2010 Census: A Brief Analysis

After a disappointing 2000 Census that saw a population decline in Huntsville, the city increased by nearly 22,000 residents in the 2000s for a total population of 180,105. Madison continued its impressive population increase to hit 42,938 in 2010, from 29,329 in 2000.

The number that has gotten the most attention, however, has been 417,593-- the "metro area" population, which is the sum of Madison and Limestone County's populations. While the Times has run several stories proclaiming that Huntsville is now the second-largest metro area in the state, it is a bit premature to determine that. The new Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) definitions won't come out until the Summer of 2013, and only then can we officially determine whether or not we surpassed Mobile to become #2. That is doubtful however, considering that Mobile will probably (re?)gain Baldwin in the new MSA; even if Huntsville gained Morgan and Lawrence counties in the new MSA (population: 571,422), it still wouldn't be enough to surpass a theoretical Mobile-Baldwin MSA (population: 595,297).

The population junkies out there may enjoy this map compiled by The New York Times of Census 2010 data that has been released in the past month or so, visually showing growing and shrinking Census tracts and their demographics.

Source: The New York Times

I'll state the obvious first: Monrovia, East Limestone and Hampton Cove were the fastest-growing areas in the region between 2000 and 2010. But here's some interesting facts you may not have known, before you looked at the map of course:

• Five Points had the largest population decline of any city neighborhood in the past decade. Downtown also had a decline in population, mainly due to the loss of public housing. Lowe Mill, on the other hand, remained stagnant, nearly reversing years of population decline. Blossomwood, Oak Park, and even Terry Heights had slight population increases. 
• Hispanics fuel growth on the Southwest side. Hispanics now make up 6% of Huntsville's total population. Much of this growth is in Southwest Huntsville, where one tract recorded a ten-fold increase in the Hispanic population. 
• Southeast stagnates. Neighborhoods surrounding Bailey Cove recorded slight population declines in the past decade, while new home construction fueled growth in neighborhoods along the Parkway. My theory for the decline in older SE areas-- Southeast is aging, with more "empty nesters" (parents whose kids have moved off to college and beyond). You can see this phenomenon in other areas, such as East Madison, Southeast Decatur, and neighborhoods along Governors Drive. It is part of the natural cycle of a stable neighborhood-- once younger families begin to move in again (as can be seen in Piedmont and Jones Valley), the population grows. 

What to watch for in the next ten years: 

• Alabama's newest largest city. Birmingham, Huntsville, and Montgomery will all be around the same size in 2020 (approximately 200,000 each).  
• Significant increases in urban neighborhoods. As "Millenials" (e.g. yours truly) come of age, urban living options will be more in demand. Downtown and its surrounding neighborhoods will become hot residential markets, especially if the removal of the housing projects continues, and gas prices continue to rise. 
• Suburban growth continues. It will be different, though-- walkable, mixed-use (Providence-style) suburban neighborhoods will become the norm, thus becoming more affordable. So-called cookie cutter subdivisions will become unpopular and appeal only to the lowest bracket of home buyers. 

A lack of retail in North Huntsville?

Major retail development along North Parkway since 2000. (Graphic created by James Vandiver for the City of Huntsville.)

The claimed "lack" of retail development in North Huntsville is back in the news this week. Here's the truth: 1,034,000 sq. ft. of new or renovated retail space has been developed on North Parkway alone since 2000 (see graphic above). Retailers such as Costco, Gander Mountain, Lowe's and Walmart have opened stores in the corridor during that time. While there is still work to be done, North Huntsville definitely hasn't been left out. 

And this week at the Economic Development Summit, the city will be announcing yet another North Huntsville project expected to begin construction soon, and it's coming without "free land" or sales tax rebates. 

Economic Development Summit, Part 2

After the overwhelming response from the Ideas Map and the the first Economic Development Summit in January, the City of Huntsville has announced plans for a second summit to unveil the results of the Ideas Map. This one will be held at the Monaco theater at Bridge Street on THURSDAY, APRIL 7TH FROM 6-7PM. As was with the last summit, it is free and open to the public. (By the way, if you confirm your attendance with the city at rsvp@huntsvilleal.gov, you will receive a "special offer" from Smokehouse Restaurant)

I don't want to get everyone's hopes up just yet, but there is a chance that the Mayor will be making several announcements at the meeting if all goes according to plan.

The city has been discussing making the "Developing Ideas" summit into a series, focusing on specific issues (e.g. transportation) that will affect the future of the city.

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.

Colonial Promenade is Back

With Target planning to open in Madison in the Summer of 2012, Walmart has accelerated their plans to open a store just to the west of the Target site in Huntsville city limits. Pending a City Council vote later this month, Huntsville is planning to provide up to $1.4 million in infrastructure improvements for the store and its surrounding center, Colonial Promenade. In addition to the 180,000 sq. ft. Walmart, the center will have 55,000 and 75,000 sq. ft. anchor stores along with 50,000 sq. ft. of small shop space. The Walmart is expected to open in Spring of 2012.

Site plan of Colonial Promenade

Symposium Stresses Need for Regional Planning

The 25th Symposium on the Future of the City was held today (Friday, February 25th) at the Knight Center on the A&M campus. If you didn't know about this until now, you're not alone, as publicity for this event was pretty sorry (I didn't really know about it until the day before). The audience consisted of city and planning officials and volunteers from nearly every group involved in sustainability in the Huntsville region, from bicyclists to local food groups.

The reason why I attended though was to listen to the keynote speaker, APA (American Planning Association) president-elect Mitchell Silver, Director of Planning for the city of Raleigh, NC. Raleigh and Huntsville are very similar cities; granted, we are about a third of the size of the Triangle region, but our knowledge-based economies and high quality of life make up the difference in population. Both cities are growing rapidly, but much of the growth has come in the form of low-density, largely uncontrolled sprawl. The difference is that Raleigh eventually realized that sprawl is expensive to maintain if it isn't managed correctly.

A couple of years ago, Raleigh decided to create a comprehensive plan with cooperation from the region. This created a single document that brought together long-range plans for land use, transportation, and greenspace. It was compiled using an interactive public involvement process that allowed everyone to have a say in the future of their city, which in part gave the plan a 96% approval rating among citizens.

And Raleigh wasn't destroyed. People weren't forced out of their homes. Some still moved to the suburbs. But now a balance in growth is being created, with suburban and urban living options (thanks to $3 Billion in private investment downtown in the past five years). Now, Raleigh is tackling another challenge-- rewriting and simplifying their zoning code, accelerating the comprehensive plan's goals.

