Montgomery Developments

[brad0022]

from Montgomery Advertiser 1/8/09

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/articl...310/1007/news01

Montgomery city, county and state officials want more shopping opportunities in west Montgomery that would pull traffic off I-65, the city's most heavily traveled corridor. They believe that a tax incentive package may be the only way to lure developers into the area, and a bill has been drafted that would create an entity called the Montgomery I-65 Corridor Development Authority, which would allow joint-incentive packages. A capital investment of $100 million may offer up to a 75 percent local sales tax abatement, as well as property tax breaks.

[Southron]

Montgomery city, county and state officials want more shopping opportunities in west Montgomery that would pull traffic off I-65, the city's most heavily traveled corridor. They believe that a tax incentive package may be the only way to lure developers into the area, and a bill has been drafted that would create an entity called the Montgomery I-65 Corridor Development Authority, which would allow joint-incentive packages. A capital investment of $100 million may offer up to a 75 percent local sales tax abatement, as well as property tax breaks.

I think it's great that these officials want to facilitate redevelopment in west Montgomery, but I doubt incentives alone will do the trick. Retail follows rooftops and the demographics of much of that area just aren't enough to justify much more than refurbishing existing centers, if that. IMHO renovation, infill and redevelopment of the residential neighborhoods of west Montgomery will have to be a part of this for it to be successful.

[brad0022]

I think it's great that these officials want to facilitate redevelopment in west Montgomery, but I doubt incentives alone will do the trick. Retail follows rooftops and the demographics of much of that area just aren't enough to justify much more than refurbishing existing centers, if that. IMHO renovation, infill and redevelopment of the residential neighborhoods of west Montgomery will have to be a part of this for it to be successful.

This town has to take baby steps very slowly. I agree with you. Re-urbanization of I-65 will actually be the safer way to go economically not racial or anything like that. Build up the exits to attract travelers and locals driving to and from I-85 and Prattville. Then hopefully more jobs will mean more interest/demand for rooftops. About like downtown. First more commercial sparked residential later in the development.

[RSAHort]

I really like the trees planted on Bibb. It really makes that area look totally different than just sidewalk.

[Southron]

I really like the trees planted on Bibb. It really makes that area look totally different than just sidewalk.

I agree it looks so much better than before. I can't wait to see what downtown looks like once the planting and streetscaping projects are all done.

---

Interesting info from WAKA-TV tonight. Interim Mayor Jinright said the city is considering an aquarium along the Alabama River -- I assume that means somewhere along the Riverwalk. He also said the city is working with Maxwell AFB on a Wright Brothers museum project (2010 groundbreaking) near the Bell St. gate.

Aquarium, Other Attractions Could Be Coming to Montgomery (story will probably roll off the page soon)

[brad0022]

I agree it looks so much better than before. I can't wait to see what downtown looks like once the planting and streetscaping projects are all done.

---

Interesting info from WAKA-TV tonight. Interim Mayor Jinright said the city is considering an aquarium along the Alabama River -- I assume that means somewhere along the Riverwalk. He also said the city is working with Maxwell AFB on a Wright Brothers museum project (2010 groundbreaking) near the Bell St. gate.

Aquarium, Other Attractions Could Be Coming to Montgomery (story will probably roll off the page soon)

That will be so great. Just hope enough parking decks will be built to support more tourist and locals.

[Southron]

The Montgomery City Council and Planning Commission are conducting internal work sessions this week concerning the new Montgomery Development Code that will replace the existing Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations. A public meeting to discuss the new code will be held in the future.

Click here for a .pdf draft of the proposed development code.

The SmartCode is mandatory for downtown and optional for the rest of the city, and this new code will update the conventional development code that can still be used outside of downtown. I'd love to see an analysis of what is changing.

Montgomery Development Code work session

[Southron]

Montgomery County is spending $8.5 million to renovate courthouse Annex I across the street from the recently finished Annex III in the old Montgomery Advertiser building. The project has been scaled back due to the current economic conditions, but may be expanded again if federal stimulus funds become available. Unfortunately, the $3.5 million external renovation, pictured below, has been put on hold.

County continues renovation

[Southron]

Wintzell's Oyster House, established in Mobile in the 1930's, is under construction downtown in the convention center parking deck retail bay at the corner of Bibb and Commerce. Just a few steps away from the Alleyway, this will be another big boost for downtown and the riverfront!

[Southron]

The Alabama Association of Realtors is tearing down its office on Washington Ave near the state capitol and constructing a new one built out closer to the sidewalk, quite an improvement IMO. Renderings from the AAR website:

Demolition photos of the old building: Click here

[krazeeboi]

Kudos to them for "getting it" when it comes to proper urban development.

[nowyano]

Is Montgomery Dying?

