Southron

The Montgomery-based Equal Justice Initiative will build the Memorial to Peace and Justice, a national memorial to victims of lynching in America, on Caroline Street, just off the Selma-to-Montgomery March route and just a few blocks from the Rosa Parks Museum. The Equal Justice Initiative also announced plans for a new museum to trace the history of African-Americans from slavery to mass incarceration. National memorial to lynching victims to be built in Montgomery YouTube videos: EJI Lynching Memorial, EJI Museum, Slavery to Mass Incarceration

Here's the location, which is just west from the 79C development on Bibb St.

A new downtown hotel will be under construction in August. A StayBridge Suites extended stay hotel will be built on Bibb Street where the skate park is now. The skate park will be redesigned and rebuilt at a location to be determined. New hotel, skate park coming to downtown Montgomery Another new downtown hotel is expected to be announced in August. This might be the official announcement of the renovation of the Bishop-Parker Building into a hotel. Downtown Montgomery landmark sold, set to become hotel Montgomery gets aggressive in push for more downtown hotels

Tim, thanks for posting about those residential projects. It's great to see so much redevelopment going on in the downtown area.

Per the Press-Register, officials are expected to announce a fall opening date for the GulfQuest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday. The press conference will start at 11 a.m. at 155 N. Water Street in Mobile. At last, city officials expected to announce opening date for GulfQuest museum --- Edit: The $62 million GulfQuest National Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico will open on September 26, 2015. This should give Mobile's tourist numbers a big boost in years ahead. GulfQuest Maritime Museum to open in September

It's official, construction will begin in a few months on a new 155,600 sq. ft., five-story courthouse in downtown Mobile! The new courthouse, with a far more traditional design than the original, will occupy one city block rather than most of two as called for in the Safdie concept. An $89 million construction contract was awarded for the two-phase federal courthouse project. The new federal courthouse, bounded by St. Joseph, St. Louis, Conception and St. Anthony streets, should be complete by December 2018. Phase two, renovation of the existing courthouse across the street, should be complete by October 2020. Alabama limestone will be used in the project. Planned courthouse to be bridge between Mobile's business, De Tonti districts $89 million construction contract awarded for new federal courthouse

A new site plan for CityCentre at Big Spring was released by the developers a couple of days ago and the development is now being described as a roughly $100 project. The new site plan wraps some residential liner around parking and includes the area previously designated for phase II of the project. New plan looks a little more urban. Definitely an improvement over the old Holiday Inn and its parking lots. Updated Site Plan for CityCentre at Big Spring Old site plan

A 48 unit apartment complex is under construction adjacent to the Five Points commercial district in the Old Cloverdale neighborhood just south of downtown. The new development replaces an outbuilding on what was part of the Old Cloverdale School property. The old schoolhouse will remain intact as part of the Huntingdon College campus. Old Cloverdale to get high-end apartments

Plans for a $40 million, 260-unit residential development in the Lakeview District were approved yesterday by the Birmingham Design Review Committee. The Metropolitan Apartments project will fill almost an entire block on 7th Avenue between 29th and 30th Streets. Construction is set to begin this spring and finish in 2017. It seems like forever since the little Rocky's Pizza building was torn down on that corner. Great to see this kind of quality infill going in there. Construction to begin in spring on $40 million Metropolitan Apartments in Lakeview

The 2002 Moshe Safdie and Associates design for a new federal courthouse appears to be dead and the now-funded project has been scaled back from 322,261 square feet to 138,000 square feet. Counting previously appropriated funds, the total now available for the project is $118 million, while the latest estimate in 2009 for the Safdie design was $181 million. Space for court clerks has been downgraded from the Safdie design (apparently a good thing because files are now digitized), and the probation and pretrial services offices would instead be located in the existing U.S. Courthouse. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court would relocate to the current courthouse rather than the new one. The General Services Administration will conduct a worldwide design competition and the new courthouse could be completed within 5 or 6 years. Federal courthouse project scaled back $118 million federal courthouse project included in federal funding bill

Good news for the Huntsville economy as two major manufacturing plants are set to begin operations in 2016: Polaris will build a new $142 million all-terrain vehicle plant in Huntsville-annexed Limestone County next to an existing Target distribution center along I-565. The plant will build the Ace, Ranger and RZR models and will ramp up employment from 400 full-time workers in 2016 to 1,700 in 2021. Construction is set to begin this May. $142 million Polaris ATV factory to begin rising in May What Polaris' manufacturing "campus" will look like when complete Also on track for 2016 is the new $110 million Remington firearms plant that will employ 2,000 workers in the old Chrysler facility near the Huntsville airport. Remington plant to create 2,000 jobs in Huntsville