What can Huntsville take out of this? I think the obvious point is that we have to think regionally. That means regional land-use and transportation planning with muscle-- no more weak committees or "plans for plans" (e.g. the "Tennessee Valley Regional Growth Coordination Plan"). We need an enforceable plan-- one that has been created with the public, agreed upon by the city/county governments, and is strong enough to refer to when making strategic planning decisions.

Ideas for North Parkway

Before I discuss what's wrong with North Parkway, let's take a look at what's happened on the corridor in recent history. Starting in the late 1990s, a dead mall was demolished and replaced with a Home Depot, Staples, and Costco. An aging/closing Kroger site was redeveloped as a Lowe's. Sam's Club moved elsewhere, but was soon replaced by Gander Mountain. Walmart opened a new Supercenter in 2004, replacing a trailer park; the store it once occupied is now home to Big Lots and Tractor Supply. Kroger recently renovated their Oakwood Avenue store. So while some might look at developments like Parkway Place and Bridge Street and think that North Parkway was somehow "left out," if you think about it, a lot has happened on the corridor, much of it redevelopment/infill, in the past decade or so. Plus, malls are so yesterday.

Despite these successes, North Huntsville had the second-highest commercial vacancy rate in the city in 2009 (10.8%, behind University) according to Graham and Company.

The North Parkway commercial corridor is different from South Parkway in several ways. First off, the storefront vacancies aren't mostly concentrated in one shopping center, as they are on the South side (in Haysland Square). Second, I have noticed in my research that there is a lack of modern retail space. Many of the shopping centers along the corridor were built in the early- to mid-1960s, and it appears that most haven't been renovated since. This hampers the ability to attract retailers, except for the ones whose only requirement is super-cheap rent-- such as check-cashing centers and thrift stores, which happen to be the anchor tenants of these strip malls.

Any developer will tell you that one major problem with the Parkway (North and South) is that as the road has expanded, the commercial zoning along the corridor has not, leaving little space for major redevelopment projects. My solution to this problem is to turn storefronts away from the Parkway and towards the secondary streets, treating it more like a limited-access freeway rather than a frontage road (see Builder's Square concept below for an illustration).

Some reasonable ideas for North Parkway were submitted by users of the City of Huntsville Ideas Map, including a grocery store, a hotel, and a fitness center. A new grocery store has been a top demand from North Huntsville residents for years now. The hotel and fitness center ideas were new to me, but both seemed logical, as there aren't any good options for either on the North end of town (though A&M recently opened a fitness center).

The maps below are a compilation of ideas for North Parkway's "Opportunity Sites"-- underutilized commercial sites that are in need of a little attention from their owners.

View Ideas for North Parkway in a larger map

I know there are several smaller sites in the area not shown on the map that are in need of a little TLC, but I'm hoping that some more visible redevelopment would draw other land owners to clean up their properties.

Finally, I wanted to focus on one Opportunity Site-- the 135,000 sq. ft. shopping center at Max Luther and the Parkway that once was occupied by Builder's Square and Food World and now houses a flea market, Furniture-4-Less (super super super sofa sale!) and Dirt Cheap. As this is the largest of the seven Opportunity Sites and the most expandable, I thought this would be the best place for a mixed-use redevelopment concept.

Illustration: Google Maps/James Vandiver

The current site would be redeveloped for a ~100,000 sq. ft. anchor store, along with an equal amount of 1-2 story small shop/junior anchor/office space. The 13-ish acres behind the commercial center would be set aside for a mixture of medium-density residential units (condos/townhomes/apartments) and green space, though if done today, this portion of the redevelopment would require a rezoning from Light Industry to Residential.

What do you think needs to be done on North Parkway? What kind of retail do you think would work there? Comment below, or use Facebook, Twitter, or email to share your thoughts.

Kohl's Coming to Jones Valley

Google Maps/HDN Illustration

Yes, the rumors are true: Assuming some access issues will be resolved, Kohl's is coming to South Huntsville. According to site plans, the new 64,000 sq. ft. store will be on the East side of Carl T. Jones just South of Ledges Dr., which would place it directly across from SuperTarget. This will be a stand-alone store, similar but a bit smaller than the existing location on 72 West. Construction is expected to begin in April, with completion early next year.

A Kohl's in South Huntsville was one of the more popular ideas on the city's Ideas Map.

The Justice District

For the next few weeks, I will be periodically discussing some of the more intriguing ideas posted on the City of Huntsville's Ideas Map. 


Idea 1: To rezone ground-floor spaces downtown to allow only retail and restaurant uses. I see two issues with this. First off, restricting land use also restricts innovative concepts for these spaces-- that's why I'm a huge fan of form-based code, which regulates based on design, not on use, which allows for more mixed-use development. Second, the ground-floor offices, which mostly house law firms that want to be close to the courthouse, would more than likely be "grandfathered" into any zoning restriction against them, so it wouldn't be very effective after all and might actually keep people and companies from moving to downtown.

If we want to free up space downtown for retail/restaurant uses, let's go back to an idea that has been discussed many times before-- move the courthouse, currently in a widely-hated 10 story building built in the 1960s, out of downtown and much of the space currently used by the law offices would free up, especially if office space is developed around the relocated courthouse. The courthouse itself could be demolished to make way for a Savannah-style square, or it could be renovated into offices, residential units, or even a hotel.

So, where would the courthouse go?

The general idea for years (and someone's idea on the map) has been to move the courthouse to the old grocery store site at Oakwood and the Parkway. I disagree with this proposal-- one, there is little space for law offices within walking distance, plus that site is visible, being next to a relatively busy intersection, so it could probably be put to better use other than a courthouse, which doesn't have to be so prominently placed. I propose renovating the old store into an "entertainment center," with a large bowling alley, billiards bar, and restaurant, like the Ace Bowling Center in Montgomery. That is, when the lease with Albertsons runs out in a few years, which further complicates redevelopment of that site.

I present an alternate location for the new Courthouse, in a redevelopment of an industrial area just north of downtown that I call the Justice District.

There are plenty of vacant/underused sites around the existing public safety complex and jail, so why not use them for the courthouse and the law offices that will follow it out of downtown? Here's what I envision: A 5-7 story courthouse on Wheeler Avenue, surrounded by 2-3 story office buildings for law offices, some with restaurants on the ground floor. A new park would replace an unsightly vacant gravel lot that is in the floodway. A greenway and transit corridor (bus or rail) would connect the district to points north and south, eventually reducing the need for parking.

