Tuscaloosa Development

[TheCapstone]

Bacon&Brewfest is back this Saturday. Only difference is its not at the amphitheater, it'll be at the Tuscaloosa regional airport. I'll be there again for the second straight year.

Bacon and Brewfest

All attendees get a Bacon & Brewfest mug with which to sample. Breweries involved include Tuscaloosa’s Druid City Brewing Company, Black Warrior Brewing Company and Band of Brothers Brewing Co.; Birmingham’s Cahaba and Ghost Train; Huntsville’s Rocket Republic and The Brew Stooges; Fairhope’s Fairhope Brewing Company; Gadsden’s Back Forty; various regional breweries and a handful from lands far away, including Seattle’s Red Hook, San Diego’s Ballast Point, Chicago’s Goose Island, St. Louis’ Shock Top and Lakewood, N.Y.’s Southern Tier.

Food vendors on hand include Tuscaloosa’s Brothers Express Pizza Cafe, the Avenue Pub, Sweet Home Food Bar, Another Broken Egg, Mellow Mushroom, T-Town Cafe, Anthony’s Italian Kitchen, Innisfree Irish Pub, Glory Bound Gyro Co. and Kango Jack’s SnowBalls; Northport’s Southern Ale House, the Levee Bar & Grill, Billy’s Sports Grill and Clark’s Sports Pub and Grille; Duncanville’s Houndstooth Bar-B-Q; and Buhl’s Taste-Buds.

[TheCapstone]

New Druid City Music Hall is hosting big names like Corey Smith and Aaron Lewis (Staind lead singer). Business is looking good there.

Also looks like the construction of Hotel Indigo on Jack Warner has begun.

[TheCapstone]

No real news yet, other than TCBY icecream and yogurt on the Strip is closed now too. That leaves two openings on The Strip. I've suggested that maybe Wingers, a sports grill from Montgomery, would be a good destination for the open spot that used to be Hungry Howies. As for the other, I have no idea. A Dickey's maybe? The Strip doesn't have a BBQ joint.

[chadinhsv]

Originally Posted by TheCapstone

No real news yet, other than TCBY icecream and yogurt on the Strip is closed now too. That leaves two openings on The Strip. I've suggested that maybe Wingers, a sports grill from Montgomery, would be a good destination for the open spot that used to be Hungry Howies. As for the other, I have no idea. A Dickey's maybe? The Strip doesn't have a BBQ joint.

To be honest, I'm not too upset about a yogurt place closing. I hope something more exciting will open up in its place.

[TheCapstone]

Originally Posted by chadinhsv

To be honest, I'm not too upset about a yogurt place closing. I hope something more exciting will open up in its place.

I'm not either. It wasn't a real hot location to start with for students, other than in the summer. Its a large retail space, so I expect something big to come.

[TheCapstone]

Maybe someone who has more detail can give some insight on to why the council didn't approve of a parking deck downtown. I haven't attended a council meeting in forever and haven't followed entirely on the parking deck situation- though it is a dire need.

I also heard of some deal that Shelton State wanted to buy some property downtown, but the council declined it.

[TheCapstone]

Councilman Kip Tyner calls to end city money given to chamber

For the past three years, the city of Tuscaloosa has given the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama $175,000 for business and economic recruitment efforts.

Now, Councilman Kip Tyner, who once supported the funding, has had enough.

“I just feel like the money is not being well spent. It needs to come to an end,” Tyner said Tuesday during a discussion of the city’s proposed fiscal 2016 budget.

The council has spent the past two Tuesdays examining aspects of the combined $187.47 million general fund and water and sewer fund budgets. Changes have been suggested to Mayor Walt Maddox’s proposed budgets, but no formal action has been taken.

One change suggested by Tyner is the elimination of the $175,000 that’s been given to the chamber each year since fiscal 2013.

Then, it was sold to the council as a means to make up for the elimination of the city’s former Office of Economic Development.

A realignment of the department that followed the departure of the city’s former economic development director reduced the funding the office needed. That money was then directed to the chamber so it could handle the city’s economic development efforts.

“I think this is a groundbreaking opportunity for the city to partner with the chamber and aggressively go after the missing links within our business community,” Maddox said at the time.

But now, the city has reformed its department — complete with a new director and a proposed $515,592 budget for fiscal 2016 — and Tyner said he believes the funds dedicated for the chamber could be better spent by the city’s own team.

