Birmingham Discussion Thread

[Blazer85]

Theyre charging now? May be to offset gas prices or something. I cant find gas cheaper than $2.20

[Sulley]

Pfft. Try driving my Teutonic wonder that takes only premium - which is $2.99 in Upstate NY.

[B'ham Bound]

Speaking of Birmingham transit... have you all thought about what would be the best routes for a downtown light rail line?

[DruidCity]

Re: the air charter company - Alabama officials are also in ongoing talks with a similar company called Skytaxi.

[Blazer85]

Speaking of transit also, the Birmingham MPO is supposed to vote this upcoming Wed. about their long-range transit plan. Let's hope it's passed and activities aimed at making it happen begin soon.

Druid, are those discussions with Skytaxi just for BHM INTL or elsewhere?

[DruidCity]

( Free registration required to view full article ) 8/4/05 Tuscaloosa News : http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/apps/p...73216375949548

If all goes smoothly, ( Chuck Lewis, chief pilot for SkyTaxi ) said SkyTaxi could be offering flights to and from Tuscaloosa in the next six months to a year.

According to earlier articles, SkyTaxi would offer on-demand charter service with a maximum capacity of 5 people at pretty much all airports big and small.
http://www.skytaxi.com/home.cfm?dir_cat=31670

[Joshua82]

Wow not much going on these past few days.

Hopefully this is the calm before the highrise storm!

Has there been any news about the Railroad Reservation Lofts? I remember it being announced over a year ago, but I haven't heard anything recent and I certainly haven't seen any groundbreaking. Last I remember it was supposed to be a NEW 9-story building. I was really excited about this development because it was going to be a new structure to go alongside all of the renovations in downtown. Does anyone know anything new about this project???

[CrimsonARC]

^^

The developers are awaiting the findings of the Railroad Park Master Plan, which will be complete in a few months. From there they will start to move on the project.

[Joshua82]

How's the Railroad Park coming along?

[Dystopos]

" As new residential developments ripple through downtown Birmingham, the retail landscape of the city is expected to begin slowly shifting to serve them. But, because demand for those services must be firmly established first, those who keep a close eye on downtown development say it will be several years before retail vacancies are filled or any new big stores move in."

...The Downtown Retail Association has more than 50 members - double its membership when the organization was established in June 2004.

... The number of loft residents downtown has yet to reach 1,000, according to Operation New Birmingham data, but it's a far cry from what it was 15 years ago. At that time, there were only 40 lofts and an estimated 60 residents. At the end of last year, there were about 600 loft units and 900 residents downtown.

An additional 1,112 units are on the drawing board, including non-loft units such as housing for the elderly and apartments such as phase one of Park Place, the massive Hope VI development.

One of ONB's five-year goals is to add 3,750 residents, or 2,500 units, in the downtown area by 2009. With all the projects in the works, ONB director Michael Calvert says it's possible the city will reach that goal. He believes the lack of people, rather than parking, is the main impediment to retail development.

"We've been told repeatedly - by grocery store chains for instance - that when we build out what's on the drawing boards now, there will be enough density," Calvert says. He's encouraged by downtown development in cities such as Austin, Texas, where Whole Foods recently opened an 80,000-square-foot store.

Other bits: The "California Fashion Mall" building is on the market. Elias Hendricks envisions the spread of upscale services and boutiques... "ground floors of most downtown developments should be retail." and MedTown Pharmacy is doing well.

Kaija Wilkinson. "Downtown Retail Revival Envisioned" Birmingham Business Journal. August 5, 2005.

[Joshua82]

While I know that there have been several lists of developments in B'ham City Center, but just for fun would someone post a current list of possible, proposed, and rumored developments as well as the ones already being worked on. I am mostly interested in the City Center, but any others would be more than welcome.

Pretty please, with a cherry on top???????????

I would be interested to here other people's opinion on what B'ham could persue (Development-wise) that would be unique, unlike anything in any other city. It doesn't have to be an entirely unique project but something that at least exceeds other cities' similar attractions.

I'll go first, (Don't laugh too much) a drive-in type movie theater. I don't exactly know how this could be done without causing distractions to traffic and such, but I believe that this would be very unique. The movie could be possible projected onto the side of a large building (A new highrise possibly) By "drive-in type" it doesn't necessarily need to be a drive-in where you sit in your car, but maybe an outdoor theater with good sound and a pavillion area. This maybe a bad idea but I think it would be unique, I don't know if anything like this exists anywhere else.

Any other ideas?

[Joshua82]

"hear" not here----opps!!!!!!
:hilarious

[shortydee999]

Dont know about others, but me and the environment dont get along too well.

[neilson]

"California Fashion Mall" building? Do explain.

[Sulley]

The old Woolworth's on the corner of 19th St and 3rd Ave N.

[Dystopos]

Courtesy of The Magic City Flickr Group, photo by Dystopos.

[neilson]

wow; I'd say it's false advertising, but I do imagine there are "Fashion Malls" like that in the streets of Compton, so I'll accept it as being truth.

[Dystopos]

Business brief (Birmingham News)
Thursday, August 11, 2005

Officials seek to lure developers:

A dozen Birmingham business and city leaders are expected to meet in Atlanta today with 35 Atlanta developers considering investing in the Magic City's metro area.

The Bridge to Birmingham luncheon, sponsored by Citizens Trust Bank, was organized by Bob Nesbitt, president of the bank's Alabama offices based in Birmingham. "My hope is that out of this we will get at least $100 million in developments in Birmingham, something comparable to what Synergy (an Atlanta developer) is doing at the City Federal Building," Nesbitt said.

The group will promote what Birmingham has to offer during presentations at One Ninety One Club in downtown Atlanta. Attendees will include representatives from the City of Birmingham, Metropolitan Development Board, Operation New Birmingham and Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce. Roy L. Williams --

[euxc]

If Birmingham were to come into some money (say a federal or state block grant), what would y'all think of using it to bury the utility infrastructure in the entire downtown and Southside grid. A lot of the awesome scenery in your photographs are "marred" by powerlines and utility polls. Waste of money or the next ambitious public works project?

[Dystopos]

Downtown has only had one power outage in my memory, and that was the result of an underground fire a year or two ago. I don't think that, from a utilitarian point of view, that burying all the other lines would be a big priority. Not even a blip compared to some of the other goals of the City Center Master Plan, such as convention center expansion, park and greenway development, and burying I-59/20 through downtown.

Also, I just noticed the photo of the California Fashion Mall above is not marred by utility poles or lines. It is marred, arguably, by the California Fashion Mall, though.