Streetscape improvements would include "road dieting" Wheeler Avenue from four lanes to three, with parallel parking along one side. Trees would line both Wheeler and Fiber Street and sidewalks would be installed for easy pedestrian access.

Moving the courthouse out of downtown would definitely free up more space for new shops and restaurants, especially around the square. But what guarantee do we have that new businesses would open in these newly-vacant buildings? If this move is done at the wrong time, e.g. before there is a critical mass of residents and employees downtown, we could have a major vacancy problem on our hands and a significant daytime population decline that would harm the businesses already present. It's best not to rush this project; plus, there are a whole lot of people out there who still have a bad taste in their mouth from the jail fiasco. So embarking on another public building project that could potentially cost tens of millions of dollars might not be so popular today. But five years from now? Definitely.

Target all but Confirmed for Madison

Madison Mayor Paul Finley, in his State of the City address, made two major economic development announcements. The first announcement: Insanity Skatepark will become a major entertainment complex and civic center for the city, with event space, rock climbing walls, go-carts, and, best of all in my opinion, laser tag.

The next big announcement, the Shoppes of Madison, is probably the worst-kept retail secret I have seen since I started this blog three years ago. While the mayor didn't mention the "major anchor" by name, he did note that the "Target" date for opening is Summer 2012, while showing these renderings on a big screen:

The mayor noted that "apparel stores, shoe stores, and home decor stores" will locate in the center, along with some "sit-down restaurants." So, in conclusion, this will be your average shopping center. I just wonder how much in incentives the city of Madison will give to have Target build in their city (they've been pretty vague about it), and how the residents of the large subdivision behind this development will feel about a major project in their backyard.

I am surprised that nothing was mentioned about the Zierdt/565 development. It seems to be coming back from the dead, with Madison pushing for a new connector/interchange between Zierdt and Wall-Triana. Also, the Daniel Corporation and Breland Companies, the two developers involved in the project, were the major sponsors for the state of the city address. It's definitely something to watch for in the near future.

Trader Joe's, Whole Foods "Looking" at Huntsville

If you missed it at last night's packed Economic Development Summit, I can now confirm that Trader Joe's and Whole Foods, two of the most desired retail stores among Huntsvillians, are scouting the area for new stores. While there isn't a set location for either chain yet, and won't be for a while, you can look at their locations in other cities and see where they locate-- mostly in high-wealth, relatively high-density neighborhoods. The closest Huntsville has to this kind of environment is the area bounded by 565 to the north, Airport to the south, and the Parkway to the west. Another potential location with the right ingredients is Providence.

Huntsville to Hold Economic Development Summit

Yes, this is official. Photo courtesy: Trent Willis/City of Huntsville

The City of Huntsville will be holding its first Economic Development Summit-- "Developing Ideas: Planning for Huntsville's Future"-- on Wednesday, January 19th from 6-8pm at the Hudson-Alpha Center for Biotechnology in Research Park. The summit is open to the public.

The purpose of this summit is to get feedback from the public about where the city should be going in terms of economic development and planning. Representatives from the real estate community along with city officials and yours truly will be there to answer your questions. The format of this event is still evolving, and the attendance will ultimately determine what will be done.

Also at the summit, the city's new online Ideas Map will be formally introduced and demonstrated. Want to know what I'm talking about? Come to the meeting and find out.

Kroger opens 72/Jeff Store, Plans Three More

At last week's ribbon cutting for the new Kroger store at US 72 West and Jeff Road, Kroger said that their future expansion plans for Huntsville included three new stores in the expanded format, which is up to 100,000 square feet and contains a Starbucks, cheese shop and sushi bar.

If I were scouting sites for Kroger, this is where I would put the new stores (just my opinion, nothing official):

Martin and Zierdt-- Some of you will remember that this location was going to get a "grocery-anchored shopping center" a couple of years ago, but plans fell apart and the site is back up for sale. Despite the slowdown of growth in this area, it remains a viable site for a grocery store, and with Publix about three miles away (a little too close), Kroger is the best choice for the area.

Hampton Cove-- This area has both Walmart and Publix, but the nearest Kroger is 20 minutes away on South Parkway. An ideal location would be at 431 and Caldwell, closer to residents in the Dug Hill area but still in close proximity to the rest of the Hampton Cove area.

72 West and County Line Road-- Publix opened a mile south of this intersection a couple of years ago. With Walmart and Target planning stores near here in the next couple of years, it would seem logical that Kroger would jump in the mix as well. A store at this intersection would be more convenient for residents of East Limestone and Capshaw than the rival stores, which are/will be further south and east.

Ideas for South Parkway

I think we can all agree that South Parkway looks a little rough. The largest shopping center along the corridor sits two-thirds empty, and while the rest are mostly occupied, their tenants/landlords don't do well in upkeep. But why does it have to be this way? The corridor has big-box retailers like Home Depot, Lowe's, Kroger, Sam's Club, and Walmart, and the population is stable, highly-educated and fairly wealthy. A multitude of events could have brought the corridor to its current state, from long, drawn out construction projects that hinder access to the nation's economy (Goody's and Hollywood Video closed all of their stores nationwide in the past two years).

One way we can get things going in the right direction would be to start with a major revitalization of South Huntsville Square, which at 32 acres and 360,000 sq. ft. is the largest shopping center on the corridor. And I'm not talking just another "plant some shrubs in the parking lot" type of project. This one would take several years and ultimately make the center into a walkable "town center" type development.

 Reminder: These layouts are not official plans; I have created them to give everyone an idea of what could happen here. 

Short-Term Alternate A would leave the existing center, and its retail-only makeup, mostly intact. A serious investment would be made in making storefronts more attractive to prospective retailers. It would combine the former Big Lots, Auto Zone, and smaller shops in between to create a larger (up to 50,000 sq. ft.) anchor. The covered walkway in the middle of the north center would be opened, creating a pedestrian plaza with small shop space along it allowing room for landscaping, benches, and even outdoor dining. A group of vacant, overgrown lots to the north of the center between Staples and a residential neighborhood, which would otherwise be impossible to develop commercially without a zoning change, could be used for a park that would connect the center with the neighborhood and create an attractive buffer between the two. 

