Second Mondays Event on Downtown Development

So I decided to attend one of the "Second Mondays" events put on by the Downtown Development Initiative. Tonight's event was an update on a few downtown developments. A summary is below.

Doug Smith talked about his Park Place project on Meridian Street. The relocation of Cleveland Street is nearing completion. A new bar, the Lone Goose Saloon, will open soon at the project. The next phase after the Cleveland streetscape project is to continue renovations of the Lumberyard as an event space by renovating the 1920s Pullman train car and adding a rooftop space that will feature views of the downtown skyline and the mountains.

Scott McLain discussed his Constellation development at the Parkway and Clinton. The SpringHill Suites will open May 1st, and the Residence Inn will begin construction this summer. After that, the office and retail (still a "green grocer" as the anchor) will come, then around 100 apartments with rents around $1000/month. He also gave his general ideas for the restaurants that he would like to see come to the development-- a seafood restaurant for the convention crowd "with $40 lobster" (like McCormick and Schmick's) and a restaurant with an emphasis on its brews (like Gordon Biersch or its sister restaurant Big River in Chattanooga). Don't hold me (or Mr. McLain) to those concepts; as he said, he's on "Plan Number 40" for Constellation, and the plans are subject to change. One thing that's holding up progress is the lack of a large office space tenant; while McLain is convinced that moving City Hall is the answer, I think that a large bank (Wells Fargo?) and/or a tech company looking for space may be a bit quicker than waiting for the city to make a decision.

A new event was announced at the meeting-- the Greene Street Market, which will be a farmer's market that will run every Thursday night from May 19th until September in the old Health Department lot at Greene and Eustis, just to the east of the Courthouse and across from the Church of the Nativity.

One last note-- a shout out to the lady who stood up and, having seen it "somewhere" and liked it, commented about the Justice District idea.

A Closer Look at Constellation

The cover story of the September issue of Southeast Real Estate Business talks about the recent shift to mixed-use developments. One of the highlighted projects is Constellation, the $150 million redevelopment of the old Marketsquare Mall site in downtown led by local developer Scott McLain. The article gives us the most detailed description of Constellation yet. A summary:

• 314 hotel rooms, split evenly between a Springhill Suites and a Residence Inn. The Springhill Suites will be the first component of the project to begin construction, which should be very, very soon.
  
• 63,320 square feet of retail space, 21,000 of which is being set aside for a "green grocery." The rest will be shops and restaurants (not including the three restaurant parcels facing the Parkway). Something like an Urban Outfitters could work well in a project like this.
  
• 187,000 square feet of office space. Wow, that's a lot more than the three-story office building proposed across the street could possibly hold. Maybe the rest of the office space is in a high-rise. We can only hope.
  
• 97 residential units. This is smaller than the 160 units proposed in May 2008, but in line with the 80-100 units proposed with the 2007 announcement of the project. It also seems that the developers still haven't decided on whether or not to build condos or apartments.
  

Let's hope that some new renderings and a website are coming soon. Some tenant announcements would be nice, but that might be asking too much.

More info:
Southeast Real Estate Business article: "Mixed Use Bonanza"
Past articles on Constellation

Constellation leasing signs up

As some of you have probably noticed, there are "now leasing" signs up along the Parkway service road for the Constellation outparcels, which will probably be occupied by restaurants. Today, a new sign went up along Clinton across from the project for a 3-story "Class A" office building that has been in the plans since the development was first publicly announced over 2 years ago. A rendering of the building is on the sign, so if you're in that part of downtown, go check it out-- it looks pretty cool. Otherwise, click on the image to get a better look at the rendering.

SpringHill Suites/Constellation beginning construction... maybe?

Developer Scott McLain told the Times that construction will begin next month on the 153-room SpringHill Suites hotel downtown, the first of two hotels that will anchor the Constellation mixed-use entertainment project at Clinton and the Parkway. The contractor is Bove Construction of Jacksonville, FL. The hotel is expected to open in mid-2010; however, since the groundbreaking in 2007, construction has been delayed several times with little progress. And during that time, the design has changed-- note that a year ago, the SpringHill Suites was going to have 130 rooms and 6 floors. (The new design might be slightly taller.)

