Huntsville updates

[HSVTiger]

From the Huntsville Times

A 250-foot tall control tower at Huntsville International Airport to replace its aging 97-foot tower. Construction on the $21 million tower is expected to begin in July, said Jerimiah Easley of the Federal Aviation Administration in Atlanta. The larger tower will give air traffic controllers a full view of runways and taxiways, which have been improved to accommodate an increase in air traffic.

An 1,100-foot waterway linking Big Spring lagoon downtown with Pinhook Creek behind the Von Braun Center. Gerald Clark, landscape architect with Civil Solutions in Huntsville, said the canal will be 15 feet wide, lined with sidewalks and plenty of landscaping, and include a flared "turnaround" area for boats. The waterway will be plumbed and wired to accommodate a fountain, he said. The canal is part of the extensive downtown renovations associated with the Embassy Suites hotel under construction next to the VBC. The hotel is expected to open by early next year.

A 47,000-square-foot building to house the historic Saturn V display at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. The building will also include exhibit space. An architect for Gresham Smith & Partners of Birmingham said work should begin in late April.

The Hilton Huntsville will become Holiday Inn Select Hotel, Huntsville-Downtown on April 1, changing its affiliation after 30 years. 3 million in renovations underway.

The 273-room hotel, located at 401 Williams St. near the Von Braun Center, has been a Hilton since opening in April 1975.

Westin Huntsville groundbreaking scheduled for next month

[HSV79]

Let's not forget about Big Spring Summit which is well underway. Part of the garage has been torn down and the base of the building is being constructed right now. And of course Embassy Suites is still under construction. Though I do believe that most of the actual ground work is complete. Oh and the 250' crane in Research Park is for the Dynetics HQ.

[HSVTiger]

The only thing holding up the Five Points improvement project now is final state approval.

City Planner Marie Bostick hopes construction on the $1.4 million makeover of Huntsville's trendy east side business district can begin by summer.


Plans call for landscaped sidewalks; a narrower, pedestrian-friendly Pratt Avenue; benches; lantern-style streetlights; new parking configurations, and other improvements.


City officials are lobbying Cramer and other members of the congressional delegation for several million dollars for as many as three more parking garages downtown. More parking, Spencer said, will help draw more condominiums, restaurants and retail development.

The garages would cost about $6 million each, said City Planning Director Dallas Fanning. Tommy Brown, director of public parking and transit for Huntsville, said the city hopes to "partner" with private developers in building the garages in conjunction with a retail or residential development.

"We don't want to go out and just build a stand-alone garage," Brown said. "

My comments below, not part of the article,

The above mentioned garages may be linked to several major
downtown projects which may include the often rumored 20+
story condo and or a retail, entertainment complex on the MarketSquare property, or another hotel office complex.
At the moment this is speculation, but like he said "we don't go out and just build a stand alone garage."In any case something is cooking..
:fc:

[HSVTiger]

to see what these buildings will look like. Hopefully something
futuristic and fitting for Northrop. The site is relatively small so it
may rival Adtrans buildings across the street in height.

Northrop Grumman Announces Intent to Build New Huntsville Campus
HUNTSVILLE, Ala., May 23, 2005 (PRIMEZONE) -- To accommodate its growing presence in the Huntsville area, Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE:NOC) will construct a new five-building complex in Cummings Research Park.

The company has selected developer Colonial Properties Trust (NYSE:CLP) for the $80 million project to be located off Interstate 565. Colonial Properties is a real estate investment trust headquartered in Birmingham, Ala. Northrop Grumman plans to break ground on the first 110,000-square-foot building June 27.

Northrop Grumman employs about 1,200 people in the Huntsville area, in more than 20 facilities. Most current operations will be consolidated in the new headquarters facility, which will house offices, laboratories, and research and development centers.

[argussventon]

Weren't there plans in the works to put up a replica of the launch pad for the Saturn V and include that as part of the vertical display?

[HSVTiger]

Originally Posted by argussventon

Weren't there plans in the works to put up a replica of the launch pad for the Saturn V and include that as part of the vertical display?

But those plans were shelved after the former director of the museum mis- managed funds,and falsely reported profits.
Currently the books are being put in order, and some day
the gantry may be built. There was to be a restaurant at the top,
I believe. I actually kind of like it without the tower.
The big push now is to build a building to house the real Saturn V and refurbish it, as it is only one of three real Saturn V's in existence.

[DruidCity]

The canal sounds especially nice.

Huntsville seems to be making strides toward becoming a more well-rounded city.

I read a while back that the Huntsville Botanical Garden will spend $3.6 million over the next year or so. Unless I'm mistaken, it's the largest public garden in Alabama, in terms of acreage.

