BJCC Expansion plans

[kayman]

The leasing of the Forge is now up to 82%, but apparently Performa Entertainment is still lacking the funds to officially break ground on the entertainment district. However, they are still projecting an opening next August.

[kayman]

This week the BJCC Board had began ambigious renegotiations with the AEG Worldwide, a major entertainment corporation based out of Los Angeles, to bring more sporting and entertainment events to Birmingham. As many of us have realized in recent years, Birmingham has been skipped by numerous major tours and this will open the possibility for us to see more things happening here at the BJCC.

Also there are now 8 architectural firms interested in the multipurpose facility project. Among those interested include an Australian firm, 2 from Atlanta, and 3 from Kansas City. Surprisely, there hasn't been any state-based firms interested in this project, but Bettye Fine Collins and E.C. Brown, both members of the BJCC Board, have stressed that the BJCC should involved area firms in the project.

Also the "search" for where the facillity to be constructed has been limited down to 3 sites. The 40 acre site adjacent to the BJCC, Legion Field, and land adjacent to the Birmingham Race Course. However, most are in agreement that it would be best that the facility is built in the City Center near the BJCC where there is the best supporting infastructure for such a place.

[Jim856796]

I couldn't find a thread here in this forum about Legion Field, but I think the Bham wiki said something about demolishing Legion field. I think Legion Field should be replaced with a new football stadium.

[TRoberts]

I couldn't find a thread here in this forum about Legion Field, but I think the Bham wiki said something about demolishing Legion field. I think Legion Field should be replaced with a new football stadium.

If (and when) a new domed stadium is built there will be no need to demolish and rebuild Legion Field. Legion Field is in very sad repair as is and any events that are currently held there could be moved to the new domed stadium.

The city already doesn't have the funding to pay for all the big ideas that the current administration has; where would funding to completely rebuild Legion Field come from? Certainly not from the University of Alabama system or UAB. If UAB pays to build a new football stadium, you better believe they'd be building it on campus or closer to campus anyway. UAB, in my opinion, would be better off assisting in funding of the domed stadium for the Home of the Blazers. Talk about a state of the art home field advantage. I mean, are there any other college teams that have dome stadiums as their home fields?

[Jim856796]

I already have 3 choices for a new stadium to replace Legion Field: on the UAB campus, next to the BJCC Complex, or at Fair Park. (I would have posted this message at the Birmingham 2020 or Pan American Games forums.)

[dc35064]

OK here's the plan.......

1. Start and complete construction on the domed stadium by the BJCC. 65,000-70,000 seats.

2. Start and complete construction of UAB's new stadium on campus. 35,000-40,000 seats, expanable (Start halfway through the domed stadium construction)

3. After all is completed....demolish Legion Field, build a community with mixed imcome housing (habitiat, federal housing, and smaller sized middle-class level housing; priced at $90,000-$150,000), also build some retail (grocey store{greatly needed in this area}, pharmacy, fast food and mid-sitdown restaurants, gas stations, and just general estblishments) off of the main roadways in the area.

[TRoberts]

OK here's the plan.......

1. Start and complete construction on the domed stadium by the BJCC. 65,000-70,000 seats.

2. Start and complete construction of UAB's new stadium on campus. 35,000-40,000 seats, expanable (Start halfway through the domed stadium construction)

3. After all is completed....demolish Legion Field, build a community with mixed imcome housing (habitiat, federal housing, and smaller sized middle-class level housing; priced at $90,000-$150,000), also build some retail (grocey store{greatly needed in this area}, pharmacy, fast food and mid-sitdown restaurants, gas stations, and just general estblishments) off of the main roadways in the area.

Why build two stadiums to seat over 100,000 people?? If the domed stadium is built so that football can be played in it (i.e. UAB, State Championships, local high school rivalries), then there's no need for UAB to have it's own stadium. If the city, county and UAB can work together towards a common coal to help EVERYONE, why would that not be the best option.

UAB wouldn't use a football stadium to it's capacity except for maybe 6 or 7 times a year and that's a huge chunk of money for the university to sink into a project of that size. That could go towards upgrading more of the older acedemic buildings and building more dorms on campus to further their goal of becoming a more traditional college rather than a commuting college.

