Twickenham Square Hotel Announced

A rendering of the new Homewood Suites, looking north from Gallatin. (Rendering credit: Chapman Sisson Architects)

Homewood Suites, a Hilton brand extended-stay hotel chain, will construct a 101-suite hotel at the Twickenham Square project, also known as the Councill Court redevelopment site. The four-story, $11.5 million building will be built on Gallatin between Lowe and St. Clair. Construction is expected to begin this fall, and the hotel is scheduled to open in the Fall of 2013. PHD Hotels of Auburn is the developer, along with Huntsville's Triad Properties.

In addition to the advantages of having another hotel downtown, this particular site is especially ideal for an extended-stay chain because it's within walking distance of Huntsville Hospital, making it appealing for patients' families who may need longer-term stays-- their closest options for such accommodations right now are on University Drive. Having a Publix grocery store down the street will make the hotel even more appealing for extended-stay guests.

This hotel project is not new territory, neither for Huntsville nor Homewood. The first Homewood Suites in Huntsville, located in Providence, is situated in a similar mixed-use environment to what is proposed at Twickenham Square. The design of that hotel and its surroundings were highlighted recently on Better! Cities and Towns, a planning blog.

HomeGoods Coming to Huntsville

Last week, HomeGoods made it official that they were coming to Huntsville by posting management positions on their website. The only question left remaining was: Where?

HomeGoods has been rumored to be coming to the area for more than a year, having appeared on a lease flyer for The Shoppes of Madison (new Target) as the store where Ross is currently building their fourth area location. Some readers also heard from employees of HomeGoods' sister stores (TJMaxx and Marshall's) that it was coming to Bridge Street. Others thought it would be a joint store with TJMaxx, which has been done in other cities. But in the end, it turned out to be a stand-alone store in an infill location.

The former Barnes and Noble space on University, vacant since the bookstore moved to Bridge Street in 2008, will be the site of HomeGoods' new store. With renovations already under way on the space, expect the 25,000 sq. ft. store to open this fall. 

For "Signature Tower" Site, a Signature Development Idea

Current view of the Holmes-Jefferson city lot. (Photo: James Vandiver)

Shortly after lifting the height limit downtown, the City of Huntsville in early 2009 solicited proposals for a "signature tower" to be built on a city-owned 2.6 acre lot at the corner of Holmes Ave. and Jefferson St. At the time, as it is now, it was used as a public surface parking lot. Some of you have asked what happened to the signature tower proposal-- during the solicitation period, the city received zero proposals for redevelopment of the site, a victim of poor timing.

Even with the economy looking better and a renewed interest in downtown redevelopment, a signature tower is still out of the question. With a 21.5% office vacancy rate downtown, building a signature tower before the market demands it (ideally, when vacancy rates are <10%) would only increase that rate, absorbing many downtown offices currently scattered throughout the CBD into one large building, leaving in its wake a glut of vacant space in existing buildings. The risk of killing the momentum of downtown revitalization is just too great for what is essentially an aesthetically-pleasing addition to the skyline. The new thinking is that a signature mixed-use development, with modest amounts of residential, office, and retail spread out among several mid-rise buildings, would not overwhelm the market and become a model for other "opportunity sites" (vacant/parking lots, low-rise buildings) downtown. Plus, from a developer's point of view, this is a more realistic plan in a world where "flashy" doesn't get financed.

With that in mind, the city thought it would be a good time to take another look at the site. For the past few months, the city's Planning Department (with assistance from yours truly) have been working on some ideas to redevelop the Holmes/Jefferson site. One of the hypothetical development concepts is shown below.

An aerial of the concept, looking towards the south. (Graphic credit: City of Huntsville)

1. A 6-story office building at the corner of Holmes and Jefferson, the most visible and heavily-traveled (both vehicle and pedestrian) intersection on the site. Because of this, the ground floor was reserved for a retail anchor. 
2. A 4-story, 100-room boutique hotel. The inspiration for this was the 21c Museum Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. The name speaks for itself-- it's a hotel and a public art museum. 
3. A 6-story apartment building at Holmes and Spragins, similar to the Belk-Hudson Lofts under construction about two blocks to the east. Other residential units would be spread out in the development as "live-work" units above retail or office space. 
4. The area along Spragins was left somewhat open-- it could be expanded into more office space, green space, or even a museum (Sci-Quest?)
5. A 4-story parking deck that would be placed behind the buildings, hidden from the street (save for the entrances/exits, of course). 