The employment numbers look very good for Huntsville, especially considering the new jobs likely to arrive with BRAC :
http://www2.dir.state.al.us/LAUS/LAUS_Metrorates.asp

[Rail Claimore]

You can see the construction crane of Big Spring Summit from a number of vantage points miles away now.

[TimCity2000]

^I went home this weekend for the Cotton Row Run and was pleasantly surprised to see two or three cranes dotting the skyline. One for Big Spring Summit, one for Embassy Suites, another at the hospital. Hopefully a fourth will pop up if they ever decide to get 301 East going again.

[HSVTiger]

from the website. The Governor will be here tomorrow for the "official" groundbreaking. Heavy equipment has been
working the site for several weeks now.

The Westin Huntsville


Overall site plan

[Blazer85]

How tall will the Westin in Huntsville be?

[HSVTiger]

Originally Posted by Blazer85

How tall will the Westin in Huntsville be?

said 12, 200 rooms , with the top 6 floors being condos, of which
many have already pre sold.

[HSVTiger]

opens the new Monroe Street bridge downtown, this will lead to the new canal being built between the Embassy Suite and VBC.
The rendering says pedestrian bridge but is also for vehicle traffic.
Not shown off the bottom of the page is a new roundabout across from the main branch downtown public library which is to the left.




Credit to Eric Papetti for this photo

[TimCity2000]

That Westin looks great... won't be long before Research Park has a better skyline than downtown, lol!

[HSVTiger]

some nice things at Bridge Street groundbreaking

For the last 30 to 40 years, Riley said, the Huntsville/Madison County community has worked together as few others in Alabama or across the Southeast have. "This is almost like an oasis in the state of Alabama," Riley said. "You have a sense of community pride in this area that allows you to work together ..."

"It's amazing how much community support there is here," said Gary Safady, managing partner with O&S Holdings. "We promise to deliver a special project."

Tenants will be announced in the coming weeks,

Thanks Guvna

[zoom31min]

Congrats Huntsville. Birmingham would do well to work together like y'all have.

[HSVTiger]

new Huntsville Campus, 1 block west of Bridge Street in
Cummings Research Park. They will all be 3 story buildings

[Mystic City]

I really like the Westin rendering.

[HSVTiger]

by city, from WAFF television.

City leaders call it a unique chance, the possibility to pedal into a future where Big Spring Park gets even bigger.

"We're very proud because this was an opportunity for the city," Mayor Loretta Spencer smiles.

The opportunity sprang forth when the aging, soon-to-be-retired owners of the Holiday Inn Select put it up for sale at an asking price of 14-million bucks. A non-profit organization called the Big Spring Partners managed a deal for the hotel at 8-and-half million.

"It just seems like such a win," Big Spring Partner President David Johnston says of a victory even the hotel celebrates.

A huge tax break kept the owners from ducking out of the deal.

"I read that contract so many times," hotel general manager Vini Gupta says. "I cannot come up with a single negative for any party concerned."

Meanwhile, the city gets the property, an obvious financial benefit, and so much more. "The city's getting paid for the availability of the land, they're getting their cost recovered," Johnston explains. "They're protecting inflation. They're protecting the site, they're keeping the rooms."

Rooms that aren't going anywhere, not now that the hotel's guaranteed to be there at least another decade. And with construction of a second hotel already in full swing, city leaders say further downtown development also has a promising future.


This is another step in downtown progress, here is another.

The Huntsville City Council will consider plans today that would remove an old storage building from the Pinhook Creek floodway, add green space around the downtown post office and build a storage facility for the U.S. Postal Service.

City leaders have been working to make way for an eventual widening of Pinhook Creek to remove businesses from the flood plain and help reduce the cost of flood insurance for businesses in the area.

Plans call for the city to take over roughly 2.5 acres along Pinhook Creek behind the post office on Clinton Avenue; raze the storage building; expand green space; and revamp the parking lot at the post office, said Dallas Fanning, city planning director.

This will become part of the planned riverwalk under construction.

[HSVTiger]

As it seems in most markets passenger traffic is in strong
growth pattern..


The Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority has approved an operating budget for 2005-06 that projects more than 1.2 million passengers.

That's a projected passenger traffic increase of almost 14 percent over the current budget. The airport's new fiscal year starts July 1.

The budget has $24.7 million in revenues, and about $21 million in spending for the airport, Sheraton Four Points hotel and Jetplex Industrial Park operations.


The planned improvements include renovating the terminal and concourse, and expanding the parking deck and the air cargo apron.

Rick Tucker, the airport's executive director, reported that passenger traffic for 2005 through May was 522,477 - up 15.5 percent over the same period in 2004. The number of passengers in May reached 118,281, up more than 14.4 percent over May 2004.

from The Huntsville Times June 10, 2005