UAB will most likely never match the magnitude of the colleges that have on-campus sports stadiums and is probably better off using municipal facilities in the area. I think everyone would agree that UAB will never have the following of 70,000 or 80,000 fans showing up every game day like Auburn or Alabama.

[dc35064]

First off i'm only talking about what to do with stadiums: construction of them, the amount of seats, what to do with vacated land they will leave behind. Other UAB improvements are off the subject and is another topic.

Do you have any idea of the amount of smaller attendance events are held at Legion Field (In a stadium that seats 70,000)? Dozens......iterally! lol. It would make much more sense for those "dozens" of aunnal events be held in the city and in a fresh new facility downtown (like the new UAB stadium) than canceling the events all together, moving them out of the city, or trying to have them held in the new dome (that will already be packed with events).

And thats the whole point in my "idea of this thing" UAB wont be playing at the dome......70,000 or 80,0000????? Im talking about 35,000-40,000 seat stadium for UAB, there are about 18,000-20,000 people on average for home games.....and 30,000-35,000 for homecoming. The nightlife is already in place so that will give plenty to do after the games. And having a stadium on campus is a HUGE tool to give schools more of a campus feel than commuting feel (not to mention that i'm a sopohmore in college now and if it wasnt for our events at our stadium, college life would be much different)

Also Birmingham host a number of soccer games per year and the UAB stadium would be perfect for those events, also high school and college band competions (inwhich are held almost every weekend during football season; not to mention they can draw up to 25,000 people).

When the dome is built and up and running with all its surrounding development, we will have tons of events held there and they wont have time for smaller events that were once held at legion field...and also for bowl games....before ppl come they do research to see how the venue is and etc. and just by the event being held downtown, in a well lite area, clubs and restaurants near by (entertainment district), hotels (with average up to lux priced rooms) in walking distance or 4-5 blocks to them: I'm sure 25-35% more ppl will commit to traveling and attending. 25-35 percent thats alot more ppl.

ANd having both the stadiums in the city center will be like Nashville having the titians stadium and vandy's stadium pratically downtown together. And both of them have there own entertainment districts and hotels nearby and even more in other spots downtown.

[TRoberts]

First off i'm only talking about what to do with stadiums: construction of them, the amount of seats, what to do with vacated land they will leave behind. Other UAB improvements are off the subject and is another topic.

Do you have any idea of the amount of smaller attendance events are held at Legion Field (In a stadium that seats 70,000)? Dozens......iterally! lol. It would make much more sense for those "dozens" of aunnal events be held in the city and in a fresh new facility downtown (like the new UAB stadium) than canceling the events all together, moving them out of the city, or trying to have them held in the new dome (that will already be packed with events).

I'm sure there are a several events held at Legion Field besides UAB football and AHSAA Championship games and I'm not saying move any of those out of the city but who's to say a facility owned by UAB would be open to those event anyway? How often do you hear about events at Bartow Arena that are not UAB events??? How often do you hear about events at UAB's baseball field that isn't UAB's baseball or softball team??? Yeah, they host camps sometimes but they hardly have a large number of events that aren't connected to UAB. Why would a UAB owned and operated stadium be any different?

in my "idea of this thing" UABAnd thats the whole point wont be playing at the dome......70,000 or 80,0000????? Im talking about 35,000-40,000 seat stadium for UAB, there are about 18,000-20,000 people on average for home games.....and 30,000-35,000 for homecoming. The nightlife is already in place so that will give plenty to do after the games. And having a stadium on campus is a HUGE tool to give schools more of a campus feel than commuting feel (not to mention that i'm a sopohmore in college now and if it wasnt for our events at our stadium, college life would be much different)

