Montgomery development news

[OldCloverdale]

they're moving downtown from 200 Interstate Park Drive

good for them

[OCA REP]

*removed*

This is GREAT news for downtown Montgomery. 60 Commerce is my old home when I was with Regions Technology. Spent many years on several different floors in that tower. For any of you that are not aware, this is the old Union Bank building.

[bystander1]

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

"Crampton" = pet peeve

it's Cramton, Ms. Nettles

Nope, she spelled it right. "Cramp" being the operative part of the word...

[bystander1]

Originally Posted by Alabadrock

The city of Montgomery needs a good stadium. ASU and the city need to work together to build a really nice one. Building a good one would help the university and the city. Whatever happens, it needs to be built in a way that would allow it to be expanded in the future.

ASU lost that opportunity to work with the city to upgrade Cramton Bowl years ago, and in fact, needs to have it's own stadium on campus as it has proposed 18 1/2 times since 1997.

The city should have worked with Troy University to upgrade/rebuild Cramton Bowl back when Troy began their push to go I-A a few years ago. They needed a stadium that was large enough to accommodate some I-A teams that would agree to a home-and-home series. They mentioned that some teams would do so, though they were not willing to travel to Troy to play but would be willing to play them in a larger, upgraded facility in Montgomery.

Thus the push by TU to try to establish a relationship with the city similar to what UA had with Birmingham. But the mayor at that time was not interested in major renovations to Cramton Bowl, even though ASU was in talks on one of their many proposals to build their own stadium on campus at the time.

So, does the city need a new or updated stadium? No doubt about it, definitely yes. Should ASU be involved? I don't think it should. They need their own stadium on campus which is an important part of the college experience.

[Revive Montgomery]

*removed*

Umm...Unless i have lost my mind, Tommie isn't the one who owns that building and it is in talks for other ventures. I could have sworn it was in possession of the Crews family.

I agree with you. That would be a total sham.

[OldCloverdale]

BREAKING NEWS!

Service at The Exchange at the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center still —.

That is all.

[Scoots71]

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Greenville, South Carolina. Population? 60,000, tucked away at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in what's known around here as the Upstate.

But locals will tell you their crown jewel is much closer to the ground. Main Street which is the 'main' attraction for Tonya Toran.

"Oh, this is a big deal to us because it's a place where the entire family can come," said Toran who moved to Greenville from Baltimore, Maryland.

A big deal that started 30 years ago, a time business owner Deb Ayers remembers all too well.

"It had become a rather ugly downtown. We were all trying to be contemporary," said Ayers recalling downtown having that '70s look.

For Greenville it came down to this; let downtown go forever or do something. City leaders chose the latter and this is the result of vision, a lot of money and a commitment that shows no sign of wavering.

"We took risks," said the city's Economic Development Director Nancy Whitworth.

Overlooking the city from atop of city hall, Whitworth says it was the so-called public-private partnership that got it going, a fuzzy beaucratic sounding phrase that simply encourages private investors to take a chance on downtown once public tax dollars are committed.

"The public sector is the spark plug, the private sector is really the engine," said Whitworth.

And it's been full steam ever since. Hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants, downtown property taxes and some city money, paved the way for what it now a 3-mile stretch of beautiful trees, period lighting, specialty shops, restaurants and Greenville's new minor league baseball stadium. Montgomery hopes to look something like this down the road.

"We're thought of as downtown as everybody's neighborhood," said Whitworth.

Not necessarily. We ran into Rufus Salters.

"They need to explore a little movie theatre and maybe arena football," said Salters.

Not far from this interview with Salters we did find a couple of empty buildings, clearly indicating that even the best laid plans can lose focus.

"You can't always predict what the market will do. Some things will work, some things will not. You step back and regroup," Whitworth said.

In fact, for about 10 years nothing really moved in downtown Greenville, South Carolina, after the initial burst of activity yet there was no turning back.

"One thing we learned is having a lot of patience," said Whitworth.

And perseverance. Even when the sun goes down, people are still downtown, and not one person expressed any concerns about personal safety or crime.

An outdoor movie, 'War of the Worlds,' brought out Greenville native Brandy Caldwell by the Reedy River and hundreds more like her.