[TheCapstone]

Hotel Indigo® Tuscaloosa (Alabama) Downtown Officially Breaks Ground At Riverfront Village

Judd Bobilin, CEO and President of Chance Partners commented: "We are thrilled about the addition of the Hotel Indigo® Tuscaloosa Downtown to Riverfront Village and our partnership with the city. The local flavor and unique offer of the Hotel Indigo brand will fit perfectly with the walkable, mixed-use community we've developed in Downtown Tuscaloosa's Riverfront Entertainment District. With several new restaurants and storefronts also joining Riverfront Village soon, we know we'll be able to provide visitors to the area with many opportunities to experience the local scene."

The Hotel Indigo® Tuscaloosa Downtown hotel, expected to open in winter 2016, will be located at 120 Greensboro Avenue. The 91-room property will have approximately 1,000 square feet of executive meeting space, a fitness center, a business center and a 2,500 square foot outdoor terrace with breathtaking views of the Black Warrior River and the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater.

Every Hotel Indigo property is uniquely designed to reflect the culture, character and history of its surrounding neighborhood. This Downtown Tuscaloosa location will have a unique neighborhood story that will be woven throughout the guest experience, from the seasonal and locally sourced food and drinks served in a stylish environment at the restaurant and rooftop deck and tapas bar, to the art, photography and architecture incorporated into the hotel's design. Guestrooms will feature plush bedding, hard-surface flooring with area rugs, and spa-inspired bathrooms. The hotel will feature the brand's Neighborhood Guide, an innovative touchscreen display that connects guests to each other, to local neighborhood mainstays, and to Hotel Indigo locations around the world. Hotel team members, many of whom are locals themselves, will share their favorite hidden gems with guests looking to explore and discover the neighborhood.

Walter Maddox, Mayor of Tuscaloosa added: "Downtown Tuscaloosa and our riverfront are emerging beyond what we envisioned 10 years ago when I took office and we dreamed big. The Hotel Indigo® brand has an uncompromising reputation which will enhance the Tuscaloosa experience for our guests and create synergy in our Central City."

Spearheaded by developer Chance Partners, the $60 million Riverfront Village is a 7.5-acre mixed-use development of 192 luxury apartments, more than 27,000-square-feet of retail space. With the addition of the Hotel Indigo Tuscaloosa Downtown, Riverfront Village will offer a truly unparalleled and dynamic mixed-use community for residents, visitors and community stakeholders in Downtown Tuscaloosa.

The hotel is individually owned and franchised, and will be managed by Interstate Hotels & Resorts.

In addition to this new development, the Hotel Indigo brand recently announced new properties signed in Los Angeles, California; Kansas City, Missouri; Denver, Colorado and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as well as two new international signings including Berlin, Germany and Bali, Indonesia.

[TheCapstone]

Alabama Power donates $50,000 to help build new YMCA

Proposal:

[TheCapstone]

Tuscaloosa city school board OKs $117.8 million budget

In a 7-0 vote, the Tuscaloosa City Board of Education approved a total budget of $117.8 million for fiscal year 2016, which begins Oct. 1. Lee Garrison, the board’s chairman, abstained.

Garrison said he declined to vote on the budget because there was no a recommendation for the board to approve the system’s integrated curriculum, facilities and demographic plan. The plan was scheduled to go before the board for final approval at the meeting, but that recommendation is being postponed because the board and Superintendent Paul McKendrick still want to make changes. Their disagreements over some of the details of the plan were expressed at a work session Monday.

“I thought we would have a plan to vote on,” Garrison said at Tuesday’s meeting. “And the dollar is basically where our priorities are. You can call it dollars, our resources, whatever you want to, I look at it as our priorities. I look at it as a package. I look at it as a way to invest in our people, to invest in our curriculum and I look at it as an investment in our learning center and technology as part of a package.

“So, I’m not going to vote for this budget tonight because we haven’t approved the package. I’m going to abstain. I’m not going to vote against it because I believe that there are a lot of good things in it that I will not vote against.”

Total revenues for fiscal year 2016 are expected to come in at about $119 million.

The total budget is about $10 million less than last year’s budget of $128.2 million and about $24 million less than fiscal year 2014’s budget of $141.8 million.