Are you talking about nightlife around campus at UAB?? Where exactly? Southside is hardly on campus and the only area that UAB would even remotely have a chance to build a stadium would be on the west end of the campus near I-65. There's hardly an argument for nightlife in place in that area unless you count all the liquor stores on Green Springs. The nightlife you speak of will be the Performa Development AT the BJCC (next door to the dome). And IF AND WHEN the trolley's get going, the BJCC and Southside would potentially be connected. I understand on-campus sports venues provide a different atmosphere but you have to also understand that UAB is in the middle of a major metropolitan city. They don't have the land that somewhere like Auburn or Alabama have. They have to fight for the land they get and UAB's best and highest use of the land they get is for research and acedemic buildings. Not for a huge stadium and the infrastructure to support parking of thousands of cars on game day. The amount of acreage it would take to support a stadium on campus with adequate additional parking would consume way more than UAB would be willing to give up. UAB is truly an urban campus and very few truly urban campuses have a large on-campus stadium. Had UAB been along longer and had the foresight to acquire larger swaths of land 50 years ago or 70 years ago, things might be different.

Also Birmingham host a number of soccer games per year and the UAB stadium would be perfect for those events, also high school and college band competions (inwhich are held almost every weekend during football season; not to mention they can draw up to 25,000 people).

When the dome is built and up and running with all its surrounding development, we will have tons of events held there and they wont have time for smaller events that were once held at legion field...and also for bowl games....before ppl come they do research to see how the venue is and etc. and just by the event being held downtown, in a well lite area, clubs and restaurants near by (entertainment district), hotels (with average up to lux priced rooms) in walking distance or 4-5 blocks to them: I'm sure 25-35% more ppl will commit to traveling and attending. 25-35 percent thats alot more ppl.

ANd having both the stadiums in the city center will be like Nashville having the titians stadium and vandy's stadium pratically downtown together. And both of them have there own entertainment districts and hotels nearby and even more in other spots downtown.

High school band competitions (coming from a former band member) are on Saturday's - the same days UAB plays games. The largest, most well known band competition in the Birmingham area is by far the Hoover Invitational held at Regions Park. It's not going anywhere because the Hoover City Schools benefit from the competition. It will remain in Hoover. The Pinson HS Competition is on campus at Pinson High School; they aren't moving. The whole point of most band competitions is to raise money for the host band - that's why most band competitions are held on campus at the host high school. If they go outside that to a place such as UAB or Legion Field, they have to cover additional expenses associated with the venues. And don't you think the city of Birmingham and UAB would expect some sort of cut from ticket sales and food sales? Another perfect example is Spain Park hosting Sparks in the Park with DCI bands. They do it to raise money for Spain Park's high school band.

Obviously you haven't kept up to date completely on everything revolving around the dome. A lot of the argument against a 60 or 70,000 seat dome is the LACK OF EVENTS that it would bring. There are too many mid-market cities fighting over too few conventions to fill their domes and convention centers. On the flip side of that, there's the argument that a 30 or 40,000 seat dome would be too small to be financially feasible. Having a dome at the BJCC isn't going to bring so many events to town that the existing events at Legion Field can't continue to be scheduled at the new Dome along with UAB home games.

You mentioned several times about soccer games and other small events... You have to also keep in mind the plans for Fair Park and turning that into a sports themed village of sorts. Athletic fields will be included in that project. With a new dome, you also mention the revitalization of the Legion Field area with new homes and retail. Excellent idea... With that revitalization, include a much small athletic complex that seats maybe 7500 to 12000 with a regulation size football field. It could host those smaller events you talk about and also serve as a neighborhood park. They could host rivalry high school games as well. Having this could also help bring a sense of pride to the area having a nice, livable park as well. And just as a side note, if you want to talk about smaller events... there are plenty of city parks around Birmingham that could be revitalized and repurposed to host these smaller events. Crestwood Park provides a great location for Soccer games. Woodlawn High School has a great, historic stadium. There's Fair Park. There's Rickwood Field. The list could go on...

[dc35064]

This is starting to sound like an arqument and I dont do those lol......there are more events than u think, I dont think you are being very diverse on where u read about the events we have in birmingham.....BTW you are getting a little too deep with the situation....My idea is great on all parts. I never not one time said anything about finacing on any of these projects and can care less, it's just an idea....all these will work they will just need good before hand planning......STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE! Use that advice for your life also.....thats whats wrong with this city already negativity......And I'm greatly aware of whats going on with the dome. There's much much more I can say about ur last comments but i rather not!

