Transit Plan Update

The Comprehensive Operational Analysis (COA) of Huntsville's Shuttle public transit system is moving along, and a draft map of the proposed changes to the system is now available. The final plan will be presented to the City Council in January. Some highlights of the plan include:

• Timed transfers between routes. The consultants performing the COA found that 44% of riders using the system transfer between routes, but the timing of the routes terminating at the Downtown Transit Center made for inconvenient and long transfer wait times of up to an hour. The new routes will meet downtown on the hour to allow for efficient transfers. 
• Increasing frequency on some routes, while decreasing frequency on others. Two routes, University Drive and Southwest Huntsville, will get thirty-minute headways, while the center city Red and Blue Core loops will be pushed back to hourly service.
• Elimination of routes. The Research Park and Tourist routes will be eliminated and absorbed into other existing routes. The Airport Road and Southeast Huntsville routes will be combined into one large loop, allowing for a one-seat ride from the south side to downtown, eliminating the current required transfer at Parkway Place.
• Extension of operation hours. Five routes will have their hours of operation extended up to one hour from the current 6am-6pm run time. 

For those like myself looking for a more gutsy overhaul of the transit system, remember that this COA assumed a revenue-neutral option-- the 2012 transit budget is $4.1 million. It would have been great however to see what the transit system could look like if the annual budget were increased by $1 million, or even $5 million; if fares were increased, or if Madison and Redstone Arsenal contributed to the system in exchange for routes in their areas.

James' COA


Here's some ideas that are completely feasible in the near-term and would increase ridership among "choice riders," who have other means of transportation but choose to take the bus. 

• Restore and enhance Research Park service. Completely eliminating service to Research Park would ignore the 50,000+ workers that are currently employed there. Start small with a frequent Lunch Shuttle between offices and the restaurants on University and Bridge Street, with service running every 15 minutes between 10am and 3pm. When funding is available, construct a Research Park transit hub and encourage companies to use shuttle vans (similar to the airport shuttles hotels use) to ferry their commuting workers between the hub and their workplace. 
• Introduce routes to the Airport, Madison, and the Arsenal. The taxi and rental car companies won't like it, but it's time for a bus route to the Airport. I would propose an express bus between Downtown and the Airport with a long-term parking lot at Research Park. With 63% of Madison's workers commuting to Huntsville* and infrastructure that can't handle a lot more traffic, Madison could use a few bus routes to the Research Park transit hub. And with the help of Redstone Arsenal, two peak-hour express routes-- one from Research Park, another from South Huntsville-- could give commuters an alternative to sitting in traffic at the gates**. When on the Arsenal, passengers could transfer to intra-base circulators or (even better) building-specific shuttle vans. 
• Make Courthouse Square the new Downtown transit hub. I challenge you to walk from the Transit Center on Church Street into the downtown core-- it is difficult, if not impossible. Maybe this will change when Church Street is widened in a few years and sidewalks are added, but even then, the city's transit hub is far from most significant attractions that would be useful for Shuttle riders, such as City Hall and the Courthouse, requiring a transfer for most. The infrastructure is already there-- eliminate some of the "free" parallel parking that causes confusion and delay around the Square and use that space for bus pull-offs, and shelters already exist nearby.
• New Transit Website. I cannot stress this enough-- much like a business, without a visible web presence, no one will know you exist. Currently, the website, http://huntsvilleal.gov/PublicTran/public_trans.php, is three pages deep from the city's home page, and finding most information is another two pages deeper. Start with a new domain name, like hsvshuttle.com. Make bus schedules and system maps easily accessible. And make real-time news and information available to the media and the public by creating Twitter and Facebook pages, and make sure they are constantly updated. 
• Small stuff. Wi-Fi on city buses, especially express routes. LED bus route displays on buses. Visible bus stop signs. More aesthetically-pleasing bus shelters.  

*Source: US Census Bureau

**I know someone is going to cite "security" as the reason why Redstone Arsenal does not currently have bus service, but most military bases near urban areas have transit service. Some examples: Camp Pendleton (Oceanside, CA), Fort Benning (Columbus, GA), and Fort Belvoir (DC metro).

Hotel Boom on the Westside

There are at least seven new hotels are proposed or under construction in West Huntsville and Madison that have a good chance of being completed in the next year.  Check out the map for locations; a more detailed list of the hotels is below.

1. Holiday Inn Express and Suites- Watercress
Developer: Owings Properties d.b.a. Watercress Hotel Associates, LLC
This hotel is planned to be built behind the new Kroger at 72 and Jeff Road.

2. Holiday Inn Express and Suites- Madison
Developer: Omega Hotel Group
This 4-story, 96-room hotel is currently under construction at Madison Boulevard and Wall-Triana Highway. It is expected to open in March.


3. Madison Hospital
Developer: GBT Realty (entire development)
A 5-story, 110-room hotel is in the plans for a development just to the west of the new hospital along Balch Road in Huntsville city limits. I would expect this hotel to be limited-service, similar to a Hampton Inn or a Fairfield Inn.

