Back to downtown and the new look Propst Arena.
The arena's new look will give so much character and appeal to the downtown park and waterfront. The downtown area is quickly becoming the crown jewel of Huntsville. But as nice as it is it lacks tourism and attractions to bring visitors and residents downtown more often. So here's some ideas that I think Mayor Battle and his new administration should strongly look into for the next 5-10 years of redevelopment in downtown. I have a vision of seeing the commercialized space from the corner of Monroe and William where the Embassy Suites Hotel is down to Madison St redeveloped into a group of museums.
1.We need to strongly consider to be the first city in the state of Alabama to have a signature state aquarium in the likes of the Tennessee Aquarium in Chattanooga. This would be a huge financial impact on our local economy with tourism as these things are moneymakers. You would be surprised at how many locals travel all the way up to Atlanta and Chattanooga just to visit theirs. Why not have one right here at home, in downtown? Where would something like that go you might ask? Well for starters, the best and logical location would be right across from the Big Spring Park. My ideal location would be where the holiday Inn is at now. Demolish that hotel and use that space for a nice sized state aquarium. In fact that location would be equivalent to the exact size of space at the TN Aquarium.
2.A science Museum should be our second approach to lure tourism to downtown. Once again, a major financial economical impact science museums across the nation have on their city. Build it next to the aquarium in the large square occupied by an office complex on the corner of Lowe Ave and William Ave across from the Arts Museum. Make the museum about 100,000 sf with enough parking space. With this location it would be only a short walking distance to the Children's Museum about 720 feet (240 yards) away. You would then have the Chidren's Museum, Science Museum, Aquarium and Art Museum all within a short walking distance of each other. Not to mention the VBC and the new Constellation.
3.Tear down the Cocoa Cola plant across from the VBC on the corner of Clinton and Monroe (where HsvTiger suggested) and develop a 400-room luxury convention hotel and mixed use space. Put a restaurant at the top that overlooks the city. Make it about 20 stories.
4.Tear down the projects between Dallas and Monroe and redevelop that entire area into mixed use space for retail and commercial use. Develop new towers each between 15-20 stories. Develop the city's first signature tower for mix use purposes between 25-30 stories tall and an additional 5 story peak. Turn that area from Cleveland Ave to Clinton Ave into the new and expanded downtown. That's roughly over 100 acres of wasted space sitting there. There's so much potential with that land and the location would be between downtown and HW72 east. Plus it's far to the north of the historical downtown and homes that the height restrictions would be apply because it would not hover over the old neighborhoods. The new downtown expansion would be equivalent to the space of downtown from Church St to Lincoln all the way up to Holmes. That's roughly more than half the size of downtown today.
5.Remodel the entire strip off of front street across from the park. Tear down the old downtown police department and fire station and expand the court yard area with picnic tables and a nice signature water fountain. maybe add some new statue markers in the expanded area. Possibly add a park restaurant.
6.Close off the parking garage that borders the BSP and redevelop the front that faces the park into a strip of eateries and shops next to First American Bank. Make it more visitor friendly. Something like a promenade. That's a dangerous pedestrian crossing anyway. Build a new downtown parking garage between the VBC and the Constellation development.
If you look at the way it is now and you look at what I just listed, HTown could eventually become the new Atlanta one day. Maybe not in our time but someday. The city is already laid out very similar to Atlanta. A city that sits in the middle of a country side and a major HW running through the heart of it. ATL is spread out, just as Huntsville is doing now. And if Madison does annex with HTown it will only move this city more into that direction of the next major metropolitan city of the south.
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