The conceptual office/retail building at the corner of Holmes Ave. and Jefferson St.  (Graphic credit: City of Huntsville)

Miscellaneous items included in the concept-- wider sidewalks to encourage pedestrian activity, "forecourts" for outdoor seating between some of the retail buildings, and rooftop gardens on top of the hotel and apartment structures.

So, what do you think? Other than a signature tower, what do you envision at this site?

A Big Week for Bridge Street

Bridge Street has had its share of headlines this past week. On Monday, Chicago-based Miller Capital Advisory, Inc. under its subsidiary Institutional Mall Investors (IMI), purchased the retail center from O&S Holdings for an undisclosed amount, though property records show the price to be over $100 million. O&S will continue to manage and lease the center. IMI owns part or all of about two dozen high-end shopping centers around the country, including the Houston Galleria and Fashion Centre at Pentagon City in Alexandria, VA. IMI/MCA is a passive investor in these malls, however, so their presence will likely not have a significant impact on the Bridge Street's appearance or tenant mix, unlike what may have happened had a company like Simon or GGP bought the center. In other words, don't expect a Nordstrom simply because they are at some of the other properties MCA has invested in.

Also this week (by coincidence) more details have been revealed about Bridge Street's long-rumored expansion. Tonight, the Huntsville City Council will discuss spending $5 million on infrastructure in preparation for the next phase(s) of the retail complex, including adding another level of parking to the west of the Monaco theater. In an interview with WAAY-TV, City Councilman Will Culver, whose district includes Bridge Street, describes the next phase as a 150,000 sq. ft. department store, along with an additional 50,000 sq. ft. of small shop space, which will be placed where the west portion of the lake now sits. This expansion, also known as "Phase 3" could start sometime this year. Culver also described "Phase 4," which will include another 50,000 sq. ft. of retail and possibly another hotel, which will begin construction in 2015.

And there's one last bit of news-- H&M announced on its website this week that their Bridge Street store, the first in Alabama, will open on June 14th. Let's hope that H&M's opening in Huntsville will entice other unique stores and restaurants to occupy the future store spaces now under consideration, as well as throughout the city.

It's Official: Councill Court becoming "Twickenham Square"

Left: What Councill Court looks like today, from the intersection of Gallatin and Lowe; Right: What it could look like in about three years if all goes according to plan. (Sources: James Vandiver (left), City of Huntsville (right)) 

It was leaked (prematurely) last summer, but it wasn't until just recently that Publix approved the site plans for a new grocery store on the site of the former Councill Court housing project at the intersection of Gallatin and Pelham between the CBD and the Medical District, allowing the redevelopment project to move forward, as announced by the Times on Monday (3/19).

Publix is only one part of the redevelopment of the housing project formerly known as Councill Court, where a new "urban village" will be created (Twickenham Square), including 200-plus apartments, a hotel, an office mid-rise, and greenspace. But it's very important-- the primary retail goal of most cities that are revitalizing their downtown areas is an urban grocery store*. A grocery store is considered the "hub" of an urban neighborhood and increases its walkability while reducing car-dependency.

A new "Downtown Gateway" boulevard will be built on the west side of the project, extending Harvard Road north of Governors to Lowe Ave. The boulevard, connecting the development with Big Spring Park and its environs, will utilize a new prototype street design for Huntsville that includes on-street parking, landscaped medians, and one-way cycletracks (which I discussed in detail last year).

One of the developers involved in the project, Bristol Development Group, has had experience in redevelopment, having been involved in the revitalization of "The Gulch" in its hometown of Nashville. A decade ago, the area between Downtown and Music Row was mainly industrial; today, it's home to several condo high-rises, shops (like Urban Outfitters), restaurants (like Cantina Laredo), and now three major retailers (Publix, Target, and Ikea) have been rumored to be vying for a spot in the neighborhood.

Twickenham Square hinges on the construction of two parking decks, including one $10M, 770-space public-private parking garage, which are necessary to cut down on wasteful surface parking and increase the density of the development. This city-developer agreement (up to $8M city, $2M developer according to the Times) is in no way unique to this project; it's similar to the one made for Parkway Place during its redevelopment in the early 2000s, when $5.5M in (2000) tax dollars (around $7.2M today) was used to construct the parking garage there, or more recently, the $7M in federal grants that helped build the deck at Bridge Street in 2007.