4. SpringHill Suites- Providence
Developer: Providence Hotel Partners, LLC
The new urbanist development is getting a second hotel now that the first, a Homewood Suites by Hilton, has been wildly successful. At first glance, I assumed that another Hilton-brand hotel would be built here, but it turns out that a SpringHill Suites by Marriott will be the new format.

5. Home2 Suites/Hampton Inn and Suites- Research Park
Developer: LBA Hospitality
Dothan hotel developer LBA Hospitality is building a hotel on Governors West, just south of Bridge Street. LBA has built several Home2 Suites locations, a new Hilton extended-stay brand, including the first one in Fayetteville, NC earlier this year. It is possible that this hotel will be a Home2 as well. The hotel will be co-branded as a Home2 Suites and a Hampton Inn and Suites, the first of its kind in the United States.

6-7. Redstone Gateway 
Developer: Jim Wilson and Associates (entire development)
At this mega-development at 565 and Research Park Boulevard, two hotels with a combined ~300 rooms are in the master plan. These two hotels will probably be more full-service and business-oriented than the others on the list, similar to a Doubletree or a Hilton.

Another hotel for Research Park?

A local developer is planning to build a hotel off of Governors West in Research Park, according to the city's Zoning Board agenda for this month. Expect this hotel to be more business-oriented than your average highway-exit Comfort Inn (aloft maybe?). No word on when construction will begin.

This would only be the second hotel within the boundaries of Research Park-- the other, of course, is the Westin Huntsville at Bridge Street. Speaking of Bridge Street, one of their expansion plans is to build a five-star hotel, sometime in the future.

Redstone Gateway: Office Developer Announced

Corporate Office Properties Trust, a Maryland-based office developer that specializes in government-centric office projects, has been revealed as a partner in Jim Wilson and Associates' Redstone Gateway project, according to their website. A news conference will be held tomorrow morning to unveil the partnership and other details about the project.

COPT's role in the project will be to develop up to 4.4 million square feet of office space (over 4.5 times the size of Madison Square), 1.2 million of which will be "secure." The office space will be built in three phases, with three-to-six story buildings (so very Huntsville...) containing 80-165,000 square feet of space each.

Redstone Gateway will be built on Enhanced-Use Lease land on the Southwest corner of the 565/Research Park interchange, just north of Redstone Arsenal Gate 9. The first phase of the 468 acre project will include retail space and a hotel. You can read more about the project in a post I wrote almost two years ago.

Updated: COPT Presentation on Redstone Gateway

Madison Square

"The malls are the soon-to-be ghost towns; well so long, farewell, goodbye."- Modest Mouse, "Teeth Like God's Shoeshine"

I'm bored. Very little of any significance is happening right now, so let's talk about something random. Today, we'll discuss Madison Square, Huntsville's next "dead mall."

Ask yourself: When was the last time you went to Madison Square? I can bet that for many of you, it's been a while; probably longer than your last trip to Parkway Place or Bridge Street.
Madison Square Mall was opened in 1984, with 5 anchors: JC Penney, Sears, Parisian, Caster Knott (now Dillard's), and Pizitz (became McRae's, now Belk). It has room for up to 120 stores. Madison Square has been renovated twice-- once in 1994 and again in 2006. At the time of its opening, it was built in what seemed like the edge of nowhere; Huntsville stopped at Sparkman, as seen in this 1982 map (Look-- a Woolco!):

Despite store mergers, liquidations, and stores surrounding Madison Square closing and/or moving farther out into the sprawl of western Madison County, it fared relatively well for its first 20 years, mainly because it had no competition. Madison Square's opening began the slow and painful decline of the three older (smaller) malls near downtown that shared that title through the 70s: The Mall, Parkway City Mall, and Heart of Huntsville Mall (now Constellation); all of which had become "dead malls" by 2000.

But those dead malls came back to haunt Madison Square. In 1999, the Fountain replaced The Mall, and while the power center, with anchors like Home Depot and Costco, had little effect on Madison Square, the opening of Parkway Place (formerly Parkway City) in 2002 did, which, ironically enough, is partially owned by the same developers/owners of Madison Square (CBL of Chattanooga), who had scrapped plans to build a 1.2 million sq. ft. enclosed mall (scroll down) in South Huntsville in the late 90s to redevelop Parkway City. After that, Madison Square was referred to as the "old mall" (as in, "Hey, want to go to the mall?" "Which one? The new mall or the old mall?"). But despite the label, Madison Square held on to most of its name-brand tenants until 2007-2008, when it was hit twice: Bridge Street opened a couple of miles to the south, and the recession began soon after, with stores like KB Toys, Friedman's Jewelers and Steve and Barry's closing as part of their respective company liquidations.

Now, to be fair, despite the odds being against it, Madison Square is still holding on. Four out of its five anchor spots are still occupied, and it still has over 80 stores (not including the food court or kiosks). Definitely not a dead mall. But some of the recent tenants-- a blacklight mini-golf course, a now-defunct auto dealership, even a sex shop-- are signs that the end is near for Madison Square.