I went to Tuskegee in the late 90s and while there most of the weekends I had were spent in Atlanta, Columbus, or Montgomery. Atlanta was of course the major draw, and Columbus was a nice interlude, but Montgomery was sort of a mix of the two. A huge step down from Atlanta but a minor step up from Columbus. A good number of my friends ended up living in Montgomery during junior and senior year, and several stayed there when I moved back to Boston.

Either way I recently moved back to the area, actually much further south of Montgomery but whatever. I was visiting an old college friend, and this was the first time I had been to Montgomery in at least 10 years, maybe longer. I apologize for not knowing neighborhood names, so bear with me. While Taylor Rd has all sorts of development the West Side of the city (Montgomery Mall section) and even a lot of East South Boulevard seemed to be vacant or falling apart. My friend said that much of the business on the West Side had moved to Prattville because of lower taxes.

When the redesigning of the River Walk was being done I remember reading that it was being developed by the same people who redeveloped Providence, RI. Providence like Montgomery is a state capital, was kind of a hole, but was a major area for that state. I thought that maybe the River Walk (which I haven't seen) would improve the surrounding areas and eventually reach the further out points of the city as it did with the River Walk and downtown in Providence, which is no longer a hole.

I really felt like I was walking through a time warp of depression era America as I saw several shuttered restaurants along the road where I was eating. It was sad. Is this just me being extremely negative or did I miss something while there?

[kayman]

I went to Tuskegee in the late 90s and while there most of the weekends I had were spent in Atlanta, Columbus, or Montgomery. Atlanta was of course the major draw, and Columbus was a nice interlude, but Montgomery was sort of a mix of the two. A huge step down from Atlanta but a minor step up from Columbus. A good number of my friends ended up living in Montgomery during junior and senior year, and several stayed there when I moved back to Boston.

Either way I recently moved back to the area, actually much further south of Montgomery but whatever. I was visiting an old college friend, and this was the first time I had been to Montgomery in at least 10 years, maybe longer. I apologize for not knowing neighborhood names, so bear with me. While Taylor Rd has all sorts of development the West Side of the city (Montgomery Mall section) and even a lot of East South Boulevard seemed to be vacant or falling apart. My friend said that much of the business on the West Side had moved to Prattville because of lower taxes.

When the redesigning of the River Walk was being done I remember reading that it was being developed by the same people who redeveloped Providence, RI. Providence like Montgomery is a state capital, was kind of a hole, but was a major area for that state. I thought that maybe the River Walk (which I haven't seen) would improve the surrounding areas and eventually reach the further out points of the city as it did with the River Walk and downtown in Providence, which is no longer a hole.

I really felt like I was walking through a time warp of depression era America as I saw several shuttered restaurants along the road where I was eating. It was sad. Is this just me being extremely negative or did I miss something while there?

Montgomery isn't dying persay rather it is another large city with a large black populous that is still suffering from the major effects of "white flight" where most national retailers and restaurateur chains have decided to follow the majority of the population rather than keeping up with the demographic profiles of the clientele of their businesses. A number of cities including Atlanta, Washington, Baltimore, and Memphis (to a certain extent) has overcame this by improving the quality of their established areas to via infrastructure, taxation exemptions, gentrification. However, the key to this is not to cater to the exurban crowd who vacated the city already rather make it better for the remaining residents and enticing outsiders who aren't familiar with the area to locate there over the suburbs and exurbs. Montgomery doesn't have that type of pull, population, or scope of exposure as maybe other cities mentioned but it can still pull off some of this at a much smaller scale. This does all depend on the State fixing its property laws and tax codes so that redevelopment over "development" is codeword for sprawl will be the thing to do.

Also take into consideration this is a still a major recession we are in and it will impede any major business developments.

[Southron]

Nowyano, what you saw was the decline of South Blvd. The area around Montgomery Mall, which is now closed, declined rapidly after the opening of the Shoppes at East Chase. East Montgomery is growing like a weed, downtown is undergoing a major renaissance, but west Montgomery needs help. The city is working on redevelopment projects in west Montgomery, including a major streetscaping project on West Fairview Ave.

Unfortunately, one of the consequences of the kind of leapfrog development that we do in this country is that some of the older areas decline when all the new stuff is built further out. The population of the city has shifted toward the east and retail development followed the rooftops.

[brad0022]

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/sectio...t#_wholeArticle

The New Alabama Association of Realtor building (mentioned above) will be the first LEED green building in the city and 16th in state.

[Southron]

Wintzell's Oyster House, established in Mobile in the 1930's, is under construction downtown in the convention center parking deck retail bay at the corner of Bibb and Commerce. Just a few steps away from the Alleyway, this will be another big boost for downtown and the riverfront!

Construction update 8/23/09:

[Southron]

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/sectio...t#_wholeArticle

The New Alabama Association of Realtor building (mentioned above) will be the first LEED green building in the city and 16th in state.