The proposed layout of the Twickenham Square redevelopment.

This announcement may not be a Macy's or a Trader Joe's, but this project, along with the completion of  the Belk-Hudson Lofts later this year, will set a new standard for development in Huntsville. This is important, especially if Huntsville expects to attract and retain more young professionals. According to a survey completed in February by real estate advisor RCLCO, 77% of "Millenials" (18-34 year olds) would prefer to live in an urban, walkable environment. That means developments like Twickenham Square and Belk-Hudson, whether they be downtown, an existing older neighborhood like Five Points or a walkable suburban neighborhood like Providence, will be increasingly in demand for the foreseeable future, especially if gas prices continue to increase.

*Of course, Publix will not be Huntsville's first modern urban grocery store-- that honor goes to Star Market in Five Points.

Bridge Street's Going Swedish

With job listings now posted on their website, I can now confirm that clothing retailer H&M is planning to open a 20,600 sq. ft. store at Bridge Street, just north of the bridge next to Chicos and under Pinz, the entertainment center formerly known as The Zone. This will be the Swedish company's first store in the Southeast outside Atlanta, North Carolina and Florida. It is expected to open this summer.

H&M, famous for selling trendy men's and women's clothing at low prices, has been expanding across Europe since the 1960s, but the first American store opened in New York City in 2000. Since then, the clothier has been expanding along the East and West Coasts, and is now opening stores in the country's interior.

Updated: Dunkin' Donuts to return to region

After a decade since the last store closed and a three-year franchisee search, Dunkin' Donuts is returning to Huntsville.The company announced today that the Robinson family and Southern Food Services, Inc. have signed on to open four franchises on the north side of the city, with the first opening next year and all stores being open within five years.

When they talk about "North Huntsville," it is important to remember that they probably mean the entire northern half of Madison County. So don't be surprised to see a store in Madison/West Huntsville, or out on 72 East.

An interesting tidbit: Dunkin' Donuts came in #4 on the original Ideas Map in the category of new restaurants, beating out Dave and Busters.

Map of the proposed Dunkin Donuts/Five Guys site. (Click to enlarge.) Image by Google Maps/Labels by James Vandiver

Update (2/12): Dunkin' Donuts will open its first Huntsville location on North Parkway at the intersection of Country Club-- interestingly enough, right across the street from Krispy Kreme. Five Guys (the last to be built in the region for now) will accompany Dunkin' in front of Costco on a site that was once occupied by a gas station and a bank. The restaurants will open in August 2012. Another Dunkin' Donuts will open in Madison by the "end of the year," according to the Times.

The Ideas Map: One Year Later

Today (1/19/2012) marks one year since the kickoff of the original Ideas Map, an online crowdsourcing tool used by the City of Huntsville to see what kinds of retail and restaurants citizens want, along with other ideas to improve the city. It turned out to be a wild success; a second Ideas Map was created for downtown last summer, and more crowdsourcing events are planned in the future. But have we been equally successful in getting the most in-demand retail and restaurants? Check out the progress report below. The results have been updated as well as their status with Huntsville-- just so no one misinterprets me, Check means "they're coming," Unknown means "possible, but not sure," and No means "not a chance":

Top Restaurants:
1. Cheesecake Factory- Unknown. (They wouldn't put a full-size restaurant here, but the company is working on a smaller restaurant prototype for smaller cities.)
2. Chipotle- Check.
3. Joe's Crab Shack- No. (Supposedly they take issue with our lack of a waterfront... I guess Ditto Landing doesn't count.)
3. Dunkin' Donuts- Check.
4. Dave and Buster's- No. (Huntsville needs about a million more people to get one.)

Top Retail:
1. Trader Joe's- Unknown. (The company is fairly secretive on their site selection, but I wouldn't be surprised to hear about them in the next year.)
2. Macy's- Unknown. (Population is not an issue by itself, but I think the concern is whether or not the Huntsville market can sustain another mid-market department store.)
3. Ikea- Hell no. (Nashville may have enough people to warrant one in a few years.)
4. Container Store- No. (Once again, not enough people.)
5. Whole Foods Market- Check. (Rumor has it they've found a site on the Parkway, but nothing is official.)


