Birmingham Development News

[Randy Sandford]

Originally Posted by Bogue

Bravo, you wouldn't happen to have an aerial shot or rendering showing where the new park will be located, do you? It's hard for me to visualize the dimensions via street locations. Don't really have them in my head like that just yet and all. It'd be great if you had one showing what it'll look like as well.

I marked the boundaries in red on this aerial view (courtesy of maps.live.com):



There are some glimpses of what the park will be like on the park's website, but the master plan is no longer available. That makes me wonder if the plan is currently being revised. The original plan (not sure if a new plan will be unveiled) and a few renderings are available at Dystopos' Bhamwiki site:

http://www.bhamwiki.com/wiki/index.p...servation_Park

[Blazer85]

I really like the Civil Rights Trail idea as well. Birmingham's history is what it is. No sense in trying to hide from it, because you never will escape it. Birmingham would be best served in trying to embrace that history and make it an example to the country and to the world. I think anything we can do to raise the level of tourism in Birmingham is a BIG plus.

I also was wondering if anyone had any additional info on the proposed Holiday Inn Express that they're planning to build on the north side. Is it near Innovation Depot? Any details on the size? Thanks.

[| BRAVO |]

Hey! You beat me to it! I'm posting my map anyway.

[| BRAVO |]

Originally Posted by Bogue

but this isn't exactly a new idea, is it? Haven't they tried to do this before?

I don't recall hearing about it in the past. It's entirely possible though.

[| BRAVO |]

Originally Posted by Blazer85

I also was wondering if anyone had any additional info on the proposed Holiday Inn Express that they're planning to build on the north side. Is it near Innovation Depot? Any details on the size? Thanks.

I haven't heard anything about this?

[Blazer85]

Originally Posted by | BRAVO |

I haven't heard anything about this?

Here's the only thing I've found about it...

Holiday Inn Express slated for downtown
Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Developers are planning a Holiday Inn Express for downtown Birmingham's Entrepreneurial District.

Those involved with the project are not prepared to say the exact location of the new hotel for business reasons. An announcement on the project is expected soon, possibly by city officials at today's Birmingham City Council meeting.

The Entrepreneurial District spans several blocks around the new Innovation Depot, the business incubator created from the former Sears department store building and property at 1500 First Ave. North.

The project would be the first for that area, adding to a growing number of downtown hotel projects planned or in the works, stretching from UAB to the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex.

Michael Tomberlin

[Bogue]

Thanks guys, great pictures & thanks for the link, Randy.

Curious where that is in reference to the old B'ham train station that I've heard talked about? Too bad that it can't be rebuilt as an intermodal facility like they did in Mobile for the GM&O building. I've been told the building in B'ham was really nice (though it has since been torn down). Anyone have any pictures of it?

[Blazer85]

If SRI sticks to their word and rennovates this place, then this is good news for the city. The city benefits in the form of cash (nearly half a million) and they put the pressure on SRI to immediately fix some things and get the place secured so that it's no longer such an eyesore nor a haven for vagrants or others.

Birmingham Council accepts SRI's $400,000 on Quinlan Castle site
Posted by Victoria L. Coman -- Birmingham News August 05, 2008 3:05 PM
Categories: Breaking News

The Birmingham City Council has voted today to sell the Quinlan Castle property to Southern Research Institute for $400,000.

Robert L. McClure, vice president of administrative services at SRI, said the company will immediately begin cleaning up the property, making such improvements as replacing roofing and replacing windows and doors. The company also will put in better security, he said.

S. Douglas Williams Jr., an attorney representing the company, said SRI plans to do all that is feasible to preserve the structure, but determining a final use for the building will take time.

Valerie Abbott was the only council member voting against the agreement. Abbott said the redevelopment agreement the council voted on lacked wording to ensure the preservation of the vacant 1920s-era apartment building's facade on Birmingham's Southside.

[Bogue]

I don't think it's such an eyesore until you get close. Really just fixing the roof & broken windows fixes that problem.

Ms. Abbott brings up an interesting issue in that there's no wording to protect the 80 year old facade of the building. The building has a unique character in that part of town and it'd be sad to see it destroyed in favor of something common.

[Blazer85]

Originally Posted by Bogue

I don't think it's such an eyesore until you get close. Really just fixing the roof & broken windows fixes that problem.