Short-Term Alternate B is similar to Alternate A, but some of the existing center-- such as the former Big Lots-- would be converted into ~30,000 square feet of flexible office space. This would be ideal if the retail market goes sour, or (being the optimist here) there is a high demand for office space due to BRAC (this center is less than four miles from Redstone Arsenal Gate 1).

The Long-Term Improvements are pipe dreams that would build on the short-term improvements and finally make the center walkable and more mixed-use. The development would revolve around a traffic circle built in front of the pedestrian plaza, and more small shops and restaurants would be built around it. Each of the new buildings would be no more than three stories to comply with current zoning regulations, with ground-floor retail and upper-floor offices. At least one of the new buildings could house a new anchor tenant, such as a major department store.

What do you think needs to be done on South Parkway? What kind of retail do you think would work there? Comment below, or use Facebook, Twitter, or email to share your thoughts. And if you're disappointed that I didn't highlight your part of town, be patient. I'll be there soon.

ALDI (Finally) Comes to Madison County

ALDI, the no-frills German grocer that for years has avoided Madison County while building stores in Chattanooga, Birmingham, and even Decatur, will be building its first store here early next year on US 72 West in Madison, next to Outback Steakhouse. Some of you may recall that this is very close to where ALDI had planned to open a store a few years ago, but for whatever reason never did.

For those who wish that ALDI built a store closer to their own neighborhood, don't worry. A retailer like ALDI could easily open at least three stores here in the next few years.

A special announcement

Hello, readers!
I thought I would let you guys know what I've been up to lately.

A while back, I met with Mayor Battle. Impressed with the blog, he offered me a part-time consulting position with the city, working on projects pertaining to economic development (see FAQ's). As some observant readers have already noticed (including Reactionary over at flashpoint), the city council this month approved a contract for me to work part-time as a "retail specialist." I started this week, and will continue to work for the city for the next year.

Potential FAQ's

What is a "retail specialist"? Since different parts of the city have different needs, I'll be doing a "hodge-podge" of projects, from mapping out vacant and underused retail properties throughout the city, to locating potential grocery store sites/chains for under served urban areas (like the NW and SW sides).

What will become of the blog? Since part of my job is to come up with ideas to improve areas of the city, you may see more "Ideas" posts for general neighborhoods and corridors. My hope is that I will be able to get valuable input from you, the reader, on as many ideas as possible.

The blog's focus will remain on the region as a whole. I will continue to occasionally write about transportation issues, and now with Madison announcing a new Target soon and a "growth plan" in the works, I'll have plenty of material to write about there too.

Thanks for reading, and here's to another year!

-James

The Small Stuff: October 2010

As always, get these updates quicker by following my Twitter and/or Facebook feeds.

• After nearly a decade of a joint partnership between Chattanooga-based CBL and Birmingham-based Colonial Properties Trust, Parkway Place is now fully owned by CBL. 
• Huntsville recieved a $620,000 federal grant for transit improvements. The money will go towards improving bus shelters and maintenance facilities. 
• 301 East Holmes finally has a tenant-- a salon-- for at least part of their ground-floor retail space, which has sat vacant since the downtown condo project's opening in 2006. 
• Decatur is planning to remove a downtown surface parking lot and replace it with a "pocket park."
• Pope John Paul II Catholic High School opened its new campus on Old Madison Pike.

Ideas for University Drive/72 West

Last week, I talked about the possibility of a new "power center" on 72 West in Madison, anchored by Target and Academy Sports. Whether this happens or not, 72 is already a congested corridor, and any new development will exacerbate the problem. It seems like the simplest solution would be to spend $40 million-- a low estimate-- to six-lane 72 all the way to Athens, right? But if you've read the blog for a while, you'll know that I think the solution to traffic congestion isn't that cut-and-dry.

But if you're just joining us, here's my problem with just widening roads: when a road is built or widened, often costing tens of millions of dollars (as in 72's case), developers see the increased capacity and begin building homes. Nothing wrong with that if done intelligently, but they don't stop building, and a couple of years later, the road is congested yet again. (Don't believe me? Look at Chapman Mountain.) It's back to square one, and more taxpayer money is spent on widening the road yet again. Here are some alternate solutions that, when implemented in tandem with widening the highway, might make it worth the big bucks.

1) Better Land Use Planning

One problem with 72 West is the variation in zoning practices along the corridor, from Madison's "strict" zoning to unincorporated Madison County's complete lack of zoning.

A relatively simple but extreme solution would be to impose a building moratorium along the corridor. But from an economic development standpoint, that probably isn't such a good idea, plus it would more than likely move the sprawl elsewhere rather than stop it. A more sensible solution would be to draw up a uniform land-use plan for the corridor that crosses city/county boundaries. Restrict new "greenfield" development (e.g. new single-family homes on existing farmland) while identifying dense, mixed-use and "grayfield" redevelopment opportunities (parking lots, underutilized shopping centers) along the 72 commercial strip.

Whatever is done, every government entity with a stake in the corridor would have to support it. For example, it would still fail if Madison County approved it, but Limestone County didn't. If we had some sort of regional planning authority in place, this would be a whole lot easier to do.

2) Access Management

Why does every business need to have an entrance off this highway? And when that's not enough, there's crossovers every 1000 feet, filled with drivers trying to U-turn and turn left, creating a hazard for those just passing through.

Here's an idea: how about building a one-way service lane on the each side of 72, allowing access to businesses that won't interfere with through traffic, and eliminating all left turns except at traffic lights. Eliminating all crossovers as well should leave just enough space to create an undivided 6-lane highway, or keep the remaining 4 lanes of auto traffic and add either a landscaped median or a dedicated transit lane.

3) Public Transit

As with the rest of Huntsville, high-frequency transit along University is non-existent. A few Shuttle routes go as far out as the SuperTarget shopping center, but are infrequent and inconvenient for most commuters. The ideal transit option along this corridor would need to be something flexible enough to serve both commuters and shoppers. I believe in this case that would be Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). BRT allows the frequency of light rail for about a fifth of the cost along with the flexibility of a bus. Passengers board and exit at a station, much like a rail line. But there's a catch: even with a dedicated lane, BRT is still at the mercy of the traffic light, though they can be synchronized to give priority to the bus. Here's how a hypothetical BRT corridor along University would look (click to enlarge):

A transit center/park-n-ride would be built near the new Madison Hospital/Balch Road, where riders from areas farther out could either park or transfer from a local bus route. From there, they could take one of two routes: a Research Park express route that would run primarily during rush hours, or an all day route that would run to downtown, with stops at most major intersections and shopping centers. Buses would run every 10-15 minutes and would be equipped with Wi-Fi and bike racks.