[TRoberts]

This is starting to sound like an arqument and I dont do those lol......there are more events than u think, I dont think you are being very diverse on where u read about the events we have in birmingham.....BTW you are getting a little too deep with the situation....My idea is great on all parts. I never not one time said anything about finacing on any of these projects and can care less, it's just an idea....all these will work they will just need good before hand planning......STOP BEING SO NEGATIVE! Use that advice for your life also.....thats whats wrong with this city already negativity......And I'm greatly aware of whats going on with the dome. There's much much more I can say about ur last comments but i rather not!

First off no, it's not an argument. It's a public forum where you and I are both posting our thoughts and/or opinions. Secondly, there is no need for personal attacks on anyone i.e. "use that advice for your life also".

As for being negative, no, actually I'm not. I was making a suggestion that would by far benefit the entire Birmingham area rather than just two or three select areas. I was suggesting taking many of the local parks in the area that may not be being used to their highest and best potential and updating them or repurposing them for other activities. What's so negative in saying that the city could fix up Crestwood park for a soccer field or put some money into Woodlawn High Schools stadium for events... Or put money into Rickwood field to host ball events. There's absolutely nothing negative in any of that. I'd love to see some of the parks and public spaces in Birmingham fixed up. It might help bring some neighborhood pride back to these areas that need some help. Give people a reason to be proud of their city and their community again and maybe some of the negativeness that is so prevalent right now will dissipate. I'm all about positive impact... hence my suggestions for only one stadium venue that could be better utilized more often rather than sitting empty a lot of the time.

And actually, I would probably know more about the events that go on at Legion Field if they were publicized but I actually haven't been able to find a single article or calendar advertising events there. The only events I've found anything about what-so-ever online are UAB and Birmingahm-Southern's games along with the Papa-Johns Bowl, Magic City Classic and the AHSAA State Championship games. So I would actually love to know about some of the other events that held at Legion Field on a regular basis.

[kayman]

I'm sure there are a several events held at Legion Field besides UAB football and AHSAA Championship games and I'm not saying move any of those out of the city but who's to say a facility owned by UAB would be open to those event anyway? How often do you hear about events at Bartow Arena that are not UAB events??? How often do you hear about events at UAB's baseball field that isn't UAB's baseball or softball team??? Yeah, they host camps sometimes but they hardly have a large number of events that aren't connected to UAB. Why would a UAB owned and operated stadium be any different?

Are you talking about nightlife around campus at UAB?? Where exactly? Southside is hardly on campus and the only area that UAB would even remotely have a chance to build a stadium would be on the west end of the campus near I-65. There's hardly an argument for nightlife in place in that area unless you count all the liquor stores on Green Springs. The nightlife you speak of will be the Performa Development AT the BJCC (next door to the dome). And IF AND WHEN the trolley's get going, the BJCC and Southside would potentially be connected. I understand on-campus sports venues provide a different atmosphere but you have to also understand that UAB is in the middle of a major metropolitan city. They don't have the land that somewhere like Auburn or Alabama have. They have to fight for the land they get and UAB's best and highest use of the land they get is for research and acedemic buildings. Not for a huge stadium and the infrastructure to support parking of thousands of cars on game day. The amount of acreage it would take to support a stadium on campus with adequate additional parking would consume way more than UAB would be willing to give up. UAB is truly an urban campus and very few truly urban campuses have a large on-campus stadium. Had UAB been along longer and had the foresight to acquire larger swaths of land 50 years ago or 70 years ago, things might be different.

High school band competitions (coming from a former band member) are on Saturday's - the same days UAB plays games. The largest, most well known band competition in the Birmingham area is by far the Hoover Invitational held at Regions Park. It's not going anywhere because the Hoover City Schools benefit from the competition. It will remain in Hoover. The Pinson HS Competition is on campus at Pinson High School; they aren't moving. The whole point of most band competitions is to raise money for the host band - that's why most band competitions are held on campus at the host high school. If they go outside that to a place such as UAB or Legion Field, they have to cover additional expenses associated with the venues. And don't you think the city of Birmingham and UAB would expect some sort of cut from ticket sales and food sales? Another perfect example is Spain Park hosting Sparks in the Park with DCI bands. They do it to raise money for Spain Park's high school band.