Chief Financial Officer Ed LaVigne said the school system estimates expenditures will exceed revenue by about $4 million in the general fund budget in the new fiscal year. The general fund will have expenses of $86.5 million but projected revenues are $82.3 million. The general fund is the system’s main operating fund.

That shortfall means about $4 million being pulled out of the system’s general fund reserve. It is expected to reduce the reserve fund from $11.5 million to $7.43 million by the end of the fiscal year 2016. It will be the fourth consecutive year that the general fund reserve has dropped. The general reserve fund is expected to be at the lowest point in nine years.

The school system is required by law to keep enough funds in its general reserve fund to cover at least one month of expenses. For Tuscaloosa City Schools that is a minimum of $7.4 million.

“This is the last year we can do this,” LaVigne said. “We have to do better. And as I said last week in the first budget hearing, we’re already spending a portion of that budget expanding into the curriculum, expanding services we’re offering children. That’s where these deficits come from.”

LaVigne said the school system is spending $4 million in the red to pay for extra social workers, pre-k teachers, speech and language therapists, curriculum specialists, math and reading specialists, school psychologists, music and art teachers, extra personnel for the newly opened Alberta School of Performing Arts and 1 percent raises for all system employees.

LaVigne said this will be the last fiscal year that the general fund reserve will be tapped. He estimated that at the beginning of fiscal year 2017, the general fund reserve will be $8.1 million and will it rise by about a million dollars in each of the next two fiscal years.

[TheCapstone]

Originally Posted by tascalisa

Tuscaloosa actually has over 44 miles of fiber optic cable throughout the city. http://www.al.com/news/tuscaloosa/in...fiber-opt.html

I had no idea Tuscaloosa had such a thing. Fiber optic glass is not cheap, but its efficient. When I had CS-202, we talked a good bit about the introduction to local area networks (LANS) to Tuscaloosa and higher and faster internet speed within say a building. We did some research and then eventually "The Strip" got Wifi around 2009 I think. Of course WIMAX was introduced in Tuscaloosa in 2011. Google introduced "GoogleFiber" in Austin a few years ago, which sends 1,000 MGPS. I know Lafayette Louisiana has over 800 miles of fiber optic cable underground and sends up to 100 MGPS.

Tuscaloosa though is not the leader in Alabama. Opelika essentially has over 400 miles of it underground. I'm sure the numbers have increased over the years for both respective cities, but its nice to see T-Town put emphasis on network efficiency and internet speed. It'd be nice to see one of the major cities in Alabama introduce MAN, which stands for metropolitan area network, which would give high data connection speeds throughout the city.

Going off-topic a little here: Once Obama's term is up, we're going to hear a whole lot more talk about net neutrality and pay-to-play fast lanes.

[TheCapstone]

Tuscaloosa council OKs $1.4 million contract for equipment in Alberta Technology Center

A $1.414 million contract was approved Tuesday to install and design the heart of the Alberta Technology Center.

Approved by the Tuscaloosa City Council’s public projects committee as a contract amendment with Ward Scott Architects, the funding will go toward the creation and installation of the massive computer screens and interactive tables and kiosks that patrons of the center will use to access its trove of information.

Funding for the technology is coming from portions of the $60.5 million in federal appropriations from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) Community Development Block Grant Disaster Relief program.

The full council is expected to vote on the contract amendment next week.

“For our children to be successful, they’re not only going to have to be computer literate, they’re going to need to be proficient at the highest levels,” said Mayor Walter Maddox. “This was a rare opportunity to do something unique.

“To say the least, HUD is excited about this.”

This $1.414 million contract — which is in addition to the overall construction and furnishings budget of $2.8 million for the 5,000-square-foot facility — will enlist Tala Professional Services, a technology and management consulting firm that with offices in Birmingham and Tuscaloosa, to design and install the digital screens and components of the center.

[TheCapstone]

Major industrial project announcement expected Thursday

A major industrial project in Tuscaloosa County is expected to be announced Thursday afternoon.

The Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority on Wednesday sent a notice to state media saying its board of directors will meet at the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Training Center in Vance.

During the meeting, “TCIDA intends to announce a major industrial investment for Tuscaloosa County that represents a significant capital investment and hundreds of new jobs for our community,” the notice said. It said more information on the industrial announcement will be provided at the meeting.

