Huntsville updates

[HSVTiger]

Construction is beginning on the service road along US /72, Moores Mill Rd
intersection. Moores Mill will be extended several hundred yards south and
tie in with the new road (High Mountain) . This is the beginning of big changes in this area. Significant retail is expected.
On another side of town (North Huntsville/Meridianville) there has been a large increase in the number of lots available for housing with surveying being done for a large Enfinger development (Walkers Hill, this has been planned for several years). Publix is rumored to be scouting sites as well.

[HSVTiger]

"The City Council authorized Huntsville Utilities on Thursday night to spend $200,000 to spruce up the rusting Dallas Mill water tower. Plans call for a new cone top, reinforced rivets and other components and a new coat of silver paint.

The 1920 water tower, visible from Interstate 565 and across the northeast Huntsville skyline, has been dormant since Dallas Mill closed in 1949.

Utilities spokesman Bill Yell told the council that the rusting tank is an eyesore and a hazard. "It's potentially going to fall down if we don't do something," he said.

He was responding to Councilwoman Sandra Moon, who recited a constituent's concern about spending that kind of money on an old water tank.

Moon asked if the tank will be used. Yell said while there are no immediate plans to press it into service, the utility envisions a need for it if the Meridian Street area redevelops.

Dallas Mill operated from 1892 to 1949. The building burned July 1991, leaving the water tank as the only reminder of the once-thriving textile mill."
From Huntsville Times

[Bama_Bull78]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

Construction is beginning on the service road along US /72, Moores Mill Rd
intersection. Moores Mill will be extended several hundred yards south and
tie in with the new road (High Mountain) . This is the beginning of big changes in this area. Significant retail is expected.
On another side of town (North Huntsville/Meridianville) there has been a large increase in the number of lots available for housing with surveying being done for a large Enfinger development (Walkers Hill, this has been planned for several years). Publix is rumored to be scouting sites as well.

I have heard from a Realtor that Publix is securing The old Winn Dixie Site in merdianville. But it will be a couple of weeks before it released to the public. There also Building on jeff and 53 highway reminds me of another Florida company that built really big in the valley. Oh yea that Was Winn Dixie!

[neilson]

Originally Posted by Bama_Bull78

I have heard from a Realtor that Publix is securing The old Winn Dixie Site in merdianville. But it will be a couple of weeks before it released to the public. There also Building on jeff and 53 highway reminds me of another Florida company that built really big in the valley. Oh yea that Was Winn Dixie!

No, that site in Harvest at 53 and Jeff Road will be brand new. Only thing like a supermarket or better then a gas station for food that's up there is the Piggly Wiggly and Dollar General.

[Bama_Bull78]

Originally Posted by neilson

No, that site in Harvest at 53 and Jeff Road will be brand new. Only thing like a supermarket or better then a gas station for food that's up there is the Piggly Wiggly and Dollar General.

IF u paid attention i also said the 53 and jeff site. But there also going into the OLD Winn Dixie/Southern Family building in merdianville. But also in the Hsv times on Sunday they said there will be a user fee a dollar i think. To help pay for the road improvements at that intersections.

[neilson]

Originally Posted by Bama_Bull78

IF u paid attention i also said the 53 and jeff site. But there also going into the OLD Winn Dixie/Southern Family building in merdianville. But also in the Hsv times on Sunday they said there will be a user fee a dollar i think. To help pay for the road improvements at that intersections.

It's a good idea, and by accepting it Aronov promised that it would not annex into Huntsville. I hope this will now spur more retail and commercial development in Monrovia-Harvest and this model for infrastructure improvements will become the norm in improving the several roads and intersections up there.

[HSVTiger]

Originally Posted by neilson

It's a good idea, and by accepting it Aronov promised that it would not annex into Huntsville. I hope this will now spur more retail and commercial development in Monrovia-Harvest and this model for infrastructure improvements will become the norm in improving the several roads and intersections up there.