With the new transit corridor, parking won't be as necessary, allowing for redevelopment of many of the large parking lots that line the highway.

There would also need to be serious pedestrian improvements along the corridor, from the addition of sidewalks along the highway (and connecting them to businesses) to crosswalks at every signalized intersection. Greenways can be built near 72 to allow for bike commuting, especially to Research Park.

The Shoppes of Madison

Some of you might have noticed some signs on 72 West between Wall Triana and the new Madison Hospital advertising "The Crossings Shoppes of Madison." It is being developed by Nashville-based GBT Realty, who also developed the Crossings of Decatur on the Beltline, anchored by Target, Petsmart, and Old Navy. So, what can we expect from this development?

• Target. This is almost certain, considering GBT's track record of developing Target-anchored centers. You might be thinking that this is too close to the SuperTarget further east on University-- it may be too close for another Super, but not for a regular store. Note that Walmart is also opening a store about a mile or so to the west of this development in 2012, despite having a location across from SuperTarget. 
• Academy Sports. I'm going to throw this one out there. They're due for an entry into the market, with probably two stores-- one here and another somewhere on the south side. But what leads me to this specific location is that a store was originally planned for the Walmart center, but disappeared from the plans a while back. Maybe they saw some greener grass here?
• Not much else. Since the area is quite saturated in retail, and the small size of the lot (around 25 acres), I wouldn't expect a whole lot of small shop space with this development, and will probably be laid out as a power center, which puts an emphasis on the anchors; in this case those would be Target and Academy (one example of a power center is The Fountain/Costco at University and the Parkway). There will be some outparcel space along 72, with some restaurants and smaller shops. 

UPDATE (10/29): Sales flyer from GBT Realty confirms 278,000 sq. ft. shopping center (The Shoppes of Madison) anchored by a 134,000 sq. ft Target and an Academy Sports. It gets even more interesting-- GBT is also developing a smaller center at the corner of Balch and 72 on the other side of the new Madison Hospital, which includes a new hotel and medical office space.

September 2010 in Review

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• September 5: 1892 East, which calls itself a "New American Restaurant and Tavern," is opening in the old Sazio's spot in Five Points. This was originally rumored to be where Trappeze Pub of Athens, GA would open a Huntsville location.

• September 7: Ron Sparks unveils his road plan in Huntsville, armed with a list of projects he deems "extremely important," like the Northern Bypass, and pushing back other, "less important" projects like 53 and Winchester. To be fair, Republican gubernatorial candidate Robert Bentley's plan isn't any better, as he plans to move forward with unnecessary new interstates such as the infamous "Western Alabama Expressway" through his hometown of Tuscaloosa and a new "East Alabama Corridor." (At least he doesn't mention reviving the Southern Bypass, which Sparks does.) Neither candidate has mentioned trying to obtain federal high-speed rail funding, or amend the state constitution to allow for state funding of public transit.

• September 13: Local grocery chain Star Market will open its fourth area store in November in the former Southern Family Markets store at Weatherly and Bailey Cove.

• September 14: Best Buy Mobile, the electronics store's cell phone chain, will open a store in Parkway Place later this year between Express and Victoria's Secret. This is an actual store, not just a vending machine or kiosk.

• September 15: The construction you see at the old Bruno's on North Parkway is for a haunted attraction, which will open next week.

• September 15: Huntsville International Airport "pleads" the region to use low-fare carrier AirTran or "lose it," citing low load factors for its non-stop flights to Baltimore and Orlando. Having flown on AirTran to BWI several times since their arrival here, the flights weren't filled to the brim, but the majority (60-70%) of the seats were taken. Out of curiosity, I compared seating charts for upcoming flights to Orlando from Huntsville, Knoxville, and Lexington (the latter two also launched AirTran service within the last year), and they were similarly booked; some of the Huntsville flights were even sold out for Fall Break next week. So I didn't think we were losing AirTran service anytime soon, until...

• September 27: Southwest is buying AirTran.This could be great news or terrible news for Huntsville International, depending on how you look at it. The merger could give HSV more low-fare flights to "legacy" cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, and Houston. However, Southwest, despite having a large market share here already, could take it all away with their BS "too close to Nashville and Birmingham" excuse that has kept them from here thus far (they wouldn't serve four Los Angeles airports if this were actually the case). If Southwest/AirTran does pull out of HSV when the sale is completed, the airport will go back to being the most expensive in the country, as there will be few low-fare carriers left, much less one crazy enough to land at an airport where low-fare carriers go to die. In the meantime, we should pitch HSV as an easily-accessible, stress-free, and expandable airport (something we have over BHM, BNA, and future ATL reliever Chattanooga). How about an ad campaign-- "Want low fares without the drive? Fly AirTran now, get Southwest later." We've been handed a great opportunity to take our airport to the next level. Don't screw this up, Huntsville. 

Park Place, Cleveland Avenue Going 'Uptown'

In a rare instance of public participation in planning projects in our region, the people behind the Park Place redevelopment in North Downtown Uptown held three meetings ("charrettes" in planner-speak) this month to discuss plans for a streetscape improvement project on Cleveland Avenue. The project will involve relocating Cleveland to the south from Meridian to the skate/dog park to make way for a wide ("meandering") sidewalk, landscaping, and displays of public art. It is expected to begin early next month and be completed before the end of the year.

Some of the ideas brought forward at the meetings included small fountains, murals, and sculpture gardens. The benches that will be placed along the sidewalk will be made from stone salvaged from a pre-Civil War stone wall that was taken out during the Meridian Street widening project. A "convenience store" for bicyclists and skateboarders (who frequent the skate park nearby) is part of the plans as well. Several of the ideas introduced by the public and the developers were shot down due to city zoning regulations. Hopefully the introduction of SmartCode in the near future will relax some of these rules.

This project is rather small in scale, and the biggest problem I see with it is continuity towards surrounding neighborhoods (Downtown, Five Points, Lincoln Mill). That will involve the tedious job of getting each business owner in the area involved, but it's key to the success of this project, along with the infill development of surrounding lots for added vibrancy.

There are separate plans to make the vacant lot across from Park Place into a surface parking lot. It seems kind of ironic that a car-oriented project will be located next to one of the most interesting pedestrian improvement projects this city has seen in a long time. While parking is a necessary evil even in pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods, it should always be hidden, and use up as little space as possible. The part of the lot closest to the street should be developed, possibly extending the Park Place concept, and if that's not possible right now, leave it as open space, keeping the door open for future opportunities.

