Huntsville updates

[JuanHunt]

There is enough land at the old airport property to allow the construction of a new ballpark without disturbing the current facility. This would also allow the park to be best positioned for the future planned development of the entire entertainment area.

I think there is enough history at JDS to make a good assessment of the potential ROI that a new ballpark might produce.

[Huntsvillenative]

Originally Posted by JuanHunt

There is enough land at the old airport property to allow the construction of a new ballpark without disturbing the current facility. This would also allow the park to be best positioned for the future planned development of the entire entertainment area.

I think there is enough history at JDS to make a good assessment of the potential ROI that a new ballpark might produce.

So you support the idea of a new stadium but only at the current location, but are against one at the Coke plant site? Why are you against a downtown Stadium?

[SpawnOfVulcan]

A little bit of good news from ALDOT's website:

001 . IM-I565(307) MADISON & LIMESTONE COUNTIES

LENGTH: 1.34 MILES.
SHALL BE COMPLETED BY: May 1, 2015
DBE CONTRACT OBLIGATION: 10 % COST OF PLANS: $81.00

for the Construction of the New Interchange on I-565 at CR-3 (County Line Road) and Ramp Additions to the existing underpass (Grade, Drain, Base, Pave, Signals and Signing) in Madison. Length 1.344 mi.

BRACKET ESTIMATE: $11,584,691 TO $14,159,067

LINK

[HSVTiger]

Originally Posted by JuanHunt

There is enough land at the old airport property to allow the construction of a new ballpark without disturbing the current facility. This would also allow the park to be best positioned for the future planned development of the entire entertainment area.

I think there is enough history at JDS to make a good assessment of the potential ROI that a new ballpark might produce.

The John Hunt Park Master plan is using all of the old airport, JDS is adjacent. Keep JDS and have it become the new "Milton Frank" for high school football, concerts etc.
Scroll back a few pages to see it

[HSVTiger]

Originally Posted by quattordici

A little bit of good news from ALDOT's website:



LINK

guess aldont has delayed this one about as long as possible, 10 years is below their average. Don't be surprised if some Native American artifacts are surprisingly found.

Even bigger news is this 15 year late project:


056 . STPAA-STPHV-8525(600) MADISON COUNTY




LENGTH: 0.62 MILES.

WORKING DAYS: 315



DBE CONTRACT OBLIGATION: 6 %

COST OF PLANS: $41.00


for constructing the Bridge & Culvert Replacement (Grade, Drain, Base, and Pave), Resurfacing, Traffic Stripe, and Signals on Old Madison Pike from Slaughter Road to Thornton Research Park in Huntsville. Length 0.615 mi.

BRACKET ESTIMATE: $5,166,641 TO $6,314,784

[stewdog1]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

guess aldont has delayed this one about as long as possible, 10 years is below their average. Don't be surprised if some Native American artifacts are surprisingly found.

Even bigger news is this 15 year late project:


056 . STPAA-STPHV-8525(600) MADISON COUNTY




LENGTH: 0.62 MILES.

WORKING DAYS: 315



DBE CONTRACT OBLIGATION: 6 %

COST OF PLANS: $41.00


for constructing the Bridge & Culvert Replacement (Grade, Drain, Base, and Pave), Resurfacing, Traffic Stripe, and Signals on Old Madison Pike from Slaughter Road to Thornton Research Park in Huntsville. Length 0.615 mi.

BRACKET ESTIMATE: $5,166,641 TO $6,314,784

Help me out here. So does that mean those two projects are going to get started soon? Of course w/ ALDONT I don't believe it until I see it and I'm driving on it.

[JuanHunt]

Originally Posted by Huntsvillenative

So you support the idea of a new stadium but only at the current location, but are against one at the Coke plant site? Why are you against a downtown Stadium?

I'm against potentially squandering what may be the last opportunity to make a big improvement in the likelihood of significant downtown redevelopment. A ballpark takes up alot of land that might have better usage.
I dont know if its even feasible for the city to remodel JDS much less build a new ballpark when road money is so scarce that projects considered necessary are now being put off for a decade.

[Huntsvillenative]

Originally Posted by JuanHunt

I'm against potentially squandering what may be the last opportunity to make a big improvement in the likelihood of significant downtown redevelopment. A ballpark takes up alot of land that might have better usage.
I dont know if its even feasible for the city to remodel JDS much less build a new ballpark when road money is so scarce that projects considered necessary are now being put off for a decade.

That's why you spend as little tax dollars as possible. A new stadium of, say $30 million, can be funded as followed.