Is this because ALDOT won't help? The road is being widened some century
and I don't think they wanted to pay for it because of the future widening.
I could be wrong but it seems it has something to do with that.

[HSVTiger]

By MARIAN ACCARDITimes Business Writer, [email protected]


The Westin Huntsville Residences, on the top floors of the four-star Westin Huntsville hotel now being built in Bridge Street Town Centre, is one of 13 Westin projects around the country that include residential condominiums.

The Westin facility will open at the end of the year, according to Rachel Forman, vice president, corporate marketing for Santa Monica, Calif.-based O&S Holdings LLC.

O&S is developer of the 2-million-square-foot Bridge Street in Cummings Research Park. Bridge Street's shops, restaurants and 14-screen Monaco Pictures cinema will open Nov. 1, Forman said.


The 74 condos, located on part of the sixth floor and on the seventh through 11th floors, will be one-, two- and three-bedroom residences and a penthouse.

Twenty-seven of the residences, including the penthouse condo, are either sold or reserved with a deposit, Forman said. "We're doing some marketing in the D.C. area, but the real aggressive push is in Huntsville," she said. A condo model will be completed in a few months.

Several Army commands and up to 4,500 federal jobs are headed to Redstone Arsenal by 2011 as a result of the 2005 BRAC decisions.

Condo prices range from the low $400,000s to more than $1 million for the penthouse, she said. The condos range from 750 square feet to the 4,300-square-foot penthouse condo.

Residents can use the hotel's amenities such as room service, laundry, valet parking and the health club, with fees added with some services.

The Westin Huntsville, the state's only Westin, will have 210 hotel rooms.

[HSVTiger]

Hopefully the right decisions will be made as this moves forward..

Huntsville Times
The death of a patriarch can change everything for a family, a community, even the course of history. It's happening now in one of Huntsville's storied neighborhoods.

When he died in April at age 90, James "Jimmy" Wilson owned 44 homes in the old Merrimack mill village west of Triana Boulevard and north of Drake Avenue.

The village was built around 1900 for workers at the Merrimack mill on Triana. Merrimack was one of four textile mills that powered Huntsville's economy, as an amateur historian put it, "after watercress and before rockets."

A world unto itself, the village, which was an exact replica of a mill village in Lowell, Mass., numbered dozens of homes in various sizes and designs. Many still stand. Builders used "balloon construction," milling wall studs on site from local poplar trees that reached in a single span from foundation to attic. Those studs aged to such hardness you need a drill to hang a picture now.

Merrimack village - some call it Huntsville Park - has been changing. People have snapped up many of the old two-story duplexes for as little as $100,000, opened them into single dwellings and begun restoring them.

Property values have "doubled, tripled over three years," according to Jim Marek Jr., president of a nanotechnology company and also of the new Merrimack neighborhood association. They call Marek the "mayor" of Merrimack for his enthusiasm and commitment to the village.

Local philanthropists Alan and Debra Jenkins caught Merrimack fever, too. They spent a small fortune turning the old Merrimack Hall into a modern theater and arts complex that opened this year. Actor Billy Bob Thornton's band plays there Friday.
Rick Wilson, his son and heir, concedes that "we've had some bad families." But fair housing laws required Wilson to rent to any applicant who could afford to pay, he said.

As Wilson ponders his property's future, the village holds its breath.

Some would-be buyers want all 44 properties. That's tempting to Wilson. But so is helping the neighborhood come back.

"I have a moral obligation to my father," Wilson said Friday. "He loved Huntsville Park. I just don't know. I'm in a state of confusion."

The people investing in Merrimack village want Wilson to sell the homes individually to people lining up to restore them. They fear that a single owner could decide the best return on investment is renting without improving.

Wilson, who just returned to Huntsville after 20 years abroad, said he's open to suggestions. But they have to make financial, as well as emotional, sense.

Some people think Merrimack village could be the next Five Points, a trendy historic neighborhood people want to call home.