"I love this community because it's thriving culturally," said Caldwell, who recently moved to New York City to pursue an acting career.

The story of Greenville's renaissance is not a make-believe tale but a real-life movie of a town that's apparently stuck gold with a new downtown district, 30 years in the making.

Back in Montgomery city and economic development leaders say it will probably take a generation to fully revamped the downtown district. The main reason is downtown Montgomery is much more widespread than Greenville's downtown district.

In part 2 of WSFA 12 News reporter Bryan Henry's series, we'll look at not only what Montgomery has accomplished so far but why the renovation never got off the ground years ago.

[Scoots71]

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - Downtown Montgomery under construction.

Bob Donlon, the owner of Wintzell's Oyster House, believes he is on the ground floor of something special.

"We like downtown markets," said Donlon.

Does he ever. Donlon has what he considers the very best corner in downtown Montgomery, carving out space within the Renaissance Hotel and Spa.

"To me there's more potential here than downtown Mobile," Donlon said.

Dreamland Bar-B-Que owner Bob Parker followed the same recipe. So far, so good for Dreamland.

"Going well," said Parker.

It's the same kind of thinking people like Jeff Downes have taken. Downes worked for former Mayor Bobby Bright and now Mayor Todd Strange.

"You have to sometimes put public dollars in to create opportunities for the city to grow," said Deputy Mayor Downes.

Which is the very thing Emory Folmar wouldn't do. Folmar served as mayor for more than 20 years. For Folmar it came down to economics.

"You can't do that. You can't be all things to all people all the time," said Folmar.

Folmar, in fact, believes in some ways the beginning of rebuilding downtown started under his watch; he says he renovated the old train shed.

"40 years worth of junk in that place," said Folmar, now Commissioner of the ABC Board for Alabama.

He says he also brought in Embassy Suites and refurbished the old Frank Lew Building which by the way doesn't exist anymore. A parking garage is now in its place. Folmar also says he invested a little on the Alabama River.

"We cleaned it up and put in a dock," he said.

Yet there can be no doubt the momentum started under Bobby Bright and unlike Folmar;

"If we added it up all," Downes said.

Bright spent millions doing it using a combination of grants, very little money from the general fund but most of it borrowed money; $26 million paid for Riverwalk Stadium and $30 million helped RSA Chief Dr. David Bronner build the Renaissance Hotel.

"Without risk there can be no reward," said Downes.

But have former and current city leaders spent too much of your tax dollars, possibly putting the city on a financial edge? The city's financial officer says he would have figures by Monday on just how much debt Montgomery is carrying as a result of its investment in downtown.

"You don't make foolish financial chances," said Folmar.

Jeff Downes points to the fact the city has more than gotten its return on its investment. Private investors opened the Alleyway, the core of the entertainment district. Scores of loft apartments have been built with more on the way. Downes insists the city is in no way in financial trouble because of downtown.

"If you look at the downtown area, RSA.. Dr. Bronner and all the federal grants and private sector more than a billion dollars have been poured into downtown Montgomery in the last 15 or 20 years," said Downes.

And there's even more. Records show the Montgomery Biscuits are well ahead of schedule in paying the city back for the stadium. As of this week the team has turned over nearly $4 million dollars in rent since the Biscuits started playing ball 5 years ago.

"Well, I don't bat a .1000 all the time. If I can bat .333 that's a pretty good league of hits," said Folmar.

A pretty good batting average with a surprising admission from Emory Folmar.

"Maybe I wasn't as aggressive as I should or would have been but you can't do all things at once," Folmar said.

"There's no turning back," said Downes.

"It was a no-brainer for me," said Donlon.

No turning back which sits Bob Donlon just fine. The first Wintzell's restaurant opened in downtown Mobile in 1938. Donlon hopes this Wintzell's will be here 70 years as well in a thriving downtown Montgomery.

The downtown work continues. Early next year city leaders say a $5 million Alabama Department of Transportation grant will dramatically improve the lower Dexter Avenue area with new trees and a lighting package. There might be enough money left over to laid the groundwork for a light rail trolley up and down Dexter. The project should take the work up most of Dexter Avenue.

Also, a pedestrian bridge will go up in about 7 days that will connect the Intermodel Facility to the riverfront.