- ownership
- state loan
- naming rights
- tax dollars

Ownership could spend $5M.
The city could take out $10M loan.
City could sell stadium's naming rights to highest bidder, possibly a deal with Coke for park name. That could be as much as $10M over a certain amount of years.
That leaves just $5M in tax funding.

[HSVTiger]

Originally Posted by stewdog1

Help me out here. So does that mean those two projects are going to get started soon? Of course w/ ALDONT I don't believe it until I see it and I'm driving on it.

Supposedy; if the bidding goes well, usually a couple months after that some things start happening. The Mayors Restore OUR Roads program has put unwanted attention on the lazy boys at aldot.

[Urbancity]

Originally Posted by JuanHunt

Parking access will never be better than it is at JDS right now compared to any other potential location for a stadium.
The city is planning development of the entire old airport property and the sale of the land at Airport and the Parkway was just finalized in recent days.

With the parking I was talking about right now, if they want to do anything after a game they would have to drive somewhere else and worry about finding a new parking spot. Whereas a downtown stadium they could park once in a parking garage, or if in walking distance of their hotel they wouldn't even have to worry about having to try to find parking again. Park once in one spot and be able to do multiple things.

[Colin Giersberg]

Here is the link to ALDOT's letting schedule for August. Click on Project Letting List, then look at #1 and #56.


http://alletting.dot.state.al.us

[JuanHunt]

Originally Posted by Urbancity

With the parking I was talking about right now, if they want to do anything after a game they would have to drive somewhere else and worry about finding a new parking spot. Whereas a downtown stadium they could park once in a parking garage, or if in walking distance of their hotel they wouldn't even have to worry about having to try to find parking again. Park once in one spot and be able to do multiple things.

Another downtown parking garage is another $10-$15million on top of the stadium cost, the cost of the land and the infrastructure improvements needed at the Coke plant site that contributed to Coke shutting down. Pretty soon it will cost $60million, about the same as the new Bham park.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Just for the record, the Birmingham Barons don't seem to have a hard time with parking; but, then again, downtown Birmingham is relatively large compared to virtually any city in the Southeast.

All that being said, I doubt the current parking situation in downtown wouldn't be able to handle it. Years down the road, that would certainly change, but by then there would be more than enough demand to warrant constructing a new deck.

[HSVTiger]

Originally Posted by JuanHunt

Another downtown parking garage is another $10-$15million on top of the stadium cost, the cost of the land and the infrastructure improvements needed at the Coke plant site that contributed to Coke shutting down. Pretty soon it will cost $60million, about the same as the new Bham park.

a new parking garage which the city wants, would serve the VBC, a new convention hotel as well as the ballpark and possible entertainment district.
The Constellation site could be a big player in the visionary plan as well

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Let's not forget that downtown is already home to TWO entertainment districts which allow open containers within their boundaries.

[HSVTiger]

For reference downtown Huntsville map showing boundaries (a large area)
parking and points of interest, (not updated with new or changed restaurants etc.).
Most of the area west of Church and north of Clinton is ripe for development, although the flood plain may determine what kind of development takes place. Probably see more infill take place around Twickenham Square.

https://www.dot.state.al.us/cmecweb/Doc/HsvCVB-Map-Downtown.pdf

[Huntsvillenative]

Originally Posted by HSVTiger

For reference downtown Huntsville map showing boundaries (a large area)
parking and points of interest, (not updated with new or changed restaurants etc.).
Most of the area west of Church and north of Clinton is ripe for development, although the flood plain may determine what kind of development takes place. Probably see more infill take place around Twickenham Square.

https://www.dot.state.al.us/cmecweb/Doc/HsvCVB-Map-Downtown.pdf

If the city is ever able to relocate the Butler Terrace projects south on Clinton, it'll give them a lot of needed and additional space for a massive expansion to downtown.

[JuanHunt]

Roads will have to wait, the Governor doesnt need roads.

The Alabama Department of Transportation is looking at acquiring a new state jet to replace the state’s 24-year-old Cessna.

A purchase could cost the state up to $10 million, while a lease would be about $55,000-per-month, according to a state official.

Alabama governors have been frequent passengers on the state jet over the years because it cuts down on travel time to events.

Harris said the acquisition would be made with state DOT dollars and not from the state's General Fund pot of money. DOT gets its money, from among other sources, gasoline taxes.

The Department of Transportation currently has two prop airplanes.

http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/08/state_mulls_purchase_of_new_je.html

[Colin Giersberg]

The Governor may not, but Huntsville does.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Why can't they drive? I mean, that's all ALDOT is legally allowed to fund, roads. So long as they can only fund roads, that should be the only means of travel they use.