Huntsville updates

[HSVTiger]

Momma Goldbergs the famous Auburn eatery set to expand to Huntsville.
They have been opening up around the state and now its Huntsville's turn.
Location is probably in the Bonefish Grill/Fresh Market area on Whitesburg.
Sometimes these local great restaurants are hard to duplicate when franchised.
The original on Magnolia and Donahue in Auburn is tradition for thousands of
Auburn faithful so hopefully Momma's Love will take hold in the Rocket City.

[HSVTiger]

Yes there are alligators in Huntsville/Huntsville Times

Although the refuge does not have an alligator count, Cooley estimates the population to be in the hundreds along the Tennessee River.

"We frequently get reports of people spotting 12-foot alligators on the refuge, but we have never seen one," he said. "We mostly have 8-feet to 10-feet gators."

Last month, a Madison couple spotted an alligator in a pond behind their home at The Reserve off Edgewater Drive and Zeirdt Road. After the Alabama Department of Conservation trapped the gator and released it in the refuge, the subdivision now has signs warning residents of possible dangerous animals such as snakes and alligators.

"We get sightings on a regular basis," said Kim Champion, a District 1 law enforcement officer with the Alabama Department of Conservation. "There's a viable alligator population in the Tennessee River, but they don't like people.

"When activity in the summer picks up, they usually go to more secluded areas in the river," she said. "When fishermen see alligators now, they don't even call anymore."

An annual report in 1964 noted the first alligator sighting on the 35,000-acre refuge, Cooley said.

In 1979, however, 55 alligators from Louisiana were released at the refuge and areas inside the Redstone Arsenal as part of a project to preserve the species in case a catastrophic event, such as a hurricane, was to ever endanger their natural coastal habitat, Cooley said.

[HSVTiger]

Governor Riley said he hoped to announce from England next week that a major aviation and aerospace company will build a plant in the Huntsville area, creating about 300 jobs there.

Emerson said the deal has yet to be "absolutely finalized."

"If everything works out, we'll have an announcement. Right now, the plan is to do it some time early next week," Emerson said.

Riley plans to leave the state this afternoon and arrive in London Sunday. The Farnborough International Airshow is scheduled to run Monday through July 25 in the town of Farnborough, which is about 30 miles southwest of London.
He will also be working on the air tanker deal
Riley spokesman Jeff Emerson said EADS would employ roughly 1,500 people in Mobile if it wins the contract. He added that companies that would build parts of the aircraft to be assembled in Mobile would employ thousands of additional people, so Riley wants to recruit those companies to Alabama, too.

[OCA REP]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

Momma Goldbergs the famous Auburn eatery set to expand to Huntsville.
They have been opening up around the state and now its Huntsville's turn.
Location is probably in the Bonefish Grill/Fresh Market area on Whitesburg.
Sometimes these local great restaurants are hard to duplicate when franchised.
The original on Magnolia and Donahue in Auburn is tradition for thousands of
Auburn faithful so hopefully Momma's Love will take hold in the Rocket City.

Of course, there is NOTHING like the original location, but the one here in Montgomery has been good and consistent the times we have been!

[HSVTiger]

Raytheon is planning to build a state-of-the-art missile production facility on Redstone Arsenal and creating about 300 jobs. The aerospace giant already employs about 600 people in Huntsville.

The announcement is to be made today by Dr. Taylor Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems, at the Farnborough Air Show near London.

HSV Times source

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Great news! Looks like Bob Riley's recruiting blitz is really starting to pay off.

[CleverKid!]

Does anyone know any news on Harris Hill, The Peaks at Southchase, Waterstone, Sweet Water, and Constellation? When are they going to be built? Are they going to be built? Any known tenants?

[HSVTiger]

The downtown Huntsville Rotary Club and the downtown development group, Big Spring Partners, will break ground Tuesday on a new plaza at Big Spring Park.

The Rotary Plaza will be at the end of the Big Spring Park canal extension between the Embassy Suites Hotel and the south hall of the Von Braun Center, at the opposite end of the canal from the Thrasher Fountain.

The Rotary did the clock in the traffic circle between the Main Library and the Embassy Suite. This will make a nice transition to the Constellation development directly across from the plaza. Hopefully the transformation of the creek (greenway) behind the VBC will still happen.

[nickodemis]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

Raytheon is planning to build a state-of-the-art missile production facility on Redstone Arsenal and creating about 300 jobs. The aerospace giant already employs about 600 people in Huntsville.

The announcement is to be made today by Dr. Taylor Lawrence, president of Raytheon Missile Systems, at the Farnborough Air Show near London.

HSV Times source

Here is link to the article on the new Raytheon plant. 300 high paying jobs sounds good to me.

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stories/2010/07/19/daily1.html?ana=e_du_pub

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by CleverKid!