Thanks for the LEED info, Brad! Below are some pics of the Realtor bldg. site from this weekend:

[Southron]

Longtime Montgomery restaurant entrepreneur Ken Register has partnered with Joe DiMaggio, Jr. (cousin of the baseball great) to expand the Down the Street Cafe and SaZa Serious Italian Food brands. The pair want to open about 150 SaZa locations, with the Alleyway restaurant as the corporate flagship. A third Down the Street Cafe is planned for the old Red Star Tavern location at the Shoppes at EastChase.

Chef, restaurateur join forces on new Montgomery eateries

Restaurant expected to be flagship for company

[nowyano]

ASU, Troy Montgomery, and even Huntingdon (to a lesser extent) are within relative close proximity to downtown. Troy seems to have done some work infusing money in the areas right around it (Rosa Parks Museum, the theater), as has ASU. I know Huntingdon is a bit further out, but it is still within a relatively close distance to the downtown core. Does anyone know if there are plans from the city, or the universities to try and incorporate the schools into downtowns redevelopment. The best example I can think of this being done is Harvard, Leslie University, and Cambridge College in Cambridge, MA which have all infused money (probably in return for tax incentives) to help fix up a formerly slummy area of a city.

[Southron]

ASU, Troy Montgomery, and even Huntingdon (to a lesser extent) are within relative close proximity to downtown. Troy seems to have done some work infusing money in the areas right around it (Rosa Parks Museum, the theater), as has ASU. I know Huntingdon is a bit further out, but it is still within a relatively close distance to the downtown core. Does anyone know if there are plans from the city, or the universities to try and incorporate the schools into downtowns redevelopment. The best example I can think of this being done is Harvard, Leslie University, and Cambridge College in Cambridge, MA which have all infused money (probably in return for tax incentives) to help fix up a formerly slummy area of a city.

Nowyano, this is a timely question... ASU is currently expanding their campus east of Hall St. and making streetscape improvements to make the street there more pedestrian friendly. ASU is working from a master plan (there's a post here somewhere about it) to expand the campus and make it more walkable. Hall St. is now closed from Carter Hill Rd. to the I-85 bridge for the gateway and streetscape improvements.

Improvements are being made around Old Cloverdale commercial centers (near Huntingdon and ASU) that will benefit the area just south of downtown.

More to say about Troy later, got to go to work!

[Southron]

Mayor Strange wants to rename Bell Street to Maxwell Boulevard or Wright Brothers Parkway. He is leaning toward Maxwell Boulevard, and has not decided whether to push for renaming the whole street or just the section west of I-65 near the AFB.

Any thoughts? I like Maxwell Boulevard, but with the part east of I-65 remaining Bell St.

Strange pushes to rename Bell Street

[Southron]

The city is trying to get downtown workers to use parking decks rather than putting coins in meters, so that shoppers and persons doing temporary business downtown can find more on-street parking. The hourly meter rate is rising from 25 cents to 50 cents, and the parking fine is now $10, up from $4. Parking in the decks all day is cheaper than parking on the street and getting a fine.

Downtown workers encouraged to use parking decks, not meters

[nowyano]

Mayor Strange wants to rename Bell Street to Maxwell Boulevard or Wright Brothers Parkway.

Two questions: Doesn't renaming a street usually cost an exorbinant amount of money? and Why would a Wright Brothers Museum be put in Montgomery?

The reason I ask about the museum is that typically museums, especially those dedicated to people are in places where the person has major connections. I always associate The Wright Brothers with North Carolina, not Alabama, and definately not Montgomery. Wouldn't something like a Tuskegee Airmens Museum (yeah I know they are building on in Tuskegee) make more sense?

[Southron]

Two questions: Doesn't renaming a street usually cost an exorbinant amount of money? and Why would a Wright Brothers Museum be put in Montgomery?

Other than new signage, what would the costs be? Just curious. A major streetscaping project is already underway there.

The Wright Brothers established a flying school in Montgomery, and the site later became Maxwell Air Force Base. Click here for a photo.

[nowyano]

Other than new signage, what would the costs be? Just curious. A major streetscaping project is already underway there.

The Wright Brothers established a flying school in Montgomery, and the site later became Maxwell Air Force Base. Click here for a photo.

I don't know the logistics of it, but when Boston wanted to change a section of Washington Street (not even the whole street) into Plaza De Americanos (or something like that) it eventually got scrapped because of costs. I believe a lot has to do with changing street addresses, which I would think would simply be changing 12 Bell Street into 12 Maxwell Blvd. After that, I think the cost would mostly be on businesses and residents to change their addresses on /cards and preprinted envelopes, so I don't really know what the cost would be. I guess the term exorbinant may not be the right word.