Harris Hill Update: Phase One Moving Forward

On the planning agendas this month: plans for a portion of the long-awaited Harris Hill development in Northeast Huntsville. According to the plans, the first phase will include space for a hotel and outparcels for restaurants, "highway retail" (banks, pharmacies, etc.), and office space. It will be located at the foot of Chapman Mountain, in the cleared area bounded by 72 East, Moores Mill, and Harris Hill Blvd. Don't get too excited; this is not the massive shopping center/residential development planned further east, which probably won't be built for some time.

Northeast: Wal-Mart a No, Harris Hill a Maybe?

A couple of updates on projects on the Northeast side:

The Northeast Huntsville Wal-Mart, which would have been built at the intersection of Shields and US 72, is no longer planned, and the land is back up for sale. To the delight of some, dismay to others, it could be years before Wal-Mart builds a store on the Northeast side.

Harris Hill, which continues to be the most-emailed-about project, still seems to be a go. Not much has happened since part of the land for the massive development was cleared about a year ago. The project appears to still include retail, office space, and a hotel. Construction could begin as early as next summer. Don't yell at me if it doesn't, though.

• Check out past articles on Harris Hill.

April briefs: Progress and Delay

A couple of brief updates on some area projects:

• No other project has prompted more emails to me than Harris Hill. In recent weeks, several tracts of land around the farm have been bought by developer Cole Walker's company, and heavy equipment has been seen on the site. Also, a rezoning request was submitted to the planning commission in March for the area between the new Harris Hill Blvd., Moores Mill, and 72 East, which shows that there has been a change of plans from the original layout shown to the public about a year ago.
  
• On the other side of town, the Watercress project at 72 West and Jeff is going through city approvals and agreements.
  
• Over in Decatur/Limestone County, the Bass Pro is still planned, but groundbreaking will be "more than likely" 2010, according to the Decatur Daily. This was the original opening date announced last year.
  
• And, need I tell you more about the city's Courthouse Square improvements project? Seems like the Times and Mayor Battle have got it covered. But I will say this: while some might think the $2.8M to replace the sidewalks might be a lot to save some old ladies in high heels from tripping, there seems to be a whole lot of people these days that are a bit "trigger-happy" when it comes to lawsuits... so if it saves the city from getting involved in drawn-out legal battles that could potentially cost taxpayers millions more than this will, then I'm fine with it. A better-looking, pedestrian-friendly square and the ability to have more outdoor dining are good perks too.
  

Planning Commission- May 27th

Tonight, the Planning Commission will look into a few major rezonings and subdivisions tonight, including ones necessary for the Harris Hill development in Northeast and a possible grocery-anchored shopping center at the Northwest corner of Zierdt and Martin Roads. 250 acres of the Harris Hill project will be rezoned to pave the way for multi-family residential and big-box retail development. This post explains the project in depth.

A blog reader pointed out the proposed Zierdt/Martin grocery store in an email a couple of weeks ago. Some confusion has been swirling around which of the two main grocery chains in the area, Kroger or Publix, will be the anchor. The possible developer of the store almost exclusively builds Publix stores, but there is already one three miles away from the intersection. Kroger seems like a logical choice, but they are not expanding anywhere new right now, and about the only stores the chain is building are to replace older stores. This has also made me doubt the rumor that they will be building a store with the "Watercress" development at the old Monrovia golf course.

The commission will also consider subdivisions that could become over 800 single-family home lots.

Harris Hill- The Real Plan?

I attended the meeting at City Hall tonight about the Harris Hill development, one, because I write this blog, and two, I live in the area. Cole Walker of Walker Family Properties discussed the plans for the development, which, as of now, look like this:

• The "Jones Valley" portion: 10 outparcels lining 72 East and Old Gurley Road, for restaurants (seemed to mention Outback Steakhouse a lot, a clue?), a pharmacy, banks. This part could be completed in about a year, and construction could be seen in a couple of months if all goes well and it is approved by the city.
  
