Montgomery development news

[OldCloverdale]

Five Guys Burgers & Fries coming to Zelda Place?

Panera Bread coming to Westminster Shopping Center?

Midtown continues to thrive.

[brad0022]

Sorry for this late news.

From the Atlanta Hwy charrette (from Madison/Atlanta Hwy to Eastern Bypass/Faulkner area):

Ann street is planned to be realigned with Federal Drive to make a four way intersection by cutting through the backside of Lee High leaving the current stretch of Ann as a local street.

Power lines will be buried.

Sidewalks will be added on stretches where the ground is level enough. Crosswalks and pedestrian signals will be added in about 8-9 places.

There are investors interested in building on the former Head School land but that will be a few years in the future. Not sure if it will be residential/commercial or mixed.

Bike lanes are proposed.

On the side of Atl Hwy where Foxhollow/County Downs area is, they plan to make a local traffic street separated from the highway to connect the neighborhoods along that side to reduce traffic on the highway.

Perry Hill Rd/Dalraida Rd will better aligned.


**All these are just plans that if they do take place then it will be several years in the making. Each project will be developed as the money is available in hopes to spur more infill private developments.

This is the best of my memory so if there are more please add.

[OCA REP]

Originally Posted by brad0022

Sorry for this late news.

From the Atlanta Hwy charrette (from Madison/Atlanta Hwy to Eastern Bypass/Faulkner area):

Ann street is planned to be realigned with Federal Drive to make a four way intersection by cutting through the backside of Lee High leaving the current stretch of Ann as a local street.

Power lines will be buried.

Sidewalks will be added on stretches where the ground is level enough. Crosswalks and pedestrian signals will be added in about 8-9 places.

There are investors interested in building on the former Head School land but that will be a few years in the future. Not sure if it will be residential/commercial or mixed.

Bike lanes are proposed.

On the side of Atl Hwy where Foxhollow/County Downs area is, they plan to make a local traffic street separated from the highway to connect the neighborhoods along that side to reduce traffic on the highway.

Perry Hill Rd/Dalraida Rd will better aligned.


**All these are just plans that if they do take place then it will be several years in the making. Each project will be developed as the money is available in hopes to spur more infill private developments.

This is the best of my memory so if there are more please add.

Thanks for sharing your notes. I planned to make the kick-off for that charrette, but the timing never worked out for me. Glad you posted your recollections!

[OCA REP]

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

Five Guys Burgers & Fries coming to Zelda Place?

This is awesome! Plus, it will help fill some of the 'dead space' between Publix and Starbucks.

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

Panera Bread coming to Westminster Shopping Center?

While I am excited about this, I do hate to hear that this relocation will be at the expense of the Panera Bread at the corner of the Eastern Bypass and Vaughn Road. Looks like they could both exist?

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

Midtown continues to thrive.

Yes, it does!

[nayrlladnar]

Originally Posted by brad0022

Power lines will be buried.

I've been saying for years that Atlanta Highway, especially from Ann/Federal to Perry Hill would look world's better if all the power lines were tidied up or buried. This would be the best first step, in my opinion.

[OldCloverdale]

ANOTHER LANE FOR THE ALLEY

Extension creates much-desired retail space

January 2012
By David Zaslawsky

While Commerce Street has seen more than its share of redevelopment and new businesses along with Tallapoosa Street, the downtown Montgomery resurgence has not featured Coosa Street.

That is changing dramatically with January’s scheduled opening of a restaurant on Coosa Street and perhaps even more significant is the extension of The Alley from Commerce Street to Coosa Street. Now pedestrians can park on Coosa Street and walk through The Alley’s entrance there instead of walking around the block or simply not bothering to visit the various businesses at The Alley.

And the number of businesses at The Alley will be growing as Jerry Kyser Builder Inc. develops about 4,500 square feet of retail space along The Alley breezeway behind iCantina and The Dauber Gallery. The latter has been the lone non-restaurant, non-bar business at The Alley, but Jerry Kyser, president of Jerry Kyser Builder Inc., said he is spending $2 million to develop four to six retail spaces. Those spaces range from 400 square feet to about 1,100 square feet.