It could happen. But only if a son turns his father's death into new life for a Huntsville treasure.

[HSVTiger]

another water tower redo, this one in the art/entertainment district at Lowe Mill


Huntsville Times/Dave Dieter photo

[HSVTiger]

Zierdt Rd development still on

"By WENDY REEVES
Times Staff Writer [email protected]
Kirkindall says DeBartolo officials remain interested

MADISON - The DeBartolo mall development, which created a firestorm of controversy between Huntsville and Madison, is still in the works, Madison Mayor Sandy Kirkindall told the City Council Monday night.

Kirkindall said a team of DeBartolo Development consultants were in town a few weeks ago.

"There were a lot of engineering questions and, as far as we know, they are still actively pitching the project," Kirkindall said. "We all know the status of the project hinges on the status of the interchange at Zierdt and I-565, which is still in the design phase and being negotiated with (the Alabama Department of Transportation)."

Kirkindall said a justification committee has not yet approved the interchange."

what will Madison have to give them in return I wonder?

[neilson]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

Is this because ALDOT won't help? The road is being widened some century
and I don't think they wanted to pay for it because of the future widening.
I could be wrong but it seems it has something to do with that.

ALDOT said they'll widen that section of road right around the shopping center now so that they'll at least have a corrected Jeff Road intersection. This user fee is going toward sewage hookup to the Harvest-Monrovia Treatment Plant and the side roads that normally would be funded fully by the County Commission.

[HSVTiger]

Airport traffic up

Traffic up at Huntsville airport
Posted by Marian Accardi August 14, 2007 4:14 PM
Passenger traffic at Huntsville International Airport has increased slightly for the year through July compared to the 2006 count.

The number of airport passengers through July was 703,892, up 3.4 percent compared to the same period in 2006, according to figures reported Tuesday at a meeting of the Huntsville/Madison County Airport Authority. For the month of July, there were 110,633 passengers flying out of and into the airport, an increase of 7 percent over last July.

Barbie Peek, the airport's marketing director, told authority members that low-fare carrier Allegiant Air, which recently announced new direct service from Huntsville to Las Vegas starting Sept. 21, will announce a new destination on Aug. 28.
Allegiant Air flights between Huntsville and McCarran International Airport will operate twice weekly, on Mondays and Fridays.

An Allegiant spokeswoman said recently that when the airline enters a market, it typically announces one destination with limited frequency, and market demand then dictates if the carrier adds destinations and service.

The carrier is focused on linking travelers in smaller cities to leisure spots like Las Vegas and Orlando and Tampa/St. Petersburg, Fla. It plans to establish bases at two new leisure destinations - Phoenix-Mesa, Ariz., and Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Rail cargo traffic at the International Intermodal Center in July was down 14 percent compared to a record-high volume set last July. Still, the number of rail lifts was the second highest volume in the center's history for the month of July, said Mitch Bradley, the center's director.

In other business on Tuesday, the authority authorized the sale of a 10-acre site in Jetplex Industrial Park to Birmingham-based Gauldin Investment Co. Inc. for the purchase price of $55,000 an acre. The company plans to develop two 65,000-square-foot spec buildings on the property

[SouthSky]

They are setting up new hubs in Fort Lauderdale and an airport in the Phoenix area, so one of those could be the new destination to be announced.

[Rail Claimore]

^Probably Ft Lauderdale... or perhaps Tampa.

[HSVTiger]

Originally Posted by Rail Claimore

^Probably Ft Lauderdale... or perhaps Tampa.

or Orlando

[HSVTiger]

Huntsville for adventure

By JOHN PECK
Times Staff Writer [email protected]
Area enthusiasts say National Geographic magazine got it right

Huntsville has been named a "top adventure town" by one of the nation's leading adventure and travel magazines.

The listings are in the September issue of National Geographic Adventure (claiming 2.3 million readers), which hit the newsstands Tuesday.