This vacant lot, sandwiched between three parks, could be put to much better use than just a surface parking lot.

Developers and planners should take note at the level of public participation in this project. It's sad that these meetings/charrettes don't happen more often here. They should not be something to be afraid of-- there are plenty of great people with great ideas in this city. The problem is getting the word out-- if I can't find out about your meeting, you're not doing enough.

For more info about Park Place, and the streetscape project, visit their website: http://parkplaceplaza.com/

August 2010 on Facebook and Twitter

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August 5: Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts, a nationwide chain with stores in Hoover, Nashville, and Montgomery, is opening its first Huntsville store at the old Linens-N-Things space on University. Construction is scheduled to begin this fall.

August 8: From the Decatur Daily-- a rendering of a proposed visual arts center in downtown Decatur. Athens State University and Calhoun Community College are moving their arts departments to the facility, which is scheduled to break ground in December.

August 10: A Birmingham Business Journal article comparing the progress with high-speed rail plans in Alabama and Georgia. And once again, Alabama is falling behind due to an outdated "roads-only" transportation policy and perpetual stalling by state politicians. Or, as Jim put it on Facebook, "We're too busy waging the war on Bingo!"

August 15: The Mobile Press-Register prints a series of articles on Smart Growth, and how many towns and cities, including Rosemary Beach, Florida, have used it with great success. Mobile, like most cities, has a zoning code that largely prohibits pedestrian-friendly development.

August 23: Redstone Gateway, the $1 Billion office/retail development that's being considered "the next Research Park," officially broke ground. The project is expected to take a decade or more to complete.

August 24: A public meeting was held to introduce the new routing of the Northern Bypass through the Northeastern part of Madison County. The alternatives (see map below) are radically different from what has been planned in recent years-- closer to the early 1980s plan that would have had the bypass cut through the Moores Mill/Winchester intersection. The newest Long-Range Transportation Plan had it intersecting 72 East near Gurley. Wherever the bypass goes, don't expect it to be built for another 15 years, if ever.

August 26: Decatur Mall was auctioned off, going to a New York investment fund with the highest bid of $8.5 million. While I've never been inside the mall, I've heard from readers and friends that the mall isn't in the best shape, and several redevelopment efforts have failed.

Mellow Mushroom coming to Jones Valley

Love Mellow Mushroom, but live on the South side and don't want to drive all the way out to Providence? Sometime next year, you won't have to.

Mellow Mushroom is opening its second Huntsville restaurant on Cecil Ashburn, at the base of Huntsville Mountain. "Longtime" readers of the blog may notice that this is on the same site as the proposed St. James Place retail/office development that died early last year. The rest of the site isn't being developed, for now.

'Downtown Development Goals' Announced

This morning (Tuesday), the city of Huntsville along with the non-profit development corporation Big Spring Partners, the UAH Jazz Ensemble and "Tallulah Bankhead," held a media event to announce their goals for raising awareness and developing the city center. This comes a year after 200 leaders and developers made an "ideas trip" to Chattanooga.

While no specific projects were announced at this event, some rather vague goals were laid out:

• Create a long-term plan for downtown. I thought that was what the Downtown Master Plan, last updated in 2006, was for. However, I would like to see more public involvement the next time it's updated.

• Compile a list of restaurants, retail, companies, etc. that would work downtown, and bring them there. Not a bad idea, though I would take it a step further-- identify undeveloped and underutilized lots (surface parking, non-historic buildings) and see how each one can be redeveloped to fit with the broader scope of downtown.
  

• Build a consensus among the community on downtown growth. See "long-term plan."
  

• Create a long-term funding strategy for improvements. What has made Chattanooga's downtown so great? A community that supported it not only with their feet, but with their money. Many of the improvements to their downtown have been funded through private sources. Huntsville is beginning to see this with the work of Jim Hudson and the late Mark Smith (through his wife, Linda).
  

• Get people downtown! It's pretty self-explanatory, but it's rather hard to do in reality. It's the old "chicken or the egg" question-- what should come first: the residents or the businesses?

All of this would be great, but we have a whole lot of catching up to do; we're at least twenty years behind most cities in terms of downtown redevelopment.

Also of note-- several representatives from Sci-Quest were in attendance. While their intent on moving the science museum downtown is no secret, this could mean that the move could occur sooner than later.

Offices at Madison Square? They're coming.

UPDATE (8/10): The development will be called "Enterprise Center at Madison Square."Also, the former Steve and Barry's will be converted into office space as well, along with some smaller first-floor space near Buffalo Wild Wings (see updated map below). In all, nearly 138,000 square feet of retail space will be converted, or about 15% of the mall.

Have you ever wanted to work in a shopping mall--work that wouldn't involve the cookie cart or Foot Locker? Your chance may be coming, if Madison Square's developers (Chattanooga-based CBL) have their way. They're expected to announce as early as this week that the old Pizitz/McRae's/Belk anchor-- approximately 100,000 sq. ft.-- will be (at least partially) converted into office space. The store has been vacant since Belk moved to the Parisian space in 2007. Some readers may note that the anchor space is still owned by the Pizitz family of Birmingham-- it will be interesting to see what kind of involvement they have in this redevelopment.

Yellow-- the old McRae's/Belk space that will be completely converted. Orange-- the second level will be converted, whereas the first level will be a retail/office mix.

It's definitely not the complete overhaul I've proposed for the 25-year-old mall that's nearing the end of its useful life. But at least it's a start.

July 2010 on Facebook and Twitter

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July 5: Nashville plans to launch a bike-share program similar to what is now in place (and wildly popular) in cities like Denver, Washington, and Montreal. Paris launched the first bike-sharing system (called Velib) in 2007; it allows users to rent bikes from one station and return them to any station in the city. While it would be great to have a similar system in place here in Huntsville, it would require a significant investment in bike infrastructure (bike lanes, greenways) in order to be successful (and safe).


July 12: Downtown Madison is getting a slight expansion. A 20,000 square foot building is proposed, with retail space on the ground floor and office space on the upper floor.


July 19: Momma Goldberg's Deli, an Auburn tradition, is opening its first Huntsville restaurant in the Village on Whitesburg (Fresh Market center). An opening is expected in late August or early September, just in time for football season.