“We’re looking for a small, clothing-type boutique or gift shop or maybe a little coffee shop or ice cream shop,” said Kyle Kyser, vice president of Jerry Kyser Builder Inc. “Jewelry is another (possibility). It’s the things you would see when a hotel has retail in it. The main focus is to cater to retail for people that are visiting.”

The smaller retail spaces – 400 square feet – will rent for about $700 a month, according to Kyle Kyser and the 600-square-foot space and 650-square-foot space would rent for around $1,000. He expects one retailer to combine the 1,000-square-foot spaces because one-half of that site won’t face The Alley.

“These things have more of an impact on the overall economy of the city than just a few little shops down here,” Jerry Kyser said. “The experience of coming downtown is certainly enhanced as these things progress and everything that the city, county and everybody else is doing and promote these things – this is just another small piece of a giant puzzle that is coming into play in Montgomery.

“This is going to put us at the forefront of a lot of wonderful things in the next 10 or 20 years. It is going to enhance the quality of life for everybody in the city.”

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said that except for The Dauber Gallery “there really is no other place that visitors can come and pick up things” near the three downtown hotels.

“What we have been trying to do is figure out how to get space available for retail.”

According to a study commissioned by the City of Montgomery, there is demand for 309,000 square feet of retail space for downtown and that figure does include restaurants...

...The Alley extension opens up the area around Coosa Street. “I think this is a game-changer for everyone in The Alley,” Kyle Kyser said. “It makes the Coosa-Madison corridors have a direct connection to The Alley.”

He said the extension will create more foot traffic in that area and Jerry Kyser said that could prompt redevelopment along Coosa Street.

Jerry Kyser Builder Inc. is also looking lease the Dreamland Bar-B-Que basement for a bar business.

[brad0022]

Originally Posted by nayrlladnar

I've been saying for years that Atlanta Highway, especially from Ann/Federal to Perry Hill would look world's better if all the power lines were tidied up or buried. This would be the best first step, in my opinion.

Amen. I've been thinking about that for so long. Wondering the logistics and why towns don't do that the start with.

[montgomery]

nice new addition to Cloverdale.

[OldCloverdale]

Originally Posted by montgomery

nice new addition to Cloverdale.

I see three red Xs

[OldCloverdale]

SandBAR at the Silos to open April 14?

[OldCloverdale]

Aviation-themed pub coming to Commerce Street -- who has the details?!

[brad0022]

Originally Posted by OldCloverdale

Aviation-themed pub coming to Commerce Street -- who has the details?!

Only thing I know at this time is that Mike Watson (Allybar, Sandbar, old Kress building) is behind it. It'll be a building in the allyway cluster, not sure where.

[brad0022]

DAS, an auto seat manufacture, will bring 240 jobs to town. It will supply KIA in West Point, GA.

[brad0022]

Confirmation that the former Head Elementary that McClinton & Co. is buying but they will not say what will be built.

"We like the real estate. It's a positive development for the area," McClinton said, adding, "I can't get into much detail at this point."

The area is 8.9 acres to be purchased for 1.55 million.

Hopefully it will be urban mixed used.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/arti...ifics?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage

[OldCloverdale]

Originally Posted by brad0022

Confirmation that the former Head Elementary that McClinton & Co. is buying but they will not say what will be built.

"We like the real estate. It's a positive development for the area," McClinton said, adding, "I can't get into much detail at this point."

The area is 8.9 acres to be purchased for 1.55 million.

Hopefully it will be urban mixed used.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/arti...ifics?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Frontpage

My bet: another shopping center.

My wish is that they lease it to a charter school.

[OldCloverdale]

(double post)

[OldCloverdale]

Scott Johnson

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/arti...ts?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|p

Federal housing officials toured the sites of several downtown Mont­gomery developments Thursday and listened to detailed plans for the sites...

"I thought it was important for our team to see these projects first­hand," said German, director of the Birmingham field office of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

German was joined by other lead­ership members from the Birming­ham HUD office in a tour of the old Kress building, Overlook Park and two locations near Maxwell Air Force Base.

A native of Montgomery and graduate of Alabama State Universi­ty, German said he hopes he can help bring the projects to fruition...

The tour started at the old Kress building, which stretches from Dexter Avenue to Mon­roe Street.

Mike Watson with 2WR Holmes Wilkins Architects talked about plans for the building, which include building apartment units and creating a courtyard area.

