Marketsquare

[rnc]

The bridge will be replaced, The new road/bridge will connect Heart of Huntsville Drive to Monroe in front of the library, alongside the Embassy Suite. The railroad bridge is supposed to be replaced as well.

[HSVTiger]

So that is what they are doing next to the tranformer station, I see. Thanks. Will there be a pedestrian bridge somewhere connecting the canal to Marketsquare? The sidewalk meanders from the end of the canal over towards where the old bridge was located.

[jmanhsv]

The city council last night approved to vacate land on what used to be Williams Avenue to make way for the Marketsquare project. The company that requested the land swap was "Constellation, LLC". That gave me an idea....

I found this rendering and a possible site plan for Marketsquare (here called "The Constellation at Downtown Huntsville"). Some of you might have found these already, but I'll post it here anyways. I wouldn't count on this being the project, though.

[rnc]

The city council last night approved to vacate land on what used to be Williams Avenue to make way for the Marketsquare project. The company that requested the land swap was "Constellation, LLC". That gave me an idea....

I found this rendering and a possible site plan for Marketsquare (here called "The Constellation at Downtown Huntsville"). Some of you might have found these already, but I'll post it here anyways. I wouldn't count on this being the project, though.

[HSVTiger]

this may be one of the earlier proposals, there have been many. The floodplain will most likely decide

how close structures can get. The Army Corp of Engineers are in process of designing the improved creek I think. I would expect that construction on the two hotels to begin before the entire project.

Not to worry the project will take full use of the possibilties provided by the redone creek, especially the hotels.

[Southron]

Is there a map somewhere that shows where this fits into the downtown area?

[HSVTiger]

Is there a map somewhere that shows where this fits into the downtown area?

[Southron]

Thanks for those boundaries, HSVTiger. This thing is huge. If done right it could go a long way toward building more of the urban density that Huntsville needs. I hope it winds up pedestrian-friendly and wildly successful.

[3rdGenHuntsvillian]

Looks impressive. I hope the actual development comes out looking that good.

Now if we can just get the coke bottling plant to relocate so a Wrigly Field-style baseball stadium can be built on that corner...

[HSVTiger]

Major demolition of the structures to begin within a couple of weeks(soft demo underway now). Also announcements of the two hotels and specifics of the entire project in a few weeks as well. One business will remain until the lease runs out in September, (Sand Dollar Tanning Salon) but construction on the hotels and other parts will be able to begin, within weeks of the site being ready.

This will be a huge deal for downtown, and should be the catalyst needed to carry downtown to another level

and heights.

[HSVTiger]

any news here? Demolition still slowly taking place. I expect some news soon but nothing yet

[HSVTiger]

a little blurb in the paper said the first part of construction would be one of the hotels

at the other end of where the SandDollar tanning spa is. It will remain open for a few more months.

Not sure where this would be, could be near Clinton or maybe at the other end toward the Embassy.

We should know in a few weeks maybe, demolition is continuing.

[HSVTiger]

still no new news. When it does break I hope it will be spectacular.

[jmanhsv]

WHNT reported the other night that the project specifics (including the hotels) should be announced by "the first of May." So we should be hearing about it any day now.

[jmanhsv]

The project details have finally been announced. The development will be called "Constellation."

Here's the project specifics, according to the Huntsville Times:

*Two 160-room Marriott-brand hotels (specific brands to be announced tomorrow) which will bring the total rooms downtown to nearly 1000

*60,000 square feet of office space

*A 6-7 story apartment/condo building

*Restaurants "along the lines of Hard Rock Cafe, Cheesecake Factory and PF Changs" according to the developer.

*40,000 sq ft of retail

*A bank building

*Entertainment venues (movie theater?)

[jmanhsv]

A rendering, also from the Huntsville Times:

[Huntsville_secede]

A rendering, also from the Huntsville Times:

[Shawn35816]

There is so much going on in the state of Alabama right now, from ThyssenKrupp all the way to this project. I've never been more proud of my state. We are changing the perception of our state one day at a time. In a few years maybe all of our four major cities will be on some of the most desirable places to live lists in America. Who said a little competition is no good for the state. What I'm seeing is a desire to be considered one of the best in all of our cities. As more and more outsiders move into the state and start spreading the word, this state will blossom.

No other state in the South besides Florida has as many cities doing as well as ours are. Look at the distance between our cities. No matter where you are in the state there is a nice city to go to within 2-3 hours.