Click on the Downtown Master Plan to learn more about Montgomery's long range plans to change the face of downtown. The plan includes photos.

Tune in to WSFA 12 News at six Monday night for the final part of Bryan Henry's series. We'll take you back to Greenville, South Carolina, which offered advice to Montgomery officials and introduce you to the man who started it all.

[Scoots71]

MONTGOMERY, AL (WSFA) - It's been said before that it 'takes a village' but in Greenville, South Carolina, it really did start with one man.

"No place for Jews," said Max Heller.

Max Heller left his native Austria more than 70 years ago to escape Hitler's hate and found the love in Greenville, South Carolina.

"They took me in," Heller remembers with a smile.

It is here in Greenville where Heller became mayor and discovered another war he had to overcome. This one certainly not as menacing as the Germans but quite a challenge nevertheless.

"We had grass growing out of concrete," he said.

Overcoming what many remember a rather ugly, stale-looking downtown. It had that '70s look and feel. Max Heller knew it could be better.

"I grew up in Vienna, Austria, and the cities in Europe are very important to us," Heller said.

The rest is history.

Main Street in Greenville is now an avenue of mature trees, fancy lighting and more specialty shops and restaurants you can count. More than good enough for Tonya Toran who recently moved to Greenville from Baltimore, Maryland.

"This gets my family out of the house," said Toran.

This is the kind of look downtown Montgomery is aiming for; quaint and pedestrian friendly but the people in Greenville will quickly tell you this didn't happen overnight.

"We took risks, calculated risks," said the city's Economic Development Director Nancy Whitworth.

The year was 1979. Max Heller first succeeded in landing the Hyatt Hotel and then came perhaps a more difficult challenge; selling the idea of a long range, complete overhaul to merchants like Deb Ayers.

"I just couldn't quite understand what he wanted to do. It was hard to grasp at first," said Ayers.

She does now.

30 years later, you'll find musicians sharing their tunes and developers like Russ Davis turning dirt.

"You gotta take the long view," said Davis.

Davis has just completed a $60 million deal worth of retail and apartments 3 blocks off Main Street, a decision solely based on what Greenville had done to its downtown. In economic terms, this is the so-called 'spill-over' affect.

"It'll take us a long time to make our money back but we're already getting a good return on the money," said Davis.

Some developments simply didn't work like a nearby hotel. It's not even half-built yet local officials say the construction stopped because of the national economic recession.

While Montgomery has a long way to go to catch up with Greenville's progress, there are clear signs the capital city has its own developers taking chances; loft apartments and the alleyway. WSFA 12 News has also learned that a private developer in Florida is investigating the possibility of building an aquarium off Bell Street near the Alabama River.

The road to total revitalization wasn't totally smooth for Greenville. Negotiations with property owners often took time and Montgomery is no exception.

Montgomery attorney Charles Edmondson represents the man who owns 12 commercial buildings on lower Dexter Avenue. The city says the appraised value is $2 million. Edmondson's client wants around $3 million.

"He would like nothing better than to see his section of lower Dexter developed," said Edmondson.

Today, downtown Greenville, South Carolina, just keeps blooming. The most recent development is the removal of an old concrete bridge that covered up a striking waterfall, spilling out of the Reedy River in town.

"People who've lived here all their lives never saw that part of the river because it was full of kudzu," said current Greenville Mayor Knox White.

And just 5 years ago, the city dedicated the Liberty Bridge. It's a pedestrian bridge rising 60 feet above the falls near the end of Main Street in Greenville.

All of this, however, does raise a question. How do you sustain the growth and the momentum without sacrificing Greenville's charm?

"Very carefully," Whitworth said.

Whitworth also added that they 'remember the fundamentals and execute.'

In the end it all goes back to Max Heller.

"It's wonderful," he said of how downtown has progressed.

A statue of Heller on Main Street is a testatment of what the locals think of him, a man who dared to change the face of downtown Greenville and ended up making quite a splash.

Back in Montgomery the city is carrying more than $80 million dollars in debt for its investments in downtown so far. The annual payment on that loan is $5 million a year. City leaders insist they have no problem making those yearly payments, and it's been 'well worth the investment.'