In the next few years, it's going to get harder for Madison Square to hold its ground. Bridge Street and Parkway Place have plans for future anchor tenants. While we can safely speculate that Macy's (not a Madison Square anchor) is at the top of at least Bridge Street's list, it isn't out of the question that one of the current Madison Square anchors (especially JCPenney) could be siphoned away with the promise of a new store elsewhere. And then there's the threat of uber-sprawl developments such as WaterStone in Madison.

There are several ways a dead mall can be "resurrected." In Nashville, a mall called Bellevue Center quickly died after losing two of its three anchors, and all that remains today is a Sears. The mall is now planned to be partially converted to a Kohl's on one level and a branch of the Nashville Public Library on the other (though it's on hold due to legal reasons). On the other side of the city, there are plans to convert part of Hickory Hollow, a mall very much like Madison Square (age, size, ownership), into a satellite campus for a community college. Converting Madison Square into a power center or an educational facility could work, but let's be creative, shall we?

From "super-regional" to "super-mixed-use"

Here's my idea for that day in the near future when Madison Square kicks the bucket. Let's look at what it's got: it's in a very visible location, at the intersection of University and AL255, an area with ~100,000 vehicles passing through every day. A high-visibility location such as Madison Square deserves a high-visibility redevelopment. So how about this: assuming the current anchors remain (they separately own the parcels of land their stores sit on), build a 40-ish-store open-air center in the parking lot and move the current tenants there along with some new ones. Then close the old mall and convert it to an open-air center, with another 40 retail spaces remaining on the ground floor and office space on the upper level.

The sea of parking at Madison Square could be put to better use by creating a high-density, pedestrian-friendly environment (like Atlanta's Atlantic Station and Austin's The Domain) surrounding the new open-air center. One idea is to build several mid- and high-rise (5-15 floors) office buildings, and add a few hotels, new anchors, and condos/apartments down the road. Parking would be consolidated into several multi-story parking garages. I left off most of that on the layout above (note the large chunks of remaining parking lot) because the number of possible layouts is infinite; I'll leave that to your imagination.

Note that this is merely my idea; it is NOT an official plan by CBL (the developers/owners of Madison Square). So don't get on to me if this doesn't happen, because, it won't.

Madison Square still has a few years left in it; worst-case scenario, I give it until 2014, its 30th anniversary. And a smaller revitalization (such as demolishing only a portion of the mall and converting it to an open-air center) might add a decade or so to its lifespan. Admittedly, my idea is quite radical. But that's what Huntsville needs-- new, fresh, unique ideas-- to get itself away from having the feel of an overgrown suburb.

Educate yourself: If you wondering what the heck I was talking about when I mentioned "dead malls," here's a couple of my favorite blogs on the subject. They include some interesting articles on some Huntsville malls, including The Mall and Madison Square:
deadmalls DOT com
Labelscar

Defense Aquisition University building CRP office

Defense Aquisition University, or DAU, will break ground in a couple of weeks on a new $12.3 million office building where classes will be held to train federal employees. The 50,000 sq. ft plus building will be located on Old Madison Pike, and will open late this year.

Catholic High breaking ground on new campus

Catholic High School (my alma mater) broke ground on their new campus off of Old Madison Pike today, five years after the school bought the 55-acre site from the UAH Foundation. The new campus will allow the school to have 400-600 students enrolled upon completion. The current campus, which opened in 1996 in a renovated office building in Research Park East with 40 students, is now at capacity with 320 students. Expected completion of the new school will be in mid-2010, with the construction of athletic fields coming later.

Go Falcons.

Northrop Grumman breaks ground on second CRP building

As was promised back in March, the second of four planned Northrop Grumman buildings at their Research Park West campus broke ground today. The four-story, 110,000 sq. ft building, which will look much like the first building (opened in April 2007), is expected to open in 2010.

Hudson-Alpha plans "mile-long campus"

After opening the first building of its future campus last year, the Hudson-Alpha Institute of Biotechnology is already expanding. Construction has begun on a $7 million conference center, which is scheduled to open next year. According to co-founder and president Jim Hudson, the eventual plan is to have a "mile-long campus" with a "grove" (something like a pedestrian mall) through the center of it. Hudson hopes to have the campus completed in about 15 years.

Huntsville Times article

Northrop Grumman Expanding in Research Park

Northrop Grumman will begin construction this fall on the second of four planned buildings in its new $80 million campus in Research Park West off Old Madison Pike. When completed the campus will house all of the company's 1,200 workers in Huntsville.

The first building broke ground in June 2005 and opened last April.

Linens n' Things, Circuit City to Bridge Street?

This flyer for a vacant anchor space in Madison Square Mall shows Linens n' Things and Circuit City as anchors for Bridge Street, along with the stores already announced (Old Navy, ULTA, DSW, and Barnes and Noble). If the flyer is right, the two stores will be located in the strip of three large stores planned west of the lifestyle center.

Comcast to add 200 jobs for Research Park call center

Comcast today announced a new 37,000 sq. ft. call center to be located at the Technology Point office development on Old Madison Pike. The center will serve a five state region, and is expected to be complete by next September. Huntsville Times