Ms. Abbott brings up an interesting issue in that there's no wording to protect the 80 year old facade of the building. The building has a unique character in that part of town and it'd be sad to see it destroyed in favor of something common.

Yes, but apparently, before anything structural could be done to the building, they would have to 1) go before the Design and Review Board, and 2) go before the City Council. So even though it won't have complete protection, SRI would have to go through several hoops in order to have anything like that approved.

[UrbanLover]

The irony is that when the City first took bids on this property almost 10 years ago, a requirement was preserving the facade, due to the common knowledge that SRI saw the building as worthless and wanted it torn down. The winning developer agreed to pay $400,000 at the time to convert the building into luxury apartments, a multi-million dollar development. However, SRI refused to help with the parking required (the building is landlocked and surrounded by excess, underutilized SRI parking lots)--the developer even agreed to build a deck that would increase the amount of SRI parking, but to no avail. So the project fell apart for that reason alone.

I am cynical that SRI won't eventually tear this down. Yes, they have to jump through hoops at Design Review, etc., but unless there's a public outcry large enough to stop them, they have the time and resources to wait out the time required by the process and then proceed. I hope I'm wrong.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by Randy Sandford

Well, Decatur is where Parisian opened it's first location outside of Birmingham in the 1960's, but Parisian began in Birmingham in 1880 (originally known as the Parisian Dry Goods & Millinery Compnay). You can read a detailed history here:

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/compa...y-History.html

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, ok. Thanx for correcting me! My mom told me about it all a long time ago, so it's surprising I remember anything at all.

[dfwtiger]

Originally Posted by Bogue

Thanks guys, great pictures & thanks for the link, Randy.

Curious where that is in reference to the old B'ham train station that I've heard talked about? Too bad that it can't be rebuilt as an intermodal facility like they did in Mobile for the GM&O building. I've been told the building in B'ham was really nice (though it has since been torn down). Anyone have any pictures of it?

Pictures of the old terminal station




Yes...a real shame tearing this building down

[phoenixboi08]

Hey! New to this thread.
I'm moving to Birmingham soon for school. I just wanted some opinions on what to check out first.

[TimCity2000]

ugh... it kills me everytime i see those pics of the terminal station.

[| BRAVO |]

Originally Posted by phoenixboi08

Hey! New to this thread.
I'm moving to Birmingham soon for school. I just wanted some opinions on what to check out first.

Welcome Aboard! What are you interested in? Shopping? Residential Areas? Restaurants?

[UrbanLover]

For Railroad Park images, you can check out the landscape architect Tom Leader's website:

www.tomleader.com

And click under "Projects". About 20 images there. Along with the parallel devepment of Red Mountain Park and expansion of Ruffner Park, there are few, if any, cities in the US that have this kind of first-class park project going on right now. We're very lucky.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Those are some great renderings. I'm gonna be sure to make some special trips to Birmingham just to see this thing.

[Shawn35816]

For some reason, I just can't get over the fact that the magazine is based in Birmingham and somehow Alabama has won it five out of the last six years. I mean the states of Georgia, N. Carolina, and Tennessee are doing very well themselves. I guess, I just have a hard time with it because the site SouthernAutoCorridor.com, owned by SB&D, and their many predictions and sources that said VW would choose H-ville were wrong.

http://blog.al.com/businessnews/2008...nes_top_e.html

"Southern Business and Development magazine has named Alabama "State of the Year" for 2007, the fifth time the state has captured the economic development title in the past six years.

"Alabama is leading the South, and the South is leading the nation," Riley said during his Birmingham stop.

Southern Business and Development is based in Birmingham, with Mike Randle serving as publisher."

[dfwtiger]

Originally Posted by phoenixboi08

Hey! New to this thread.
I'm moving to Birmingham soon for school. I just wanted some opinions on what to check out first.

No kidding...in my opinion...one of the best rail stations in America. Man...we lost a good one....a building that help to define the rise of Birmingham as industrial and political power...only to vanish under the weight of a needless recking ball.

To recreate this building on a terminal axis at the railroad reservation park would be a treat. However, I doubt we could ever find enough money to make it happen. In the end....some mid rise residential towers around the park would do the trick.