Choosing one winner per state for the cover story, "50 Top Adventure Towns," the magazine spent months tracking down and comparing data to select what it considered prime places to reside for adventurous living.

"We were looking for towns that had a mix of terrain, activities and opportunities. We were looking for places where residents could live the adventure dream daily," Ethan Fried, a communications official for the National Geographic Society in Washington, D.C., said Tuesday by telephone.
Mayor Loretta Spencer, a Huntsville resident since her childhood, said she was not surprised at the recognition from the magazine.

"Our location and topography lends itself to enjoying nature," she said. "The greenways are perfect for hiking and biking. There are caves to explore and endless water recreation choices with our streams and rivers.

"Huntsville is experiencing explosive growth, but we are managing our growth by preserving as much greenspace as possible for residents to enjoy."


The city's adventure salute was echoed by area recreational enthusiasts and outfitters.

"That doesn't surprise me. It's barely the tip of the iceberg," said Tommy Reagh, owner of Trailhead Inc., a bike, hike and outdoor wear shop on Andrew Jackson Way. "What a lot of people don't realize is, a lot of cities out west where many adventure places are, people have to drive 2 1/2 to three hours to get there.

"We've got 50-plus miles of hiking and biking trails just in Monte Sano State Park in the middle of town and lots of others in the Land Trust holdings."

The Land Trust of Huntsville and North Alabama, a land preservation organization, has over 4,600 acres valued at $14 million in its inventory of acreage dedicated to greenspace for recreational enjoyment.
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1187169334211970.xml&coll=1&thispage=2

[hsvatlmn]

I was in Huntsville last week after a two year absence and was truly amazed at the change

My parents grew up here and so it was always my second home. Every summer I would go and spend with my grandparents and cousins and have the time of my life.

Once my grandfather became too ill to live alone we brought him with us and I have not had as much of a chance to visit in the last 4 years. We brought him back to be buried last week and I was so turned around trying to follow roads I was used to all my life that a couple of times I burst out in tears. You see, I'm not upset about the change just amazed at how quickly it HAS changed.

I spent my summers in the rural parts of Huntsville where my family owns around close to 300 acres, off of Pulaski Pike near the Toyota Plant. Since my grandfather has passed there are already rumbles of selling. I have mixed feelings, I love the growth that Huntsville is experiencing, at the same time I have nostalgia for the beauty of the agriculture and farming process that so reminds me of my past. This land was originally purchased by my great grandfather in the early 1900's. My father has always told me that his grandfather had planned to make his will where the land could never be sold but passed down through the generations.

Does anyone know what the plans are for this area? I would love to see it still maintain some of its integrity, rural and peaceful.

By the way, thank you all so much for the HSV updates, I have read them all and pictured in my mind the areas I remember and the unbelievable changes that have taken place. As a young person in my twenties, I considered the town somewhat slow, but this time I didn't have enough time to soak up all the changes, places to go and things to do Can't wait to come back!

[TimCity2000]

welcome to the forum! seems like we've had quite a few new HSV members join recently. huntsville is fortunate to have several organizations who are concerned about preserving the natural landscape in the midst of such rapid growth. there are definitely some problems with sprawl (especially with all the recent residential developments), but there are large pockets of open space being preserved. the national geographic article points to that.

[HSVTiger]

welcome hsvatlmn,

after 6 days of 100 degrees and more on the way

Posted by Staff reports August 15, 2007 10:46 AM
Huntsville Utilities' more than 154,000 power customers Tuesday set a record for electricity use for the fourth time in two weeks.

The hourly peak demand for electricity reached 1,186.9 megawatts at 5 p.m., breaking the record set Aug. 9 by more than two megawatts, said utilities spokesman Bill Yell. He said 1,100 megawatts is the equivalent of having more 11 million 100-watt bulbs burning at the same time.

Utility officials expect the demand for power to remain high this week with temperatures forecast in the 100-degree range, Yell said.