A few Hyundai related articles.......
This one shows plans and development for the South & West side like discussed earlier in the thread.
Hyundai may revive Montgomery's west side
By Sebastian Kitchen
Montgomery Advertiser
Gateway Park
The financial might of Hyundai's car manufacturing plant could energize a struggling economy in Montgomery's west side and the corridor along Interstate 65, elected officials and business experts say.
Amid a sprinkling of new companies to the area, business coalitions have formed to tap into the promise of a larger development payday. They hope Hyundai Motor Manufacturing America's choice of location and giant payroll could help reverse what many people believe has been a decades-long neglect on the west side as east Montgomery continues to flourish.
"It really is going to drive economic development," said Ellen McNair, vice president of corporate development for the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce.
Along with Hyundai came a stream of automotive suppliers. Of those that landed in Montgomery, nearly all are housed along the I-65 corridor, bringing throngs of employees, vendors and other visitors daily into the city's west side.
In the past three to four years, there has been $1.7 billion in development in the I-65 corridor. Most is linked to Hyundai and some of its suppliers, but Popeye's Chicken and Biscuit, 84 Lumber and the Gas Depot also are among newcomers.
McNair said Hyundai's location in Montgomery was a factor in Continental Airlines' decision to start flights from Montgomery Regional Airport. The carrier began offering twice-daily direct service between Montgomery and Houston this month.
The most visual evidence of progress is the construction of Gateway Park, said Keith Karst, area manager for Alabama Power and chairman of the I-65 Corridor Development Task Force, created by the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce to stimulate west side commercial growth.
"That will be something to visually improve that area and hopefully encourage other investments and development on this side of town," Karst said.
Work continues on the complex, which will include a nine-hole golf course and fields for football, soccer, baseball and softball. There also will be a pavilion, a lodge and lakes.
The Montgomery Regional Airport is undergoing a $32 million renovation. Work to widen Interstate 65 from the Alabama River bridge to U.S. 80 will begin later this year to relieve existing congestion and to handle the constant stream of trucks that soon will traverse the city to serve Hyundai and its suppliers.
Aerial of Gateway
Mayor Bobby Bright said about eight hotels have located in Montgomery since the Hyundai announcement, although not all of them are directly related to the plant. He said more are looking seriously at building in the city, but only a few are locating along Interstate 65.
Although there is no hard data to prove there is a demand for housing on the west wide, Realtor Sandra Nickel believes the new jobs created by Hyundai will ignite that interest.
The demand could be used as a tool to help find financing for a new development, she said.
Two or three developers have approached property owners on Interstate 65 about mixed use of the land, she said.
"The slow pace at which this is occurring is frustrating for a lot of us, but we understand this is the nature of the beast," said Nickel, who co-chairs the housing subcommittee of the I-65 Corridor Development Task Force.
"It is just as expensive to build in west Montgomery as it is in east Montgomery," she said. "Right now, the market does not seem willing to pay as much for a house in west Montgomery as east Montgomery."
Most officials agree that Hyundai alone cannot create an economic renaissance on the west side. That is why business coalitions have formed to resolve other root impediments to future growth. Activism among businesses and efforts to improve perceptions of the area are key elements of their platforms.
"The members of the committee truly believe for there to be any significant change in west Montgomery and this corridor, the people that run businesses and live there have to be fully engaged in the process," said Karst, the I-65 Development Task Force chairman.
The West Fairview Business Coalition and the South Boulevard Business Coalition are taking those measures. The groups comprise owners and managers of businesses in the area.
The coalitions meet with city traffic, engineering, and planning and development departments to discuss how to improve the environment and business climate along West Fairview, said Lee Willcoxin. He is a property and business owner in west Montgomery and a member of the West Fairview Business Coalition.
Willcoxin said there are several new businesses along Fairview and several are among the top producers in their chains.
INTEREST IN THE INTERSTATE
Investment and interest in the Interstate 65 corridor and west Montgomery continues.
Investment has totaled more than $1.7 billion and added more than 3,900 jobs
The Hyundai investment is $1 billion
New investment in downtown Montgomery and the riverfront is about $786 million
Several Hyundai suppliers have located in the area and invested about $180 million
Development continues along West Fairview Avenue and South Boulevard with $8.2 million in new and expanded capital investment. There are plans for an additional $55.2 million over the next five years.
Interstate 65 is the most traveled corridor in the city and the only north- south corridor
Source: I-65 Corridor Development Task Force
"One thing about Fairview Avenue is it is a very densely populated and underserved market," he said. "The businesses that are over there are very successful."
Improving the perception of Fairview Avenue is a key component of further growth.
"We're trying to clean up the area, make it look better, make sure any vacant lots are kept clean and keep the trash off of the ground," Willcoxin said.
Willcoxin said in the years he has been in business on Fairview there have been minimal problems with crime despite some contrary perceptions.
"It is really just a good place to do business," he said. "There is a lot of traffic. It is a heavily traveled area."
Some days Fairview Avenue has more traffic than South Boulevard with more than 20,000 cars per day traveling on the street.
Shana Beck, a member of the South Boulevard Business Coalition and an owner of Wood's RV and Campground, said the area has a lot of potential.
"The perception of this side of town is really what you want to see changed," Beck said. "It is not as bad as everybody thinks it is."
She said she has had no problems in the nine months she has
But Pat Latham and her husband have endured the same problem other Montgomery motorists encounter daily -- a continued increase of traffic.
Since they moved outside the city limits to Snowdoun Chambers Road in 1992, "It has changed a lot," she said. The neighborhood is within a few miles of the Hyundai and supplier plants, and it's buzzing with traffic.
The Lathams look forward to the building of the outer loop, a limited-access, interstate-quality highway intended to relieve some of the traffic congestion in Montgomery.
"It'll have a good bit of impact until they get the outer loop built on account of that traffic coming through there," Latham said of the Hyundai-related traffic. "The outer loop will straighten a lot of it out."
She believes the plant will be positive for the neighborhood, which has continued to grow. Several houses have been built in the last two years, Latham said.
But with all that traffic comes potential shoppers, a necessary element of the master commercial development plan.
"We view the Hyundai project as a southern bookend and the downtown redevelopment as a northern bookend, and we will try to fill in in between," said Robert Gilpin, a local attorney and chairman of the economic development subcommittee of the Interstate 65 Corridor Committee.
Gilpin, who has been working with the corridor committee for five years, said some residents have yet to feel the impact, which will continue to increase as the plant boosts production.
City Councilman James Nuckles agrees. There has been positive growth around automotive plants in other cities, he said.
"We expect the same in our area and in southwest Montgomery, which lends itself to favorable growth," he said. Nuckles said land on the west side is cheaper, and there's access to the interstate, railways and water.
Nuckles and Bright said they are willing to offer incentives to bring business to the area.
"Everything you can imagine is what we're interested in doing," Bright said. "We will do everything we can financially to make it happen."
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