[TheCapstone]

Mercedes plans $1.3 billion expansion in Vance

Mercedes-Benz U.S. International plans an almost $1.3 billion expansion of its automotive assembly complex here. It said the new facility it will build is needed to produce the next generation of its luxury sport utility vehicles, which it described as "the most technologically advanced vehicles."

Mercedes officials said this afternoon that they expect the plant construction will be completed in June 2017 and that it will be put into full production in December 2019.

They said 300 jobs will be added to its workforce with the new facility. Those jobs will include high-skill, high-compensation engineering positions, they said.

Site preparation for the new facility has already begun, and construction is expected to start soon, according to the announcement.

Mercedes listed its investment for the new facility and its equipment at $1,264,034,435 in documents filed with the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority.

The authority's board, meeting at Mercedes training center in Vance this afternoon, approved a 20-year property tax abatement and other incentives for the project.

The TCIDA said the Mercedes expansion qualified for Alabama's new industrial incentives approved by the state Legislature earlier this year.

The incentive package will allow Mercedes to abate the non-educational portion of property taxes on the new facility. The abatement will be over 20 years for a total of about $35,557,000. The property tax that goes to schools cannot be abated and will bring in around $33,017,000 over 20 years.

The non-educational sales and use taxes incurred during construction also are being abated and will total around $44,284,000. The portion of those taxes that will be paid for schools will total around $11,071,000 over 20 years.

Mercedes started Alabama's automotive industry in September 1993 when it announced it would build its first automotive plant in North America in Vance. The plant was designated to make the German automaker's first sports utility vehicles, then known as the M-Class. The plant had its grand opening in May 1997, and its first SUVs went on sale later that year. Since then, MBUSI has had several expansions and with today's announcement, its investment in the sprawling MBUSI complex will be more than $5 billion.

During the last two decades, automotive has grown into the state's largest industry. Since Mercedes, Honda and Hyundai have built auto plants in Alabama; Volkswagen has built an engine plant; and dozens of automotive suppliers have helped create the core of the Southeast automotive corridor with plants across the state.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

DAMN! It just keeps coming and coming and coming!

I think it's hilarious that a Seattle news source would demean our state's workforce while European companies continue to barrage our state with investment.

[TheCapstone]

The old Hungry Howies location on the Strip has now been replaced by Pieology Pizza- a California-based pizza chain restaurant. Very exciting news for The Strip

[TheCapstone]

Kickboxing gym 9Round plans expansion in Birmingham, Tuscaloosa markets

9Round opened a gym in Hoover in August and one in Northport in January. A third is planned to open in Tuscaloosa before the end of the year.

[TheCapstone]

Growth prompts expansion of Coral Industries with Northport facility

Growth in its architectural products division is prompting Tuscaloosa-based Coral Industries to expand into Northport, company officials said.

Coral Industries Vice President Eric Billings said the architectural products division, which makes glass and aluminum building facades and entrances, will be expanding into a new $5.2 million facility at 600 64th Ave. in Northport, across from the Tuscaloosa Regional Airport.

The company will retain its current manufacturing space on Rice Mine Road in Tuscaloosa for its shower door and custom glass division.

The architectural products division was once located at a site on Kicker Road, but Billings said it was destroyed in the tornado that struck Tuscaloosa on April 27, 2011.

“Since then, we've been forced into (the Rice Mine Road) location altogether, so we've been interested in establishing a separate location again,” he said. “We're expanding due to growth in that division.

“It's the primary reason.”

To help accommodate the expansion, the Tuscaloosa County Industrial Development Authority on

Sept. 17 granted Coral Industries $336,209 in tax abatements and a $52,000 site preparation grant.

The tax breaks were available to the company because it plans to add about 20 employees to the 50 or so that now work in the architectural products division at the Northport location.

Company-wide, Coral Industries employs about 350.

The company will receive a total abatement of $253,589 in property taxes over 10 years. The abatement covers only the non-educational portion of property taxes. Property taxes for schools cannot be abated under state law.

[chadinhsv]

Originally Posted by TheCapstone

The old Hungry Howies location on the Strip has now been replaced by Pieology Pizza- a California-based pizza chain restaurant. Very exciting news for The Strip

Pieology is an excellent restaurant. This is a great addition for the strip as well as the city.

[TheCapstone]

New Texas Roadhouse in front of Lofts at City Center