Does anyone know any news on Harris Hill, The Peaks at Southchase, Waterstone, Sweet Water, and Constellation? When are they going to be built? Are they going to be built? Any known tenants?

So far, Sweetwater is still a go. There was a recent article about the state robotics center in Decatur and the Daily did an update on SW within that. The developer says they still intend to build in Decatur, they're just waiting for the economy to pick up.

Also, it's worth noting that Bass Pro has said they're coming to Decatur no matter what happens with Sweetwater.

[jonnie256]

Originally Posted by CleverKid!

Does anyone know any news on Harris Hill, The Peaks at Southchase, Waterstone, Sweet Water, and Constellation? When are they going to be built? Are they going to be built? Any known tenants?

Umm I would say there all buried and dead if you ask me?...just sayin

Umm I read on another website that they are gonna build a Holiday Inn express on the north side of madison blvd right past wall triana/sullivan st. on the west side of that bank on the corner. Now the thing is to me there is already a holiday inn hotel on the south side of madison blvd right across from this proposed site....dosn't make much since to me?!?!
http://huntsvilledevelopment.blogspot.com/2010/07/another-hotel-for-madison-boulevard.html

[David1502]

Originally Posted by jonnie256

Umm I read on another website that they are gonna build a Holiday Inn express on the north side of madison blvd right past wall triana/sullivan st. on the west side of that bank on the corner. Now the thing is to me there is already a holiday inn hotel on the south side of madison blvd right across from this proposed site....dosn't make much since to me?!?!
http://huntsvilledevelopment.blogspot.com/2010/07/another-hotel-for-madison-boulevard.html

I can understand your thinking, however, hotels in the Huntsville area do exceptionally well during the week. If you ever check the websites on a week night for the following chains, Hiton (which covers Embassy Suites, Hilton Garden Inns, Homewood Suites and Hampton Inns), Marriott (which includes Marriott, Courtyard, Fairfield Inns, Residence Inns, and Townplace Suites) and Choice hotels (Comfort Inns and Sleep Inns) most of these chains' hotels are completely booked on weeknights. Owners of these properties know this and will not invest in building more hotels if the ones they have now weren't already full. To give you an example, the Comfort Suites opened (behind Logan's and Rosie's on University)and did a good business, so they built the Comfort Inn behind Hooter's on University. That hotel did so well, that they built the Sleep Inn in front of it. Also, the Westin at Bridge Street and Sheraton at the Airport are often booked.

Bottom line is business owners will not invest more money in building new hotels if they are not already at capacity. The hotel business to a great extent drives the price of commercial real estate business here (along with restaurant chains like Logan's, Outback and Rosie's) as they are able to pay top dollar to purchase land on high traffic corridors which other businesses are then forced to pay. That's the reason why it's worthwhile to see how the local hotels are doing. Also, the business travelers who stay in the hotels are what keep the high end restaurants like Connor's and Grille 29 busy and profitable during the week.

One last note, the Homewood Suites at Providence routinely stays booked and increases the likelihood its owners will build a Hyatt Suites or an A-Loft at Providence as has been reported a couple of years ago before the economy tanked.

[jonnie256]

Have they started on building the Madison hospital yet?

[SpawnOfVulcan]

BTW, anyone know when that big office park at Redstone is supposed to break ground?

[CleverKid!]

Thanks for the information. If you guys have any updates on the retail projects please post them. THANKS!

[stewdog1]

Originally Posted by jonnie256

Umm I would say there all buried and dead if you ask me?...just sayin

Umm I read on another website that they are gonna build a Holiday Inn express on the north side of madison blvd right past wall triana/sullivan st. on the west side of that bank on the corner. Now the thing is to me there is already a holiday inn hotel on the south side of madison blvd right across from this proposed site....dosn't make much since to me?!?!
http://huntsvilledevelopment.blogspot.com/2010/07/another-hotel-for-madison-boulevard.html

Many times you will see mutiple hotels from the same parent company back-to-back.

You will often see a Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn and Hilton Homewood Suites all next to each other, and all the Hilton brand.

I have also seen many Holiday Inns and Holiday Inn Expresses next door to each other.

[stewdog1]

Originally Posted by tredici

BTW, anyone know when that big office park at Redstone is supposed to break ground?

Last I heard was August, but we'll see. I assume there will be a big write-up when it is about to break ground.

[stewdog1]

Originally Posted by jonnie256

Have they started on building the Madison hospital yet?

Yes, lots o' construction going on over there.

[Huntsvillenative]

I've been up at Huntsville Hospital this week due to my father being in ICU and for the first time I rode the tram. Anyway I was thinking back to the plans the city has for something similar going from downtown to Bridgestreet and the Space Center.

If they ever get that built it will do wonders for city travel and cut off a heck of a lot of traffic.

[jonnie256]

Originally Posted by stewdog1

Yes, lots o' construction going on over there.

Awsome! I'm hopeing my wife can land a job thier once its finished!