July 26: The $2.6 million Space Center-Botanical Garden tramway is now open, running three times a day, two days a week. The funding was provided by congressional earmarks from Senator Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa). I asked the Facebook followers of the blog what they would have done with the money if they were the senator. Some of the responses included a Research Park circulator bus and more greenways.


July 29: Newk's Express Cafe is opening its second Huntsville restaurant on Whitesburg in the Piedmont Point shopping center (Publix).


July 30:  Jon Busdecker, entertainment writer for the Times, is leaving for Orlando, but not before giving his ideas for improving downtown to cater to the younger crowd. Before anything happens, we need masses of people downtown, patronizing the existing businesses and activities and demanding that more should be done, like the "Bus." As soon as Pane e Vino has the same wait time as, say, PF Chang's at Bridge Street, the pieces will fall into place quickly. 
Some of my ideas for improving downtown, along with some from others, can be found here. 

Another Hotel for Madison Boulevard

Tonight's Madison Planning Commission meeting discussed plans for a 4-story, 93-room Holiday Inn Express to be built on Madison Boulevard just west of the Wall-Triana/Sullivan intersection. The lot is located next to the Regions Bank branch and is currently occupied by a vacant building. The building will remain (and, I assume, be renovated) and the hotel will be built behind it. Construction should begin sometime this fall.

A hotel has been planned for this lot for a while now; originally, it was going to be a Best Western Inn and Suites. This will be the third hotel built along Madison Boulevard in the past two years-- a LaQuinta Inn and Suites and a Country Inn and Suites were built next to each other further west. A fourth-- a Comfort Inn and Suites-- is planned further east along the corridor, across from Walmart.

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.

'Madison Growth Plan' coming

The Madison City Council on Monday night (July 12th) will discuss hiring Atlanta-based design firm Urban Collage to create a "Madison Growth Plan." This growth plan will use public meetings and workshops (charrettes) to identify "key development areas" within the city, and create a master plan for each of them. Urban Collage has created master plans for Garner, NC (outside of Raleigh) and Prattville, along with several other towns; it lists Chattanooga and Atlanta among their client cities.

What's so significant about this? Madison has realized that it's running out of land. Surrounded on three sides by Huntsville, with the exception of East Limestone, there's nowhere else to go. In order to remain vibrant, Madison's going to have to densify and look into "infill" development-- a concept that a suburb of 40,000 normally doesn't have to worry about.

But don't worry, Madison! Becoming more urban is the next logical step for a city that has only become significant within the past thirty years. It's also an exciting opportunity; for example, maybe now the city will develop an actual downtown. If done right, this will mean more retail and entertainment opportunities for Madison, which will bring more tax revenue, which (theoretically) will go back into improving the city's outdated infrastructure (e.g. the roads that have remained mostly unchanged since the boom began in the '80s).

The growth plan should come up with some cool concepts and ideas on how to wisely develop the last large parcels of land in the city, along with some underused areas (like along Hughes Road near Madison Boulevard). Expect these plans to be walkable and mixed-use. In other words, very un-Madison.

June 2010 on Twitter and Facebook

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June 3: Charming Charlie, a women's store (similar to Claire's, I think) is opening its first Huntsville store in Parkway Place, next to Williams-Sonoma on the lower level.

June 10: Save-a-Lot, which has building grocery stores like crazy this year in central Alabama, will open a store in Athens in the Peebles shopping center. Save-a-Lot has one Huntsville store at Pulaski and Mastin Lake. But with an expansion plan to have over 100 stores in Alabama (up from about 20) over the next few years, expect one in your area soon.

June 15: The City of Huntsville is conducting visual, written, and online surveys to determine who uses the greenway system. If you use a city greenway* and haven't filled one out yet, you have until July 5th to do so. Check out the city's homepage or click here to see the survey.

*Doesn't include Bradford Creek in Madison.

June 22: The bike parking requirement I talked about last month passed the Planning Commission and is headed for an August vote in the City Council. Also, there was an article in the Times about the push to implement Complete Streets in Huntsville. The problem is, there's no money to retrofit existing roads with bike lanes. Also, there are groups of people who don't want bike lanes on their streets (e.g. Holmes Avenue) because they don't want to "attract" bicyclists to their neighborhood. Oh, those sketchy bicyclists...


Also on June 22: 2009 Population Estimate for Huntsville: 179,653-- an increase of 21,437 from 2000. Will the 2010 Census reflect this growth, or will it be a repeat of the 2000 Census, where the estimates for Huntsville were off by over 20,000? We'll have to wait and see...

June 25: The first of several Birmingham-Atlanta High-Speed Rail studies is set to begin, with funding in place. Of course, with the odd way our state government operates, it was Birmingham's Regional Planning Authority, not ALDOT, that provided funding for the study (along with GDOT and the Atlanta Regional Council). Note that even the state's own passenger rail study is being conducted by the Department of Economic and Community Affairs (ADECA). Time to enter the 21st Century, ALDOT; it's not just roads and bridges anymore.

June 29: The Huntsville Shuttle system will be added to Google Transit in the near future, allowing you to route your trips in the area using transit. For 99.9% of us, this won't matter, but it's a good step forward for the system.

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.

The Huntsville Brew Boom

Could this building in Five Points be the site of Huntsville's first modern brewpub? (Probably not; see update below.)

Huntsville is getting three new microbreweries this year, and maybe a few brewpubs in the near future. Below is a guide. Sorry about any errors; I was inspired to write this after enjoying an Olde Towne Hefeweisen.


Microbreweries

Straight to Ale
Straight to Ale opened in April at Lincoln Mill. It has since been appearing at local bars and restaurants, including The Nook and The Stem and Stein.
Brews: Monkeynaut IPA, Wernher von Braun Ale
Website: http://www.straighttoale.com/
Facebook

Blue Pants Brewery
Blue Pants will be a small brewery located off of Slaughter Road. Its owners expect to be selling brews by October, according to their website. 
Brews: Knickerbocker Red
Website: http://www.bluepantsbrew.com/
Facebook

Yellowhammer Brewery
Not much is known about Yellowhammer, except that they hope to start brewing in the Fall. Their brewery will be located on Clinton, in West Downtown.
Brews: ???
Website: None.
Facebook: None Found.

Brewpubs
I have heard about three different brewpub rumors/proposals. The first, and probably the most well known, is the rumor that Athens, Georgia-based Trappeze Pub would open a brewpub at the old Sazio location in Five Points (picture above). However, I have yet to see anything substantial or credible that would support this, and, as you can see in the picture, there is still a "For Sale" sign outside (as of June 11th). Two other brewpubs have been proposed recently-- one at Lincoln Mill, the other in West Huntsville or Madison.