Obviously you haven't kept up to date completely on everything revolving around the dome. A lot of the argument against a 60 or 70,000 seat dome is the LACK OF EVENTS that it would bring. There are too many mid-market cities fighting over too few conventions to fill their domes and convention centers. On the flip side of that, there's the argument that a 30 or 40,000 seat dome would be too small to be financially feasible. Having a dome at the BJCC isn't going to bring so many events to town that the existing events at Legion Field can't continue to be scheduled at the new Dome along with UAB home games.

You mentioned several times about soccer games and other small events... You have to also keep in mind the plans for Fair Park and turning that into a sports themed village of sorts. Athletic fields will be included in that project. With a new dome, you also mention the revitalization of the Legion Field area with new homes and retail. Excellent idea... With that revitalization, include a much small athletic complex that seats maybe 7500 to 12000 with a regulation size football field. It could host those smaller events you talk about and also serve as a neighborhood park. They could host rivalry high school games as well. Having this could also help bring a sense of pride to the area having a nice, livable park as well. And just as a side note, if you want to talk about smaller events... there are plenty of city parks around Birmingham that could be revitalized and repurposed to host these smaller events. Crestwood Park provides a great location for Soccer games. Woodlawn High School has a great, historic stadium. There's Fair Park. There's Rickwood Field. The list could go on...

Actually, there larger high school and college band competitions that I know of that occur at least twice a year at Legion Field. Most of these competitions are from predominately black high schools in the City and HBCU (Historically Black College and Universities) from all over the South. The more well-known of the 2 is called "Battle of the Bands" which occurs during the fall.

[TRoberts]

Actually, there larger high school and college band competitions that I know of that occur at least twice a year at Legion Field. Most of these competitions are from predominately black high schools in the City and HBCU (Historically Black College and Universities) from all over the South. The more well-known of the 2 is called "Battle of the Bands" which occurs during the fall.

Thanks for the info Leonard... I knew there probably were but like I said, I searched and searched online for events at Legion Field and never could find anything really. The city of Birmingham pages don't even list the events currently held there except the Magic City Classic and Papa John's Bowl.

[kayman]

First off no, it's not an argument. It's a public forum where you and I are both posting our thoughts and/or opinions. Secondly, there is no need for personal attacks on anyone i.e. "use that advice for your life also".

As for being negative, no, actually I'm not. I was making a suggestion that would by far benefit the entire Birmingham area rather than just two or three select areas. I was suggesting taking many of the local parks in the area that may not be being used to their highest and best potential and updating them or repurposing them for other activities. What's so negative in saying that the city could fix up Crestwood park for a soccer field or put some money into Woodlawn High Schools stadium for events... Or put money into Rickwood field to host ball events. There's absolutely nothing negative in any of that. I'd love to see some of the parks and public spaces in Birmingham fixed up. It might help bring some neighborhood pride back to these areas that need some help. Give people a reason to be proud of their city and their community again and maybe some of the negativeness that is so prevalent right now will dissipate. I'm all about positive impact... hence my suggestions for only one stadium venue that could be better utilized more often rather than sitting empty a lot of the time.

And actually, I would probably know more about the events that go on at Legion Field if they were publicized but I actually haven't been able to find a single article or calendar advertising events there. The only events I've found anything about what-so-ever online are UAB and Birmingahm-Southern's games along with the Papa-Johns Bowl, Magic City Classic and the AHSAA State Championship games. So I would actually love to know about some of the other events that held at Legion Field on a regular basis.

Yeah, there should be better promotion of events and things to do at these facilities, but there is seems to be somewhat of a lack of efficient information sources when comes to certain event centers in the city aside from the Alys Stephens Center and BJCC. The other facilities such as the Fair Park Arena, Boutwell Auditorium seems to always ignored although there are quite a number of events that are occuring at this facilities on a regular basis. There seems to be somewhat of a bias of these places because most of the events more demographically patronized by blacks patrons than other groups, and it equates to the ideology it's not worth the full promotion as such events at other facilities in the region.