Note that most of the restaurants/retail that have outright rejected Huntsville have done so for reasons beyond anyone's control, like population and geography. So, with that in mind and a year wiser, are there any retail and/or restaurants that you would like to see here, but didn't make the list?

A Look Ahead: 2012

Happy New Year! My infamous annual predictions and expectations in urban planning and retail development have returned for 2012. Here you go: 


A new era in planning Huntsville. The City of Huntsville has a major decision to make in 2012-- who will be the city's new Urban Planner? The person chosen for the job will decide the city's direction when it comes to SmartCode, transportation planning (e.g. Complete Streets), the creation of a Comprehensive Plan, etc. Of course, the mayoral election in August will play a factor in this as well.


The end of food deserts. With retailers like Walmart, Save-A-Lot, and Walgreens expanding their presences and fresh-food options in "food deserts" (low-income areas without easy access to fresh groceries), don't be surprised if these chains add stores in areas like Southwest and Northwest Huntsville. The largest food deserts in the city of Huntsville in a few years will ironically be higher-income areas like Martin/Zierdt, where the low population density doesn't support a full-line grocery store.

Growth on the Central Parkway corridor. The 72 West corridor, with a new Walmart and Target under construction, may have been the hot retail area this year, but next year, much of the activity will shift closer to the city center. With the highest population density and median incomes in the region, the area I like to call "Central Parkway"-- between Downtown and Airport Road-- has a good chance to attract several major retailers in the next year and beyond. It's no secret that Walmart wants to build a larger store in the area to replace its existing Drake Avenue location. The John Hunt Park Master Plan calls for two tracts along the Parkway-- one at Airport Road, the other being Joe Davis Stadium-- to be sold for redevelopment, but this depends on the outcome of a public referendum to be held in the future.

Continued Downtown development. The Belk-Hudson Lofts will open this summer, more than doubling the number of residential units in the CBD. If everything works out, the Councill Court redevelopment anchored by a grocery (possibly Publix), a hotel, and a mid-rise office building along with 300-plus apartments, will get off the ground this year.

New Restaurants. As previously announced, Chipotle, Dunkin' Donuts, Panda Express, Texas Roadhouse, and Jimmy John's will all debut in Huntsville in 2012. Panera Bread is opening two new locations-- one in Madison, one at Bridge Street. And I predict that the frozen yogurt "bubble" will continue, but it will begin to subside by the end of the year due to market saturation.

South Parkway gets some love. Aldi has publicly expressed plans for a new store in South Huntsville whose location hasn't been decided yet, but I could definitely see it in Haysland Square. In addition, you could also see some "small stuff" in the area-- new pharmacies, restaurants, etc.

Patience on 72 East. While I could see "small stuff" popping up on 72 East at any time, big-box development isn't happening in 2012. Several factors have worked against that area. First off, Harris Hill, the development that was to set off retail expansion in this underserved corridor, was announced in 2007. For three years after that, new major retail development in this country did not exist-- financing was impossible to obtain for such projects. While the financial picture is a bit better now, the two most likely anchors, Target and Walmart, probably have their own reservations on building there at this moment. Target prefers areas with a 5-mile population of around 100,000-- the 72 East corridor has approximately 85,000 people within a 5-mile radius, according to the 2010 Census, compared to around 98,000 for the 72 West corridor, where a store is currently under construction. Walmart, which has shifted its focus to urban areas (see "The End of Food Deserts"), is planning very few new Supercenters in the US right now*, having saturated the suburban/rural market. With that said, I do see retail expansion coming to that area, but probably not for another 3-4 years, not bad for a major retail development if you consider that the earliest date it could have started was 2011.

*Walmart's 72 West store, currently under construction, was proposed about five years ago, and the land was bought before the recession hit, but construction was accelerated by the Madison Target. The potential replacement store for the Drake location is the one exception to the policy-- replacing regular stores with Supercenters. 

Chipotle Coming to Huntsville

Several of you have asked if the construction going on between Cheddar's and Zaxby's on University Drive is for a new Chipotle Mexican Grill. While that is not the case-- what you're seeing is another new entry into the market, Panda Express-- Chipotle will be opening their first Huntsville restaurant in that same corridor.