Whole Foods plans to open a second Birmingham area store in Hoover as part of the redevelopment of Riverchase Village at the corner of US 31 and AL 150. The new Whole Foods Market will be in the former Bruno's location. This new store is part of a major expansion by Whole Foods in Alabama. Three other new stores are being built in Mobile, Montgomery and Huntsville. Whole Foods to open second Birmingham area store in Hoover

A couple of major projects in the works in the downtown area: A $70 million mixed-use redevelopment project called CityCentre at Big Spring is scheduled to open in 2016 on the site of the closed Holiday Inn across from Big Spring Park. Phase I of the development will include a boutique hotel, 200 residential units, 31,000 square feet of retail, and 53,000 square feet of office space. If built, Phase II of the project would cost $30 million and add a 130-key urban hotel and 50,000 square feet of commercial and office space. $70 million mixed-use project renamed CityCentre at Big Spring --- A $30 million five-story mixed-use development called The Avenue is planned for what is now a public parking lot at the corner of Holmes Ave and Jefferson St. The project will include 193 residential units, 21,000 square feet of street-level restaurant and retail space, and a parking deck. Project completion is expected by mid-2016. $30 million The Avenue mixed-use project to be built downtown

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson plans to go ahead and build the long-discussed Mardis Gras Park with an open-air market inspired by the Charleston City Market and New Orleans' French Market. The market would include room for 40 vendors. Mardis Gras Park plans include an open-air market

I'm guessing this will be in the old deli location at the Commerce St. entrance. Jimmy John's is a strong brand and could definitely drive some additional foot traffic there.

7 1/2 miles, wow... if we could just get a half mile done here in Gumptown from the state capitol to our riverfront, I would stand in front of Bryant-Denny on game day and scream "War Eagle" a thousand times at the top of my lungs. Sincerely hope that your state transportation department is supportive of such projects and that this gets done as planned. Roughly a decade behind your city in adopting a master plan based on New Urbanism, we love to see these kinds of projects and hope that we'll see similar success down the road.

Hey guys, great project! Didn't see these renderings posted yet and I hope I'm not duplicating anything. What's the story with the streetcar line? Is that likely to be implemented?

Good stuff Richy, wish I had seen that broadcast. Your post prompted me to add some additional links to the OP. Links were added for those "Capital of Dreams" videos, social media info for the city and its development department, as well as some updates for local news media. The improvements to downtown over the past few years made a big difference in the experience for visiting Camellia Bowl fans. Hotels, restaurants, bars, the tailgating area, and the stadium are all within walking distance now, so fans could park their cars and have a good time without having to drive anywhere. It was really nice to see fans walking all over the place on Friday and Saturday.

The plans above fell through, but the Kress Building now has a buyer and renovations are in the works! Several other buildings nearby are in the deal as well. Details in the Market District thread.

Some sad news to report. According to the mayor, it looks like the historic Montgomery Theater building may not survive the partial collapse it suffered this summer after renovation work had begun. The antebellum building was set to house a restaurant at street level, offices on the second floor and apartments on the third, with a fitness center and offices in the basement. The Montgomery Independent story below includes details about the history of the building. Two quick historical items of note - the infamous John Wilkes Booth performed on the stage and the score for the song "Dixie" was first written down there. Project news article: Former Montgomery Theater is being refurbished the right way Historic building may not be salvageable after partial collapse Older pic prior to sale

Former Montgomery Director of Development Chad Emerson moved to Huntsville last summer to become the CEO of Downtown Huntsville Inc. Emerson did a great job in Montgomery, and according to news reports, he's already making a difference in Huntsville. Below are links to the website for Downtown Huntsville Inc. and a couple of articles regarding some of the things Emerson has been working on and his perspective on the potential of downtown Huntsville. Website: Downtown Huntsville Inc. Clinton Row Project another great idea from Downtown Huntsville Inc. Opinion piece by Chad Emerson: Huntsville poised for greatness; why some downtowns are successful (and others are not)

Thanks for posting this, elb401! Nice to see that this project will continue as originally planned.

The city put up a new sign recently to mark the entrance to the tunnel that goes under the railroad tracks to the riverfront. Helpful to visitors and looks nice.

The new paint looks great. Exterior work is still underway, with a few of the new windows in place this afternoon. Making some progress at 78 Dexter as well.

Local architect Mike Watson of 2WR plans to renovate the Kress Building, creating 30 new residential units, a 200-person performance venue, a bar, a small eatery, a rooftop terrace and a small fitness center. The Dexter Ave and Monroe St facades will be returned to their original 1929 appearance. Watson plans to incorporate a neighboring property, 35 Dexter, into the project and awaits city council approval at an August 2nd meeting. Awesome! Renovation of the Kress Building will be a huge step forward for lower Dexter. Proposed plan would give new life, purpose to Kress building Plan Details Dexter Ave facade rendering Older pics of the Dexter Ave and Monroe St facades