Brewpubs are very hard to open in Alabama; the current laws restrict them to historic buildings in counties that had a brewpub before Prohibition. Grassroots "pro-beer" organization Free the Hops is hoping to change that in a future legislative session. If and when they are successful, expect a glut of new brewpubs throughout the area.

If you have any info you would like to share on new breweries/brewpubs in the area, please let me know and I'll add it on here. Special thanks to David and Todd for their valuable info. 

UPDATE (9/5/10): The building in Five Points pictured above will be home to 1892 East, which on its website calls itself a "New American Restaurant and Tavern" that will use locally-grown food. It will open this Fall.

May 2010 on Twitter and Facebook

Sorry for the tardiness (this should have been posted last week). Get these updates quicker by following my Twitter and/or Facebook feeds.

May 6: Parking Garage D mixed-use project (http://bit.ly/d2jU4Q) supposed to begin work this summer, on hold AGAIN.

May 10: Remember the Earth Fare that I told you about back in November? Its grand opening is Wednesday. http://bit.ly/aepk1v

May 12: Want to bring Dunkin' Donuts back to Huntsville? Franchise seminar at Embassy Suites on 26 May http://bit.ly/cC1NR9

May 13: Huntsville wants to hire a downtown "czar" http://bit.ly/amjacK

May 17: Virginia College moving to old Kroger on Drake: http://bit.ly/bVfnZu

May 21: Powerhouse Gym opening in old Old Navy, next to new Earth Fare: http://bit.ly/2L1Aq6

May 24: HSV proposing required bicycle parking for new lots w/ 20+ auto spaces http://bit.ly/brAQUv

May 26: Bridge Street wants city money to help pay for $50m expansion, including a department store http://bit.ly/ahVt1h

Bridge Street's Newest Expansion Plan: Does It Hold Water?

O&S Holdings has come out with yet another expansion plan for Bridge Street. This one involves possibly filling in the 10-acre "Lake Leaky" to add 75,000 square feet of retail space along with a "high-end" department store. Not to mention an expensive underground parking garage. What is their plan to fund this $50 million expansion during the recession? By using part of the current city sales tax generated from the new department store.

Let's say that the developers decide to fill in the lake for the expansion. How Huntsville of us to think that the solution to a problem is to pave over it. From the words of President Obama, "plug the damn hole!" You'd think with the workforce here, they could find legitimate, competent engineers to build/fix a proper lake.

After fixing the lake, a new expansion location would have to be found. There are plenty of surface lots that could be used, and instead of building an underground garage, why not construct an above-ground deck to compensate for the lost/needed parking. And to pay for it, have people pay a fee for the convenience of parking in the garage. If the department store is as good as the developers say it will be, people will be willing to pay to park.

Last, but not least, is the retail portion of the expansion. A 75,000 sq. ft. addition to the center, along with a 100-150,000 sq. ft. department store, will make Bridge Street the second-largest retail development in the city, surpassing Parkway Place but below Madison Square's 1 million sq. ft. But how will the developers attract new stores to the expansion when there are empty storefronts in the existing center?

Enough ranting. Let's speculate on the the three most probable department store chains, which I've nicknamed The Obvious, The Long Shot, and The Wild Card:

The Obvious: Macy's. This may seem like the most logical choice because of their widespread presence in other cities, but not in Huntsville. However, with their nationwide expansion, their "high-end"-ness has been questioned recently, with many of their non-flagship stores carrying brands seen in more mid-range stores like Kohl's and JCPenney. But they have made the move to lifestyle centers, creating a new concept store for developments such as Bridge Street.

The Long Shot: Nordstrom. The Seattle-based high-end chain almost exclusively locates in metro areas with more than 1.5 million people. Also, a Nashville store will open in September 2011. That said, I don't think we'll see a full-scale Nordstrom in Huntsville for a couple of decades... at least. But there are two possible exceptions: a Nordstrom Rack (outlet store) or a smaller-scale store concept geared towards smaller cities.

The Wild Card: Von Maur. Many of you have probably never heard of this small Midwestern chain; I hadn't until about a year ago, when someone suggested it as a possible Bridge Street anchor (it was the planned anchor for another Bridge Street development in Chicago). I was skeptical at first, but the chain has slowly moved south, opening stores in Kentucky and Missouri. It's high-end, not currently in "the region," and it has stores in Huntsville-sized cities. I say Von Maur's got a good chance.

EarthFare Successful, Greenlife Bought; Whole Foods Next?

It's been over a week since Earth Fare held its grand opening for its Huntsville store on University. Kalou's in Providence, which opened last fall, seems to be doing well. On the southside, Fresh Market opened a few years ago. And we can't forget the locally-owned Garden Cove on Meridian, the oldest of Huntsville's organic food stores, open for some 25 years.

Even with these choices, I am frequently asked about when Whole Foods Market, by far the largest organic grocery chain in the country, will be coming to Huntsville. Their only store in Alabama is in Mountain Brook, south of Birmingham. 

Recently, Chattanooga-based Greenlife, a two-store (Chatty and Asheville) organic grocery chain, was bought by Whole Foods. (Observant readers of the blog might remember that I predicted Greenlife would announce a Huntsville location soon, possibly downtown.) Could this mean that Whole Foods is looking to expand in more mid-size metro areas like Chattanooga, Asheville, and eventually Huntsville? Granted, the former two cities are much more urban in nature, something Whole Foods seems to prefer when locating in smaller cities. While similar in size, when it comes to urban living, Huntsville has a long way to go before being considered on level with cities like Chattanooga and Asheville.

Whole Foods seems to prefer trendy urban neighborhoods (like Chatty's North Shore) or super-wealthy/high-density suburbs (like Cool Springs/Franklin, TN). Huntsville has neither, which could pose a problem in finding a location. Looking at their minimum store placement requirements, it seems there are only two viable candidate areas in Huntsville-- downtown (Constellation?) or Research Park (Bridge Street?). Bridge Street almost got Wild Oats Market (now Whole Foods) back in 2006, but I have a problem with putting a grocery store in an area where few people live, now or ever. At least downtown has a pretty good chance of eventually getting enough full-time residents to attract a grocery store.

The last paragraph could also be applied to Trader Joe's, another popular grocery store; their closest location is in Nashville.