The city has acquired a nearby building, which it will demolish while maintaining the facade and developing an alley. This would create the potential to create another entrance to the building, Watson said.

Dave Payne, project man­ager for the architectural firm Design Build South, told the HUD officials about the old Webber's Department Store building, which is also the former location of the Old Montgomery Theater, built in 1860.

The plan is for living spaces on the upper floors and a sandwich shop at street level, Payne said.

The tour then led the HUD officials to Overlook Park, where Montgomery Development Director Chad Emerson talked about plans for the park and for the downtown farm it overlooks.

Emerson said the city re­cently received a $54,000 U.S. Department of Agricul­ture grant for the farm and will be adding a greenhouse and a children's garden.

Payne talked about plans for a development across the street from the park, starting at Whitman Street and Max­well Boulevard

The development is planned to have 304 residen­tial units along with about 50,000 square feet of retail space.

"The general idea is that this strip of street is Dodge City (with) everything you need," Payne said. "You can live here, work here and play here and not go anywhere else for two weeks."

The plan is for the devel­opment to be a series of buildings that have the ap­pearance that they were built over time, he said.

The tour moved on to a lo­cation right outside a section of Maxwell Air Force Base, which is the site of a devel­opment currently referred to simply as "Maxwell East."

A "Class A" apartment building would provide di­rect access to the base for people who work there, said Nathan McMullin, develop­ment analyst with Summit Housing Partners LLC.

The 150-unit apartments would have a "gated-off feel" without being com­pletely enclosed, McMullin said, adding that tenants would be able to walk direct­ly onto the base.

The idea for the develop­ment came when Maxwell officials mentioned that there is a need for additional housing at the base, where there are a number of civil­ian contractors in addition to the Air Force members who train there.
The final stop was "Max­well West," a proposed de­velopment near the Alabama River.

Nearby, there is a public ramp providing access to the river, which is the spot that is planned to serve as the western end of the River­walk...

[OldCloverdale]

... the city announced it was accepting proposals for two sites: Skatepark and Montgomery Biscuits surface parking lot. The Skatepark will be relocated and that site across from the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center “is a great mixed-use property right in the heart of downtown,” Emerson said.

The parking lot became available when an apartment complex project fell through. “We think those are two properties ideally suited to meet the unmet residential and retail demand we have for downtown,” Emerson said. Studies have concluded that there is demand for about 3,000 residential units downtown and 300,000-plus square feet of retail space...

http://www.montgomerychamber.com/page.aspx?pid=2856

[OldCloverdale]

Business is cooking in midtown Montgomery.

http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/arti...ry?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Frontpage|s

The Zelda Place shopping area soon will add three new restaurants — Panera Bread, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and Chicken Salad Chick. They will join a diverse lineup of eateries that include cafes, Asian cuisine and fine dining.

“I think what we’ve been very careful to do is to create an environment where we can have no duplication of palates,” said Beau Young of Aronov, which owns Zelda Place.

At Twin Oaks Village shopping center on East Boulevard, the picture isn’t quite as rosy.

Panera Bread’s East Boulevard location will close when the new store opens. Anchor store Fresh Market left Twin Oaks Village in 2011, leaving T.J. Maxx and Dollar General as the anchors...

Panera Bread spokeswoman Amanda Saxon said reduced traffic in the old location played a role in the decision to relocate to the old Blockbuster building in midtown.

... the new Panera Bread, scheduled to open in mid-May, will be a 4,800-square-foot, standalone restaurant that will feature the company’s most recent design. It also will offer drive-through service...

Panera Bread and Five Guys Burgers and Fries also have locations in The Shoppes at EastChase, and those restaurants will be unaffected by the change.

EastChase spokesman Brian Key said that the current Five Guys location is “doing very well.” He said several other stores are on the way to the outdoor mall, including Anthony Vince Salon, which will open in April and features a full-service bar.

Chicken Salad Chick’s location in Zelda Place will be its first in Montgomery.The specialty chain currently has three locations in Auburn and Opelika and features 15 types of chicken salad.

[neilson]

Is there a concern in Montgomery about this "Bypass hollowing"? It seem that while Midtown is growing and Eastchase/Pike Road is too, the Bypass is suffering losses in retail and restaurants. Anything that can be done so that this situation is eased?