Developer pushes Edgewood plan amid holdouts, concerns
Sunday, February 04, 2007
MICHAEL TOMBERLIN
News staff writer
Frank Keasler, the Florida developer who wants to remake the Edgewood business district in Homewood, says he will spend $100 million on the project that critics have complained is too sweeping.
Keasler, who had previously described the cost as between $70 million and $90 million, is pushing a plan to bring a three-story mix of shops, restaurants, offices and condos to Edgewood in a project he says incorporates both new technologies and environment-friendly practices.
Despite an outcry against his Restoration Edgewood development, the chief executive of Jacksonville-based Iron Group said he now has agreements to purchase all but four of the properties in his plan and is in talks with three of the holdouts.
Keasler believes he can pursue the project without purchasing all of the remaining sites.
"Once people learn what I'm trying to do, most have been receptive," Keasler said.
Some in Homewood would disagree. At a public meeting at Samford University in December, Keasler's plans met with audible groans and outbursts of disdain by an audience of more than 150 people. Renderings of the revitalization project brought shouts of "No, no" and "Too big" from spectators when displayed.
Keasler has not been deterred. He said he plans to spend $100,000 to hire a national urban planning firm to hold a six-day charrette Feb. 22 at the former furniture store space in Edgewood. Charrettes are intensive design and planning sessions intended to gain input from the residents and businesses there to help shape what, if anything, is ultimately done with the 400,000-square-foot redevelopment.
Brian Wright, a principal with Town Planning and Urban Design Collaborative, the Nashville firm that will be conducting the charrette, said plans calling for Edgewood to have large sidewalks that encourage a pedestrian environment and mixed-use elements are concepts his firm promotes.
Wright, a former Birmingham resident who said he has always liked the Edgewood area and is a fan of New York Pizza there, said the charrettes will help shape the project planning. (The owners of New York Pizza have circulated a petition against the project.)
"Rather than pitch our own ideas that might be somewhat generic, we want to work in what makes Edgewood Edgewood," Wright said. "From that point, we are starting with a clean slate."
Keasler anticipates the site plan and renderings for the project will change as a result of those meetings, but he had the original plans drawn to suggest the 1920s look and feel he intends for the development.
Should all go as scheduled, Keasler expects to take his plan to the Homewood planning commission March 6. The first of the three phases of demolition and construction could begin by this time next year, with the entire project completed in 2011.
Keasler said if he can gain community support for the project, he believes the city will be supportive. In addition to the boost that would come to the city from the more than $100 million in construction, Keasler estimated sales tax receipts to the city could double or triple in the first year because the many now-vacant store fronts in Edgewood would be replaced by new businesses.
His plan also calls for working with Alabama Power Co., Alagasco, the Birmingham Water Works Board and other companies to update utility systems, some of which are more than 100 years old.
`Smart technology':
He said the so-called "smart technology" aspects of the project - where homes, businesses and offices are wired and interactive based on new technologies - will require such upgrading. Talks are taking place with a telecommunications company about outfitting the community with the fastest Internet service available "on the planet," Keasler said.
Part of the master plan calls for a cistern to catch rain water for use in a system that filters and recycles all non-drinking water for use in the development. Energy-efficient measures and other environmental improvements are part of the sustainable development plan Keasler said is incorporated into the project.
Keasler is still holding talks with property owners. Edgewood Presbyterian Church, for instance, has formed a task force for discussions on the project. Keasler's plans call for developing a parking deck and community center for the church on what is now the church's parking lot.
The developer said he understands objections from long-time Edgewood residents and business owners who do not want to see the character of the area change. Some complaints of those have centered on the three-story design of the area. But Keasler views his projects as improving on the traits that the area already possesses.
To do something on a smaller scale, he said, would not be feasible.
"If this town center is any leaner, there is not enough residential density to drive the retail," he said.
A joint venture development partner is in talks to join the Iron Group on the project, and Keasler said banks and investment firms are prepared to finance the entire development.
E-mail:
mtomberlin@bhamnews.com