That being said, there's a lot riding on Constellation. It might finally answer the question: Can Huntsville support a vibrant downtown? For the sake of this city's future, I hope that answer is yes.

Constellation hotel construction delayed

Construction of the 6-story SpringHill Suites downtown has been delayed because crews have found "50-foot variations" in the bedrock where the hotel is to be built, according to developer Scott McLain. Construction will be delayed a couple of months to resolve the issue. The hotel is one of two planned for the $150M Constellation mixed-use development at the Clinton/Parkway interchange in downtown Huntsville.

Huntsville Times article

Downtown Springhill Suites groundbreaking scheduled for Wednesday

The first of two hotels in downtown's Constellation project, a SpringHill Suites by Marriott, will break ground on Wednesday, according to developer Scott McLain. The 130-room, 6-story hotel is the first element of a much-anticipated mixed-use development, which will include another, almost-identical hotel (a Courtyard by Marriott), a 160-unit condo/apartment high-rise (at one time ~15 floors, but probably toned down because of the city's reluctance to change the height limit restrictions; the election could change this), retail and restaurants, and office space. McLain said that the Courtyard and condos will be next to begin construction, and additional retail/restaurant tenants will be announced soon as well; he said that he hopes to recruit a "green grocer," meaning a Whole Foods-or-similar-type store. The estimated completion of the project is now at least three years out.

Huntsville Times

In May, the Times also reported that the Courtyard had changed brands to Residence Inn, and that the condo building would be apartments. But in Saturday's Times article linked above, McLain said that he was on the "29th plan" for the project, meaning that he's changed it 28 times. Confused yet? Check out some of the older renderings for the project I found over a year ago:

On the agenda: height limits and park building restrictions

The city council tonight will look at changing the Planning Commission's staggered 10-story downtown height limit. They will look at three options: keep the 10-story height limit, have no height limits at all, or compromise at a 16-story height limit. The reason noted for putting the limit at 16 floors is so that the Constellation project can move forward with plans for a 15-story apartment building. The council will also look at a proposal to dedicate Big Spring Park to recreational use only, and a referendum would have to be approved to allow any development on the downtown park. This will not, however, stop the Huntsville Museum of Art's expansion plans, which have already been approved.

Huntsville Times article

My two cents: The council, looking at past opinions on this issue, will probably increase/erase the height limit. But why stop at 16 floors? It will only restrict future developments (such as the proposed 24-story condo building at Holmes and Washington) from moving forward. Once again, any type of height limit will choke downtown of its full potential.

Constellation-changing hotel, expanding apartment options

The Constellation project has changed one of its planned hotel brands, according to its developer. Residence Inn by Marriott is replacing Courtyard because of its "business" feel being more fitting close to the Von Braun Center. The other hotel, a Spring Hill Suites, has not changed. Both hotels will have 130 rooms/6 floors.

Another element of the project that is changing is the residential options. The original plans announced last year called for 80-100 apartments or condos. The revised plans have proposed up to 160 apartments due to a "perceived" demand. Site preparation has begun, including work on the road through the development (Constellation Drive), and construction on the buildings should begin by August.

Huntsville Times article

Ovation dies, Constellation lives

Ovation is now officially dead as of 5pm yesterday (Feb. 5). That was the deadline for Triad Properties to find an adequate restaurant tenant for the Summit office building, or they would lose the lease option for a proposed condo building adjacent to it. There are no plans to extend the option.

However, also yesterday during an emergency Planning Commission meeting, the Constellation mixed-use development was saved from possible doom. Developer Scott McLain said that one of the hotels proposed for the project was in jeopardy if action wasn't taken on approving the project. The two hotels, a Courtyard by Marriott and a Spring Hill Suites, will be the first part of the project to begin construction, which could be later this month or next. Constellation also includes retail/restaurant space, office space, and 80-100 condos priced at $200,000-300,000, a bargain compared to other downtown condo projects and the now-dead Ovation, where condos would have gone for more than $400,000.

Huntsville Times article: One project is dead, second ok'd