Site plans for the Earth Fare (former Circuit City/Linens n' Things) shopping center across from Madison Square show a 2,400 sq. ft. Chipotle restaurant going in on the eastern side of the retail strip.

Chipotle's opening should please a lot of Huntsvillians, as it came in second in new restaurants on the original Ideas Map, just behind The Cheesecake Factory.

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).

I-565: Twenty Years Later

Twenty years ago this month, Interstate 565 was opened with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by city and state officials. Planning for the highway began in the 1960s and when completed, the cost of the entire 21-mile highway was around $500 million ($790 million in today's dollars). At around $38M per mile, the highway was a bargain by today's standards; if the same cost-per-mile estimates for the Southern Bypass ($65M) or Birmingham's Northern Beltline ($90M) were applied to 565, the cost may have been well into the billions.

Much of the interstate has served its purpose, carrying 100,000+ cars daily in some spots. It has cut cross-city trip times significantly (ask anyone who has lived in Northeast Huntsville for more than 20 years), and has been credited for making Madison the medium-sized suburban city it is today.  There is one portion, however, that has created headaches for engineers, drivers and planners alike-- the 2.4 mile "urban overpass." Only a few years after it was opened, cracks were found in many of the bridge girders. Whenever snow or ice threatens, the bridge is always the first to close, shutting down the city's major east-west arterial. And unknown to many drivers who use the overpass daily, the bridge has left a scar of underused land right in the middle of the city.

The I-565 Urban Overpass (outlined in light blue) occupies about 140 acres in the heart of the city. (Google Earth)

The overpass is underused volume-wise, especially the stretch between Memorial Parkway and Oakwood Avenue which averages about 45,000 vehicles per day-- less than many segments of University Drive. Also, the interstate's planners didn't think about the finite life span of an overpass-- most last up to fifty years, sometimes less, meaning that sometime in the next thirty years the cost of maintaining the overpass will become too great and we will have to talk about replacing it.

Overpasses as far as the eye can see, over Church St. (Photo credit: James Vandiver)

The officials at the 1991 opening ceremony praised the economic development opportunities that 565 would bring to the area, but when the time comes, replacing part of the highway with a surface or below-grade boulevard could bring substantial development as well. A boulevard would have a substantially smaller footprint than the current overpass structures, opening up valuable land near downtown for greenspace and development. It would also create a less hostile environment for bicyclists and pedestrians, and eliminate the physical divide between North and South Huntsville. Another added perk of eliminating the overpass is a redesign of the Parkway/565 interchange, which is badly needed even today.

Elevated freeway removal has been a growing trend in American cities-- even Birmingham is considering it in their long-term plans with I-20/59 downtown. You may have heard of Boston's "Big Dig" project, though that may not be the best example due to politics, shoddy engineering and massive cost overruns. Here are a couple of less infamous examples:

San Francisco: The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged several elevated freeways in the Bay Area, including the Embarcadero Freeway. The highway was replaced in the 1990s with an at-grade boulevard, a light rail line, and park space along the once-inaccessible waterfront. Here's a link to a video discussing the Embarcadero transformation and the recent removal of another San Francisco highway (the Central Freeway).

Milwaukee: In 2002, the Park East Freeway was demolished, opening up 24 acres of their downtown for redevelopment. Projects include residential (apartments and condos), an Aloft hotel, and the new world headquarters for Manpower. http://city.milwaukee.gov/Projects/ParkEastredevelopment.htm

In a quick search, I found that Syracuse, New Haven, and New Orleans are considering highway removal as well. The Urban Land Institute has a list of current and proposed highway removal projects in the US.

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.

'Cycle Tracks' Coming to Huntsville?

While most of the focus at Huntsville City Hall last Wednesday night was on the budget hearings, I sat in on a Bicycle Advisory Safety Committee (BASC) meeting being held across the plaza. There, representatives of the Planning Department were presenting a bicycle infrastructure concept known as a "cycle track."