[tsully76]

I have seen all three episodes on WSFA and i enjoyed it however Montgomery is a bigger city than Greenville. So my suggestion for the city is to use a mixture of Greenville, SC and Nashville, Tn. If anybody here has been to Downtown Nashville lately can tell ya its a happening place. We should demand that total sowntown revilitalization does not take another 30 years. That is entirely too long.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

More people actually live around Greenville than live around Montgomery. Greenville has a small city proper population, but that city supports tens of thousands more.

[RSAHort]

Does anyone have any idea about what will become of this place now that it has closed and being sold to developers? I will miss the restaurant aka 'the pudding palace' as it was called here at work. Best fried chicken and turnip greens in town IMHO.

[bystander1]

It'd be a really nice place for a skyscraper...

[OCA REP]

The pedestrian bridge linking the intermodal facility and Montgomery's riverfront was installed yesterday according to this story in the Montgomery Advertiser:

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/arti...l-link-riverfront-to-intermodal-facility

Building a bridge: Structure will link riverfront to intermodal facility
By Jill Nolin • November 13, 2009

A pedestrian bridge, the last major piece of the intermodal project, is in place, and Montgomery officials say it could be open for traffic in three months.

A large crane helped install the 60,000-pound bridge Thursday afternoon, attracting more than a few curious spectators.

The installation of the 126-foot bridge required not only a crane, but considerable patience. Workers had to wait on three trains to pass before the train traffic could be stopped long enough for the bridge to be lifted and slowly, carefully eased into place.

Stopping train traffic, even briefly, is a significant problem on tracks that see about 70 trains on a typical day.

The pedestrian bridge, which goes over the train tracks, now connects the five-level observation tower on the riverfront with the intermodal facility on Molton Street. Once it's open to the public, it will be the third access point to the city's riverfront.

City Engineer Patrick Dunson said this will be the ideal way for people to enter the riverfront because they will be able to leave their car in the parking deck, walk across the bridge and then down the tower to the riverfront.

Right now, the primary way to get to the riverfront is through the tunnel at Commerce Street. During many events, the fence at the end of Coosa Street is also opened.

The entire project, including the construction of the parking deck and bus station, has cost $17 million. The construction of the tower, including the bridge, has cost $3.7 million.

The bridge and the observation tower will both be lighted in a way that will add a new effect to the riverfront landscape.

"It's going to be real pretty when it's done," said Terry Jordan, project coordinator for the city.

Waiting for a few trains to pass has not been the only test for the workers' patience. When the work first started in 2007, work was delayed when crews found massive rocks underground that were 20 to 40 feet in diameter. Officials believed at the time that the rocks were placed there in 19th century to keep the Alabama River from eroding the shoreline.

It took workers weeks and weeks to construct the foundation because pilings had to be driven deep into the ground -- some of them as much as 70 feet into the ground.

"It took me more than a month just to put the foundation in. Well over a month," Jordan said, adding that the actual construction of the observation tower started about 10 months ago.

There are several finishing touches that still must be done. Two of those chores will be pouring a five-inch concrete topping on the walkway of the bridge -- doing so before installation would have made the bridge unnecessarily heavy -- and a mesh will be put on the openings of the tower for safety reasons.

[Capital Heights]

There is a new Country & Western bar opening on Lower Dexter Avenue. It is called "Buddy's".

[bystander1]

Originally Posted by Capital Heights

There is a new Country & Western bar opening on Lower Dexter Avenue. It is called "Buddy's".

Is it going to be in the building on the corner of Dexter and Perry Street? There's been some renovation activity going on there for at least the last couple of months.

[Capital Heights]

Originally Posted by bystander1

Is it going to be in the building on the corner of Dexter and Perry Street? There's been some renovation activity going on there for at least the last couple of months.

Naw.....It is going in where Off The Wagon used to be. I wish I knew what is going in the buildings you are speaking of.

[hiijakd]

hey,
im moving into the fire house in cottage hills. rented out all my places.
gotta do lots of cosmetic stuff, but i'm excited

[tsully76]

Thats awesome to hear you rented out all of your places and now working and living in the firehouse i know you will do an awesome job. Look forward to seeing it when its finished my friend.

[bystander1]

Originally Posted by Capital Heights

Naw.....It is going in where Off The Wagon used to be.

Where Off the Wagon used to be?! What happened?