Mobile has rejuvinated itself and is starting to become a blue collar mecca. I also heard there's a pretty nice hospital down there. Birmingham has been the big brother for a while but has transformed itself from a dirty, dingy, dust bowl into a more livable city. With a little help it can really start to boom. Montgomery has the government side of the state locked so there are no worries about it sustaining itself. Huntsville has a booming technological pool that is growing daily. This will bring diversity to the state and keep each city unique from the others in the state. Like I said man, I'm glad to be and Alabamian right now.

[HSVTiger]

This makes more sense than the shopping center on Zierdt road because its on a different side of town than BridgeStreet. But do you really think we can get a Cheesecake factory here? Much larger cities such as Memphis, New Orleans, and even Mobile dont have one. I would think they would put one in Mobile before Huntsville because there are two relatively close to Huntsville (Nashville and Birmingham). Mobile doesn't have one anywhere near it matter of fact there aren't any on the gulf coast from Houston all the way to the West coast of Florida

[convulso]

A rendering, also from the Huntsville Times:

[Southron]

That rendering really looks good. Is there a revised site plan?

[HSVTiger]

That rendering really looks good. Is there a revised site plan?

[Alabadrock]

This makes more sense than the shopping center on Zierdt road because its on a different side of town than BridgeStreet. But do you really think we can get a Cheesecake factory here? Much larger cities such as Memphis, New Orleans, and even Mobile dont have one. I would think they would put one in Mobile before Huntsville because there are two relatively close to Huntsville (Nashville and Birmingham). Mobile doesn't have one anywhere near it matter of fact there aren't any on the gulf coast from Houston all the way to the West coast of Florida

[kayman]

There is so much going on in the state of Alabama right now, from ThyssenKrupp all the way to this project. I've never been more proud of my state. We are changing the perception of our state one day at a time. In a few years maybe all of our four major cities will be on some of the most desirable places to live lists in America. Who said a little competition is no good for the state. What I'm seeing is a desire to be considered one of the best in all of our cities. As more and more outsiders move into the state and start spreading the word, this state will blossom.

No other state in the South besides Florida has as many cities doing as well as ours are. Look at the distance between our cities. No matter where you are in the state there is a nice city to go to within 2-3 hours.

Mobile has rejuvinated itself and is starting to become a blue collar mecca. I also heard there's a pretty nice hospital down there. Birmingham has been the big brother for a while but has transformed itself from a dirty, dingy, dust bowl into a more livable city. With a little help it can really start to boom. Montgomery has the government side of the state locked so there are no worries about it sustaining itself. Huntsville has a booming technological pool that is growing daily. This will bring diversity to the state and keep each city unique from the others in the state. Like I said man, I'm glad to be and Alabamian right now.

[highlandtodd]

MarketSquare seems to be a great development. Good to see it next to/nearby the VBC.

Living in Birmingham, what I love about visiting Huntsville is that everything is so close. The drive from Madison to Big Spring Park is much, much less than driving from Birmingham city's eastern neighborhoods to its downtown. Heck, driving from Decatur to Huntsville is alot less than driving from Bessemer to Birmingham. Just getting from one southern suburb south of town to another (Homewood to Alabaster, for instance) takes longer than, say, going from Madison to Madison Square (nobody in their right mind would consider this any distance at all).

The fact that Huntsille doesn't have a "traditional" urban downtown doesn't bother me, either. Big Spring Park, Constitution Village, Twickenham & the Medical Center District would all fit nicely inside UAB, but you wouldn't want to walk UAB!!! The point here is that the core of Huntsville is walkable, liveable, highly unique, and absolutely beautiful.

Any new developments up there should take Huntsville's relatively condensed layout into consideration. Huntsville is a wonderfully easy city to navigate, and y'all are blessed too by not having a cajillion little towns/suburbs/feifdoms squabbling endlessly against one another like the Birmingham area. Tall buildings clustered near your downtown, or up-and-down the University Blvd., would greatly enhance the ease of Rocket City navigation by limiting sprawl.

Birmingham already sprawls over more terrain than Boston, even though Birmingham has just over a million people, while Boston has 4+ million. Huntsville/Decatur have the prime opportunity to study from our land mismanagement and lack of any kind of planning to (hopefully) develop Alabama's premier urban region.

Just because we have 3 dozen retail centers, the Galleria, 73 suburbs, multi-lane highways everywhere and mega-interstate exchanges, doesn't make us better, or even more vibrant. My earnest hope is that your region will avoid Birmingham-style development. One vast eyesore is enough already.