Cycle tracks are facilities completely separate from the travel lanes and, unlike your usual 4-foot bike lane is buffered from auto traffic by markers, raised curbs, or in some cases on-street parking. Cycle tracks are a fairly new concept for the United States despite being used in bike-friendly cities elsewhere like Montreal and Copenhagen for decades. New York City has built several of these cycle tracks in recent years with some success. In one especially controversial case in Brooklyn, a one-way street lost a travel lane to a cycle track. Speeding has decreased along the corridor while traffic volume and travel times have remained roughly the same (Source: NYC DOT).

Huntsville plans to place two 6-foot one-way protected cycle tracks on a proposed connector road between Governors Drive (at Harvard) and Lowe Avenue. This would link to Big Spring Park and allow for connections throughout downtown. It would also go through the proposed Councill Court redevelopment. Another route that has been discussed is Holmes Avenue, which would link Downtown and Five Points to Research Park and UAH.

What do you think about this proposal? Where would you like to see cycle tracks in the future? Check out some pictures of model cycle tracks in the links above and below.

Further Reading
The National Association of City Transportation Officials (NACTO) has created an easy-to-read Urban Bikeway Design Guide with a section about cycle tracks: http://nacto.org/cities-for-cycling/design-guide/cycle-tracks/

Wanted: A College Downtown

The above-ground entrance to Drake State's downtown classrooms.  (Photo credit: James Vandiver)

On September 8th, the state Board of Education will vote on a plan presented by Calhoun Community College to purchase 51 acres in Research Park in order to move at least part of its Huntsville campus from its current confines on Wynn Drive to two new buildings with "ample parking." As I was reading this, I thought to myself: "They should move downtown!"* And here's why.

I challenge you to find me a successful downtown without a significant college presence nearby. Chattanooga has UTC. Nashville has Vanderbilt. Savannah has SCAD. Colleges can be major anchors to a city's downtown, bringing a large workforce and a young, urban-friendly 24-hour population that are needed to attract retail and restaurants to the core.

Some of you may recall that Drake State moved some of its classes downtown to the basement of the Times Building. While that was a valiant effort, it hasn't packed the bars and restaurants in the city center as originally hoped, and the adjacent parking lot is only half-full most days. If a college were to make a significant impact downtown, it will have to be highly visible in terms of location and the number of students.

The most logical college to move downtown would be Calhoun, considering they have been looking for a permanent home for nearly twenty years. Their Huntsville campus is located in a former manufacturing facility shared with Sci-Quest, and with over 7,000 students has outgrown that space. The rest of the colleges here (UAH, A&M, Oakwood, and Drake) have established campuses and could not feasibly move a significant amount of their facilities, though I would welcome an expansion of Drake State's downtown presence.**

Moving Calhoun and/or Drake State would bring significant numbers of students and faculty downtown during the day, but because neither school has students who live on campus, it wouldn't help solve one of the issues with our current downtown-- the lack of a residential population that sticks around after 5. One solution to this is to develop student apartments that would cater to students of the three four-year colleges, with frequent transit service between city center and their main campuses, among other amenities catered towards college students (a library/study hall, entertainment room, convenience store).

A map of potential college campus sites in and around downtown. (Map: Google; Illustration by James Vandiver)

Where would a high-visibility college campus be located downtown? The old Stone Middle (and its surroundings in West Downtown) is the first to come to mind. It's an academic building in a neighborhood that is ripe for redevelopment, and a college would be the perfect anchor. Other sites include four public housing projects (other than Councill Court) that surround downtown and are slated for redevelopment--Butler Terrace, Lincoln Homes, Searcy Homes, and Sparkman Homes (see map). They provide large tracts of land without having to go through multiple landowners. And while none are as large as the 50+ acres that will be bought in Research Park, as an urban campus, you're less likely to waste as much land on "ample" surface parking.

*I have heard before that Calhoun planned a downtown campus in the late 1980s, though I have never been able to independently verify that. 


**I understand there is some political conflict between Drake State and Calhoun about the latter "encroaching" on the former's "territory." However, this is not a political blog, and as such, I will leave that issue to other media. The downtown campus idea can work for either Drake or Calhoun, or both... The more, the merrier!

