Montgomery development news

[neilson]

Originally Posted by kevinlpugh

Circuit City opens Friday at EastChase



Circuit City is set to open Friday at the Market Center in the EastChase development, said Kay Yarbrough, spokeswoman for Jim Wilson and Associates.

The store originally was scheduled to open late February. Yarbrough said Bed, Bath and Beyond should open the first week of April, and Old Navy, the first week of May.

The new businesses in the Market Center -- adjacent to Costco -- will help fill about 80 percent of the EastChase development in east Montgomery. The entire development likely will be completed in three more years. Currently, about 75 percent to 80 percent of the land has been developed.

So the shopping center at Troy Hwy. and the Bypass is now dead?

[Brown Duckz]

Originally Posted by neilson

So the shopping center at Troy Hwy. and the Bypass is now dead?

You guessed it. That's the way we roll. Hey at least it can become some kind of flea market or discount clothing store soon.

[OldCloverdale]

Has anyone here heard anything about a public announcement to be made next week regarding the move of the Governor’s residence from the current location on South Perry Street to the old Blount estate on Vaughn Road?

[OCA REP]

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

Has anyone here heard anything about a public announcement to be made next week regarding the move of the Governor’s residence from the current location on South Perry Street to the old Blount estate on Vaughn Road?

I have not heard anything "official" on this, but have heard rumblings. I sure hope this is not true. The mansion is a jewel in the Garden District and should remain. Some time back, similar talk surfaced concerning a possible move to the (at the time) undeveloped corner of Perry Hill Road and Vaughn Road.

Anyone else know more?

[neilson]

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

Has anyone here heard anything about a public announcement to be made next week regarding the move of the Governor’s residence from the current location on South Perry Street to the old Blount estate on Vaughn Road?

Hey, the old Blount estate is pretty cool.

[OldCloverdale]

Originally Posted by neilson

Hey, the old Blount estate is pretty cool.

so is history, tradition, and the Garden District



http://www.archives.state.al.us/mansion.html



The current official residence superseded the original executive mansion in 1950. A state commission established by the legislature in that year purchased the home of the late General Robert Fulwood Ligon from his heirs. It was located at 1108 South Perry Street, just a few blocks away from the existing mansion. Purchased at a cost of $100,000 by the Capitol Building Commission, another $130,000 was spent on renovations and furnishings.

Originally built in 1907 for General Ligon by the architect Weatherly Carter, the current executive residence is in the Neo-Classical Revival style with Corinthian columns at the front. It features a spacious interior with a double staircase leading from the foyer to apartments above. A formal garden surrounded by a high ornamental wall originally covered the entire back lawn of the property which extends through the block to South Court Street. A pool in the shape of the state of Alabama was built in the mid-1970s, along with a stone grotto with waterfall.

Governor Gordon Persons and his family were the first to occupy the former Ligon home when it became the Governor's Mansion, moving in on the day of his inauguration - January 15, 1951. The former official residence housed the state offices of the Adjutant General and the Military Department until May of 1959, when the property was sold to the Montgomery Academy, a private school. In 1963, the original Governor's Mansion was demolished as part of the construction of Interstate Highway 85.

[thoraudio]

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080131/VIDEO02/80130052/-1/NEWS05

video on an interior art piece for the Hotel/Convention Center.

Saw a billboard ad for an RV show at the new center for early February, so it should be open soon.

BTW, this is the link for the Montgomery Performing Arts Center, which is the theater portion of the new civic center.

[thoraudio]

Here are some floor plans for the convention center.

[neilson]

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

so is history, tradition, and the Garden District



http://www.archives.state.al.us/mansion.html



The current official residence superseded the original executive mansion in 1950. A state commission established by the legislature in that year purchased the home of the late General Robert Fulwood Ligon from his heirs. It was located at 1108 South Perry Street, just a few blocks away from the existing mansion. Purchased at a cost of $100,000 by the Capitol Building Commission, another $130,000 was spent on renovations and furnishings.

Originally built in 1907 for General Ligon by the architect Weatherly Carter, the current executive residence is in the Neo-Classical Revival style with Corinthian columns at the front. It features a spacious interior with a double staircase leading from the foyer to apartments above. A formal garden surrounded by a high ornamental wall originally covered the entire back lawn of the property which extends through the block to South Court Street. A pool in the shape of the state of Alabama was built in the mid-1970s, along with a stone grotto with waterfall.

