Posted Jul 27, 2023, 5:49 AM
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Join Date: May 2023
Location: JXN Mississippi
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Not sure if this was posted but Developer details plan to build Huntsville’s tallest building, connect to ‘skybridge’ (article is from 2022)
Quote:
It seems like a dream at this point, to build a building in Huntsville at least twice as tall as any other.
It exists only in the imagination of Aaron Mance and in some eye-catching renderings designed to make the dream easier for others to see.
But the dream is more a vision than a fantasy.
“I do believe I’ll build the building,” said Mance, the owner of Hyde Homes and a Huntsville-area real estate developer.
Mance also described the project as a “pie in the sky idea” but he considers his real estate successes no less unlikely. So “pie in the sky” ideas don’t make him flinch.
The details: Mance is pitching a 22-floor building on Governors Drive near Memorial Parkway – the site of Hyde Homes office at 2101 Governors Drive and an intriguing location near downtown and the Huntsville Hospital medical district. Huntsville’s tallest building is the 11-floor Regions Bank building at Clinton Avenue and Church Street.
Mance wants the building to be connected to the skybridge – the pedestrian walkway over the parkway the city is planning to break ground on next year.
At the top, Mance’s vision goes, is a steakhouse and a swimming pool. The building’s tenants could be anyone – luxury condominiums, a hotel, office space. The market, Mance said, will determine such things.
“My plan for this building is to be the spotlight of Huntsville,” Mance said.
Mance estimates it will cost $150 million to build it and he’s looking for financial partners to join the project. In fact, he said, there is already interest from potential investors, Mance said.
As Mance makes his case for the building, it’s not difficult to see advantages. He owns the land for the building and it sits in a federally-designated “opportunity zone” – which provides tax breaks to spur economic activity.
The site also sits on a point of Pinhook Creek – a drainage area that winds through Huntsville, parts of which are planned for refurbishment in the project that will include the skybridge. The site is also across the street from Butler Terrace, the former public housing community that the city plans to redevelop. And it’s a mile east of Campus 805 – a popular entertainment area.
And there is, of course, the skybridge. That would provide a pedestrian connection to the medical district as well as the Von Braun Center, the under-construction Constellation development and the soon-to-break-ground Front Row development along Clinton Avenue. And bolster what city officials already envision as a sparkling centerpiece for the Rocket City.
The project could change, Mance said. A 22-story building could become 15, depending on costs and investors and the economy. Regardless, Mance’s vision is the build Huntsville’s tallest building and make a substantial addition to the city’s modest skyline – which lacks the high-rise towers seen in Birmingham, Mobile and Montgomery despite now being Alabama’s largest city.
“I’m a deal maker, man,” Mance said. “Whatever makes the deal work. That’s what I do. You know, if I’ve got to, if I don’t sell but 10 floors and I’ve got to come up with the other 10, well, I’ll find it.”
Mance said he has the resources to make the building a reality.
“I have never put a deal together this big,” Mance said. “But I’m currently working on a bunch of deals that are above $50 million. So I do this kind of stuff, not to this scale. Obviously, it’ll take three or four years to build this thing.”
With a ballpark estimate of $150 million to build it, Mance said if the down payment was, say, 20%, that would be $30 million.
“I have that,” he said. “So we’re looking for additional investors to reduce my risk so I don’t have all of my eggs in one basket. So the building is real. Now, whether it’s 22 stories, or 14, or 18, has yet to be decided.”
Either way, Mance said, he believes the building will be built.
“This is a dream of mine,” he said. “The way I work, I put the vision down on paper. And it may take 10-15 years but it usually comes to fruition as long as you work toward it.”
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Last edited by vetteking; Jul 27, 2023 at 6:08 AM.
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