right.

[A2]

A2... what you're referring to is the new Social Security Administration Building. It'll be 8-stories tall, but will be built on a very large footprint. The new SSA building will have nearly 600,000sqft.

AlabamaGuy... the Federal Reserve project by Melaver is somewhat near where A2 is talking about, but cranes have not yet been put up for this project. The Federal Reserve project will be about 14-stories tall.

Thanks so much Blazer85! I knew one of you Urban Junkies would be able to satisfy my curiosity.

A2

[Shawn35816]

I passed by yesterday on the way to the ATL and was wondering about those cranes too. It looks like they're up the about the 4th level. It'll be nice to see the effect the two buildings have on the skyline in the next year or so.

Edited August 14, 2006 by Shawn35816

[convulso]

A2... what you're referring to is the new Social Security Administration Building. It'll be 8-stories tall, but will be built on a very large footprint. The new SSA building will have nearly 600,000sqft.

just drove by this site 30 minutes ago - i am amazed at how sketchy and undeveloped this area is to be so close to downtown. a dirt road, stray dogs, so deserted there aren't even any linn park / greyhound station - type crack dealers? wow. the building would have to be utter crap not to improve this part of town.

does anyone know if they had to demolish anything to put this up? what was there before?

[Blazer85]

just drove by this site 30 minutes ago - i am amazed at how sketchy and undeveloped this area is to be so close to downtown. a dirt road, stray dogs, so deserted there aren't even any linn park / greyhound station - type crack dealers? wow. the building would have to be utter crap not to improve this part of town.

does anyone know if they had to demolish anything to put this up? what was there before?

For the most part, it was vacant land. That corner of downtown really is underdeveloped and that was part of the hopes of developers... that it would spur further growth in that area. The SSA will have well over 1,000 people working in the building, so they assume smart entrepreneurs and restaurants will open up nearby to serve the large workforce there.

[convulso]

That corner of downtown really is underdeveloped and that was part of the hopes of developers... that it would spur further growth in that area. The SSA will have well over 1,000 people working in the building, so they assume smart entrepreneurs and restaurants will open up nearby to serve the large workforce there.

i'm glad to hear that. that is one of the most problematic areas of dowtown, because it is so near the notorious north side of town, and the line between the urban, 'safe' part of town and the area immediately north of it (from the civic center on towards carraway) is a fast transition from well-developed to completely ghetto and given up for lost. i guess I-20/59 has something to do with that separation. it will be interesting to see what this section looks like in 10 years. wish i had the money; i would open a coffee shop or grocery or whatever! that part of town is going to have to feel pleasant for the average middle-class person in order for the north end of downtown to be perceived as secure. the trend is toward southwards development (downtown to UAB), but the heart of downtown is too close to the interstate and the north side for that area not to receive some attention. when people book the tut or the sheraton for conventions at the bjcc, they are verrrry close to the transition line, and the more the city can do to eradicate that perception of closeness to the seedy north side, the better (too bad the whole north side can't be made more habitable for its current residents.)

growth isn't always a good thing, especially on the fringes, but when i see cranes in downtown bham i get excited. hell, i'm even still excited about the bham news' new building (although i'm pissed that they plan to tear their old one down).

thanks for the info.

[kayman]

The Palisades gets a new owners has hired Retail Specialists, Inc. to revitalized the shopping center. There are plans for new restaurants on the outparcels, consolidation of Virginia College into 1 location, and new anchors.

Palisades to get makeover

[Blazer85]

The Palisades gets a new owners has hired Retail Specialists, Inc. to revitalized the shopping center. There are plans for new restaurants on the outparcels, consolidation of Virginia College into 1 location, and new anchors.

Palisades to get makeover

That will be EXCELLENT for Homewood and the Greensprings area there.

[cm111]

I hope the area around the Palisades can be upgraded. I remember when the whole area belonged to the Shriners. I still think that the failure of Homewood to buy it to preserve as a park was a colossal mistake. If I had enough money, I would love to buy that property and turn it back into what it was ... and replace the original traffic flow of Oxmoor Road.

Then, commercial investment would have to shift to infill and upgrading of properties on Green Springs Highway. I kind of think we didn't need either the Palisades or Wildwood. All that investment could have been channeled into the existing properties on Green Springs and Oxmoor -- upgrading and expanding facilities and filling in some of the big, empty parking lots with out parcels.