This building at 111 S. Court Street is just one of two that Byron Berry is helping restore.
By David Irvin
Montgomery Advertiser
For Darrell Williams, a homeless man who squats in the Five Points neighborhood near downtown when he's not at work, a $300,000 condo doesn't sound too bad.
Not that he's in the market. But Williams does think any new development that brings money to the area will refurbish businesses that have long been closed, homes that have burned out and streets that have suffered the worst of urban decay through years of neglect.
Williams' vision for this neighborhood closely coincides with the vision presented this month by Florida-based Dover Kohl and Partners, a respected town planner that incorporates new urbanism designs to revitalize decaying areas.
"I figure they was going to tear everything down," Williams said on Thursday, walking south on Mobile Street with an uncooked microwavable dinner in his hand. "The neighborhood can't get too much worse, you know. Whatever they do is probably going to help the neighborhood."
For the first time in a long time, outside money is flowing into the Five Points area and the nearby Cottage Hill neighborhood, despite the ever-present evidence of a neighborhood under distress. Chad Emerson, a local smart-growth expert and land use lawyer, said developers are causing "a flurry of activity" downtown and in the Five Points area.
"There are plans for a variety of residential and mixed-use projects at the early stage of conceptual design," Emerson said.
Defined as the intersection of Montgomery Street, Clayton Street and Goldthwaite Street, the historic Five Points area is connected to several downtown streets. This also is the neighborhood where Jefferson Davis once lived and where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. led the final stage of his Selma to Montgomery march in 1965.
In recent years, many homes have undergone radical transformations here. With new paint jobs and restored woodwork, dozens of homes in the area have become inviting to new residents and investors.
However, in other parts of the neighborhood years of neglect have rotted out the foundations of many structures, leaving open spaces and overgrown weeds. Home fronts droop toward the street with broken and warped porch boards that fray up like twine.
The face of the old Hilltop Arms apartment complex -- a large red structure on Montgomery Street -- is scarred by weather and abuse by vandals, with many of its windows broken out.
But the seven-story structure found an owner and renovator in Kim Henderson, a Washington businessman who grew up in the Capital City. He believes in the Dover Kohl plan.
"If they do 50 to 60 percent of that, downtown will change for the better," he said last week, sitting outside the property he purchased for some $800,000 last year. "I'm doing my part."
In its report to the city, Dover Kohl said "this is an area where positive immediate change would alter regional perceptions, while providing much needed amenities to current residents."
Boyd Campbell isn't a resident, but he put down stakes in the Cottage Hill neighborhood a couple of blocks from Five Points, opening a law firm in a 75-year-old home.
"When I bought it in 2004, there were reports of buses of Canadians coming down here to look at real estate," Campbell said. "I think there is something to that. A lot of people have bought homes here and renovated them. Very soon, I don't think there will be a home for sale on this block."
Cottage Hill was one of the first neighborhoods built in Montgomery.
About a 20-minute walk from the river, Campbell believes it was located on the hill to avoid the occasional catastrophe of a flood, which low-lying areas would have suffered in those days.
Today the neighborhood has many nice renovated properties right next to a number of dilapidated eyesores. Work continues on many of these buildings, and Campbell believes the neighborhood is on the way up.
In part, because the Cottage Hill foundation has grown into a strong community organization that promotes economic activity here, drawing together the efforts of developers and community members.
The city planning department also supports the work being done there.
"Clayton Street is a real priority to see how far we can take this," Campbell said.
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