Governor Gordon Persons and his family were the first to occupy the former Ligon home when it became the Governor's Mansion, moving in on the day of his inauguration - January 15, 1951. The former official residence housed the state offices of the Adjutant General and the Military Department until May of 1959, when the property was sold to the Montgomery Academy, a private school. In 1963, the original Governor's Mansion was demolished as part of the construction of Interstate Highway 85.

So there's no "history" to the old Blount estate? Come on, there's a rich history there too.

[thoraudio]

yeah, but it doesn't have a pool shaped like the state. fail.

Gov.s Mansion

[neilson]

Originally Posted by thoraudio

yeah, but it doesn't have a pool shaped like the state. fail.

Gov.s Mansion

There's a motel off South Blvd. just west of Montgomery Mall and Barnhill's Buffet that has an Alabama-shaped pool too.

Anyways, I still think the Blount Estate has just as rich a history as the Governor's Mansion.

[OldCloverdale]

Originally Posted by neilson

... I still think the Blount Estate has just as rich a history as the Governor's Mansion.

Care to elaborate?

[thoraudio]

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

Care to elaborate?

Blount was richer than the Gov?

[Brown Duckz]

Originally Posted by neilson

Anyways, I still think the Blount Estate has just as rich a history as the Governor's Mansion.

Then you'd confirm yourself as an outsider to Montgomery who throws around jargonistic opinions.

[hiijakd]

i will have to be a naysayer on this one too. east side doesn't have much history beyond farmland until the last 15 years or so. Downtown and the Garden District go back and I believe that we need to keep the integrity of the area by keeping the Government located there. Plus I am tired of sprawl, thats what killed our city in the first place. I know people will disagree with me but we all can have our opinions. Quit going East, eventually we will end up in the swamp between here and Auburn.

[OCA REP]

Originally Posted by hiijakd

Quit going East, eventually we will end up in the swamp between here and Auburn.

I had another thought... If the eastward trend continues, those running will evenutally find themselves in TUSKEEGEE. Oh my! What will they do then???

[OCA REP]

Originally Posted by Brown Duckz

Then you'd confirm yourself as an outsider to Montgomery who throws around jargonistic opinions.

Indeed!

[hiijakd]

haha....yep, white flight definitely wouldn't want that

[Brown Duckz]

Wouldn't be suprised if Tallassee soon was considered an East suburb on Montgomery. Not very far fetched.

[kevinlpugh]

Renaissance Hotel to open Monday



Paying guests will have a few more days before they can experience Montgomery's Renaissance.

The Montgomery Renaissance Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center has said for weeks that it would have its "soft opening" -- when rooms would be available but the hotel would still be putting up its finishing touches -- today.

But the opening has been delayed until Monday.

Walter Kennedy, the property's general manager, said Thursday that the hotel is close enough to being completed so that it could have accepted guests today but that the hotel decided to wait until Monday because no reservations had been accepted and the hotel was still putting on the finishing touches.

Staffers are hanging pictures and moving furniture, he said. A few construction touch-ups remain, but Kennedy promised all guest areas would be ready for the first guests on Monday.

"We are ready," he said.

Ray Ezell, area director of sales and marketing for Marriott, said another reason hotel managers had decided to delay the opening was because of the nature of the hotel and its location.

"We are a downtown convention hotel," he said. "This area is kind of a Monday-through-Friday area, so we decided to open on Monday."

Although work is going on, workers from other Marriott properties have been staying at the hotel for more than two weeks.

The guest workers who have been staying at the hotel since mid-January serve two purposes. They have trained workers hired to staff the Renaissance, and they provide a test of the hotel to identify any last-minute problems.

Kennedy said he expected Monday's soft opening for the 345-room, 12-story hotel to go smoothly.

Ezell would not say if all 345 of the hotel's rooms will be ready on Monday, but he added that he doesn't expect any shortages.

"We will have enough rooms for our needs next week," he said.

Ezell said the hotel will begin taking guests at 3 p.m. Monday.

Both men said the hotel has not had any walk-up guests trying to check in.

Ezell said he was not surprised by that.

"Other Marriott properties, like Courtyard or Residence Inn, get more walk-up customers," he said. "People who are staying at a Renaissance generally make reservations."