• The "Westside Center" portion: 60 acres for "big box" retail; current plans call for two large anchors (one looked a lot like a SuperTarget), 4-5 "junior" anchors (stores such as Goody's and Dick's Sporting Goods), and smaller stores. This phase would be completed in at LEAST 3 years, according to Walker.
  
• 200 acres of multi family residential, mostly condos/apartments, but some townhomes. The residences will be priced in "the $200-400,000 range." This phase should be built at the same time or a little later than the retail portion.
  
• The "Providence" portion: A 40 acre town center, with retail space on the bottom and lofts/condos on the top floors. Walker said that this will probably be the last thing to be built, when (or if) the development is successful.
  
• A hotel, which wasn't talked about but was still on the plans.
  
• The rest of the 600-acre development will be preserved as parkland/greenspace, with walking trails, bike paths, etc.
  

I could have a picture of the plan up as early as tomorrow.

Note: any tenants I mentioned here are completely theoretical, I am throwing them out there to show what COULD go in there. Walker said that retailers are taking a cautious "wait and see" strategy right now, with the failing economy and upcoming presidential elections, and more locally, waiting to see how many people come with BRAC. Overall buildout could take around seven years, which is common for a project of this magnitude.

One thing I would like to point out about the meeting: the surrounding neighborhood, which has a history of being very vocal about nearby development (a couple of years ago, a developer wanted to build cheap apartments next to the neighborhood, which brought on a lawsuit by some of the homeowners), seemed very enthusiastic about the project for the most part. There were some concerns about traffic, which was forseen, but I think the largely positive attitude shown by the neighborhood will bring this project closer to fruition.

Planning Agenda- April 22nd

The Huntsville Planning Commission will review subdivision plans for almost 1500 single-family home lots at next week's meeting; most of them, of course, are on the fringes of the city, except for an interesting one on Vermont Road in Southwest. But probably the biggest approval they will give next week is to rezoning requests at the proposed Harris Hills development in Northeast Huntsville. Almost 500 acres will be rezoned to accommodate multi-family residences, big-box stores, and chain restaurants/hotels. Land is being cleared, and the access roads are almost complete. Buildings could be going up as early as this summer.

Target, Dicks, JCPenney confirmed by "The Investigators"

WAFF 48 got a copy of the Harris Hill plan as well. They confirm that Target, Old Navy, JCPenney, and Dick's Sporting Goods are some of the tenants expected to come to the center when it opens in 2009. And they say there's going to be not one, but two hotels. But as in typical local news, they get at least one fact wrong-Harris Hill will NOT be a "mall" as it says in the story- it will be a mixed-use development. Basically, Harris Hill will be Jones Valley, Bridge Street, and Providence combined in one mega-project.
Here's a link to the story with a video included:
http://www.waff.com/Global/story.asp?S=7418228&nav=0hBE

Take proposed plans with a grain of salt...

The Harris Hills retail plan I posted this morning is not the finalized plan. There is still lots of planning to do and leases have to be signed before anything is set in stone. For example, look at this proposed merchant plan for Bridge Street back in April 2006. Of the stores that have been announced, less than 30 of the nearly 60 proposed tenants have located or are locating in Bridge Street. Two of the proposed tenants- Amsouth and Wild Oats- don't exist anymore due to mergers. So keep that in mind while you're rejoicing over how you don't have to ever go over Chapman Mountain to shop ever again. :)

Harris Hill Tenant Plan

Somebody on the Citydata.com forum leaked the Harris Hill site plan, though if you go to the architect's website, you can see the small logo of a SuperTarget. But here's the site plan (PDF file). The planned tenants:

SuperTarget
Bed Bath and Beyond
World Market
Kirkland's
Hobby Lobby
Ross
Toys R Us
Pier One
Shoe Carnival
Old Navy
Lane Bryant
Maurice's
ULTA
JCPenney
Barnes and Noble
Dick's Sporting Goods
Best Buy
Kohl's
Marshall's

A hotel is also planned along with a Cinemark movie theater and a small lifestyle center along a "river walk."