Southron

monkey

Great addition to downtown! I'm kind of surprised that the Atlanta Hwy location will close, but since Dreamland is supporting downtown I'll actually have to drop my opposition to eating at one that isn't in Tuscaloosa. Boomer T's is a good place to go for BBQ at lunch and now we have a downtown BBQ place for dinner as well. Excellent!

A Pensacola-based pizza restaurant plans to open in the former Picklefish location after Mardis Gras this year. Mobile Press-Register

Bravo, that's a great picture of the Kress building. This would be a nice addition to the UP thread on Southern Kress buildings as well: Historic Kress buildings of the South.

That's cool, brad! It looks like Owens may put it out in the eastern area, but it would really be great to see it somewhere around downtown.

I agree it looks so much better than before. I can't wait to see what downtown looks like once the planting and streetscaping projects are all done. --- Interesting info from WAKA-TV tonight. Interim Mayor Jinright said the city is considering an aquarium along the Alabama River -- I assume that means somewhere along the Riverwalk. He also said the city is working with Maxwell AFB on a Wright Brothers museum project (2010 groundbreaking) near the Bell St. gate. Aquarium, Other Attractions Could Be Coming to Montgomery (story will probably roll off the page soon)

I think it's great that these officials want to facilitate redevelopment in west Montgomery, but I doubt incentives alone will do the trick. Retail follows rooftops and the demographics of much of that area just aren't enough to justify much more than refurbishing existing centers, if that. IMHO renovation, infill and redevelopment of the residential neighborhoods of west Montgomery will have to be a part of this for it to be successful.

The Mobile federal courthouse project has been among the top five courthouse priorities in the country for the last six years, but Congress has not appropriated construction funds. Officials hope the new building will be included in the Obama stimulus package. Estimates for the cost of the new building went up from $91 million about five years ago to $181.5 million. This would be a great project for the stimulus project -- it's been planned and ready to go for several years now. Can U.S. afford this courthouse?

Nice pic, Bravo! Do you have more of downtown B'ham?

A major component of the downtown master plan is to "plant street trees in an organized campaign," and efforts are underway to get this done over the next decade and a half. The city contracted with an additional urban forester to conduct an inventory of the street trees (between curb and sidewalk), and the work is nearing completion. As of November, there were 2,586 trees downtown, and urban forester Russell Stringer estimated that it will take about 15 years to fulfill the goal of planting 4,000 more to fully establish the downtown tree canopy. The citywide total of street trees was 36,465 in December, and the urban forestry department intends to plant about 1,000 trees each year. Fifteen years is a long time, but with streetscape improvements in the works for some of the most prominent streets, the trees should make a noticeable difference much sooner. Bibb St. (pictured below) already looks much better with the trees recently planted there. Downtown tree plan on the grow Street trees are being planted as part of downtown streetscape improvement projects

picker

The water tower was mounted yesterday. It juts out into the sidewalk and kind of blocks the view into the alley a little, but will probably blend in better once the painting and landscaping is done.

^ A couple of pics of the new building

BJCC board members voted unanimously to select HOK Inc. to design the dome. Last week HOK was the only firm to provide images and a model of its proposed design. Officials estimate it would take 12 to 18 months to finish the design and another 32 months to build, with construction beginning as early as July 2010. Mayor Langford said he will ask the city council next week to commit it's part of the financing for the project. It'll be interesting to see how that goes with the council next week. BJCC picks HOK to design proposed dome

Architectural Review Board members, upset that plans for the Alleyway were not submitted to them before work began, voted down a request to modify the facade of the entrance building on Commerce St. and requested a full set of plans for the entire project. City officials say work will go on anyway. The city should have submitted these plans long ago. It was really a dumb idea to try to skirt around this. I doubt the board would have a problem with what is being done, but they were left out of the process and understandably aren't happy about it. Work continues on Alleyway Project despite review board's veto

Movie Gallery moved its headquarters to Oregon and the old corporate HQ in Dothan is now for sale. The company filed for bankruptcy last year, and struggled with debt since acquiring Hollywood Video in 2005. Too bad Dothan lost a corporate HQ, but the company probably won't be around much longer anyway. Movie Gallery Almost Gone From Founding City of Dothan

Update: Mayor Langford had the park redesigned around the disputed Norfolk Southern property and groundbreaking for construction is planned for January 2009. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held earlier, but this time it should be the real deal. Langford declares month of groundbreakings

HOK and HKS made their dome project pitches Friday to the BJCC board. One of the two firms may be chosen for the project as early as this coming week. A couple of renderings of the HOK proposal are posted below. Has anyone seen anything from HKS? Finalists to design Birmingham's proposed dome make their pitches atrium

Thanks for the updates, richy, keep up the good work! The original Plan of Baton Rouge was impressive, and I'm really looking forward to seeing this update to the plan. We have riverfront access issues in Montgomery and Mobile, and I'm curious to see what your team comes up with.

I just checked out this thread after more than a year, and those pics look great. Digging the developing urbanity. Will the surface parking lots around the perimeter eventually be developed as well?

Those snowfall numbers are truly amazing. I almost fell out of my chair at work when I heard that parts of south Louisiana and Mississippi had 8 inches of snow. Did y'all get that kind of snow in the blizzard of '93? Great pics, richy!

step

Photo update 12/13/08: The frame is mounted for the water tower at the Tallapoosa St. entrance. Looks like another balcony is planned here.

I can't believe y'all got so much snow. It must have really been a blast for the kids out playing in it. I only have one question: why did you hog it all and not leave any for your neighbors further east?