[kayman]

Thanks for the info Leonard... I knew there probably were but like I said, I searched and searched online for events at Legion Field and never could find anything really. The city of Birmingham pages don't even list the events currently held there except the Magic City Classic and Papa John's Bowl.

You are welcome, and I do agree that the City is just as guilty as the media for the lack of promotion of a number of good events that people would know more about if more effort was put into disclosing when and where it is occuring. I want to see this city obtain a larger and more centralized sports and convention facility for larger events as well, but we should try to revitalize and patronize the smaller and more intimate event centers as well.

[dc35064]

GA Tech stadium and The Georgia Dome are both in downtown Atlanta.

Edited August 4, 2008 by dc35064

[TRoberts]

GA Tech stadium and The Georgia Dome are both in downtown Atlanta.

You're right... But also keep in mind the first and foremost reason the Georgia Dome was built??? As a permanent home for the Atlanta Falcons. It's also connected to the Georgia World Congress Center which is one of the largest convention centers in the southeast and regularly host very, very large scale conventions that Birmingham will quite honestly never host.

And not to sound argumenative, but mentioning GA Tech just proves my point. You have a university that has one and half times the land area as UAB with a stadium that has been in existence since 1913 at its present site. The university itself has been around since the late 1800's. UAB has only been in existence since 1969.

Although mentioning GA Tech does bring me to think about Georgia State University who is starting a new football program and will be playing in the Georgia Dome for all their home games. GSU is going to be in the same situation as UAB with a very fixed amount of land available to the university and additional land at a very scarce amount at very premium prices.

Going back to something Leonard said, I could actually see UAB ultimately moving baseball off campus to possibly a city park or Regions Park (heck, play baseball at historic Rickwood Field - I mean how cool would that be) so that that large land area can at some point be developed further into Academic, Residential and Research space for the university.

Off topic, but I'd actually like to see a very quiant and intimate ball park eventually built as part of the BJCC and have the Birmingham Barons ACTUALLY play in Birmingham. Downtown ballparks are reviving lots of downtown areas around the country. We simply have to look to our north in Chattanooga to see that. The new park in Chattanooga has done wonders to help continue growing the downtown area and nightlife choices there.

[where_am_I]

Birmingham Business Leadership Group's study for the proposed dome stadium in Birmingham has selected the BJCC location downtown as the best place to build the dome. Mayor Langford states that he supports the group's recommendation for the BJCC site.

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stor...25/daily36.html

Edited August 29, 2008 by where_am_I

[TRoberts]

Birmingham Business Leadership Group's study for the proposed dome stadium in Birmingham has selected the BJCC location downtown as the best place to build the dome. Mayor Langford states that he supports the group's recommendation for the BJCC site.

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/stor...25/daily36.html

Well duh...

It was always an asanine idea to place the dome anywhere else besides the BJCC. The racecourse was only considered because LaLa and McGregor are in bed together financially...

[kayman]

Well, there seems to be some new developments with the Forge. 1) Comedian Jeff Foxworthy has signed on to open a restauarant in the complex. 2) Performa Entertainment has confirmed that they are just 2 weeks away from finalizing their funding to break ground on the Forge.

[kayman]

I've recently received word from the Birmingham Business Journal that it will likely 2010 before first establishment at The Forge.

[Southron]

An advisory panel for the BJCC narrowed a list of nine potential design firms down to two for the $500 million domed stadium. St. Louis-based HOK Inc. and Dallas-based HKS Inc. are the two finalists for the project.

BJCC panel picks 2 finalists to design dome

[kayman]

An advisory panel for the BJCC narrowed a list of nine potential design firms down to two for the $500 million domed stadium. St. Louis-based HOK Inc. and Dallas-based HKS Inc. are the two finalists for the project.

BJCC panel picks 2 finalists to design dome

Interesting, considering the word on the dome stadium has been mum as of late aside from this announcement. Honestly, I thought that since tax revenues from the 2007-08 fiscal year were lower than than projection that this project would have been in limbo. Anyways, it good to see progress.

[Southron]

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

[Southron]

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