Coming Soon: Huntsville's Long-Awaited Transit Plan

Hidden in the City Council agenda for Thursday (July 28th) is a request to authorize an agreement between the City of Huntsville and Nelson/Nygaard Associates, a transit consulting firm that has worked extensively in transit-friendly West Coast cities like Seattle and San Francisco, for a "Comprehensive Operational Analysis" (COA) of the Huntsville Shuttle. The federal government recommends a COA every ten years; however, this will be Huntsville's first since the introduction of the Shuttle in 1990. In layman's terms, a COA looks at an existing transit system and sees where it can run more efficiently and increase ridership by cutting/changing routes, decreasing time between buses, enhanced service during peak hours, etc. What the COA would do is lay the foundation for a longer-term transit plan for the city. There is a desire among city officials for a long-term transit vision, and Mayor Battle has on numerous occasions expressed the need for regional cooperation on transit.

The transit plan comes at a time of change for public transportation in Huntsville. Google Transit is expected to be available for Huntsville very soon, along with other web and mobile services, and a useful downtown circulator is in the works.

Downtown Ideas Results

Thank you again to everyone who participated with the second Ideas Map, which focused on general downtown ideas. Through Facebook and the SeeClickFix map, over 400 individual ideas were submitted, with 2,500 "likes" and 16,000 page views. The "Moving Chalkboard" made several appearances on TV and at Concerts in the Park, and had to be erased at least once to make room for new ideas (don't worry, we took pictures).

Special commendation should be made to the four City of Huntsville interns in the Mayor's Office-- Jessica Carlton, Ted Gillespie, Ryan McArthur, and Kyle Tipton-- who volunteered their time this summer to work on this project. They were the ones who made it all happen.

Below are the results, sorted by category and by platform (Facebook or SeeClickFix). I expanded the top ideas (where applicable) to give you a better idea what the user was talking about, with some much-needed grammatical editing.

Facebook
Infrastructure
1. Free Wi-Fi
2. Smart Parking Meters
3. Better Public Transit
4. Electric Car Plug-ins
5. Promotion/enhancement of trolley system

Business and Retail
1. Sidewalk Market
"I have always thought the sidewalk area around the Big Spring should be turned into a shopping district for specialty shops and artists. I know the Huntsville Utilities offices are there, but maybe some of the area could be redesigned for shops or at least have a weekly or monthly sidewalk marketplace. This is such a beautiful area with lots of shade and historical interest."
2. More Local Shops
3. Art Gallery/Studio Space
4. Movie Theater
5. Late Night Diner

Parks and Recreation
1. Street Performers
"Bridge Street has street performers on weekends at night. Do the same on weeknights. If it rains, let them play at surrounding restaurants. A good way to show off the local talent, and it will kep young people out of trouble."
2. City History Museum
3. Baseball Stadium
4. Bigger Splash Park
5. Amphitheater

Ideas Map
Infrastructure
1. SmartCode
"Get zoning in place to create the downtown we want to see, not one that allows buildings based on uses."
2. Move the Municipal Complex (City Hall)
3. Roundabout at Church and Monroe
4. Parking Garage Ground-floor Retail
5. Commuter Rail Station

Business and Retail
1. Signature Tower
"Design and construct a ‘Signature Tower of Huntsville,’ one that has offices and residential condos. This would break the height limit on the skyline and promote the idea that Huntsville is sustainable for going up rather than out. Both the Mobile, AL RSA Battle House Tower and the Austin, Texas Austonian Towers are great examples of such projects."
2. Sidewalk Market
3. Affordable Apartments
4. Skydiving Tunnel
5. Comedy Club

Parks and Recreation
1. Active Park
"Provide places for outdoor yoga, tai chi, and bocci ball. Do a small pond for flood control, but keep water in it at all times. Center of pond might be good for scuplture fountain."
2. Sculpture Fountain
3. More Greenways
4. Multicultural History Walk
5. Baseball Stadium

Overall, Cumulative
1. Sidewalk Market
"An indoor/outdoor market with refrigeration and other support facilities for being open everyday."
2. Signature Tower
3. SmartCode
4. Riverwalk/Greenway
5. Affordable Apartments

Councill Court: What's Ahead

Since I keep reading about the Councill Court redevelopment in the paper, I guess I should talk about it, though I can't reveal any more details than what is already public information. Yes, it is true-- two years after closing Councill Court, the city and the housing authority may have found a developer who wants to do exactly what was envisioned for the area-- a mixed-use "urban village," a rare opportunity to create a whole new neighborhood in the heart of the city. If the project is approved and is built as advertised, it will change the course of the city center's development for years to come.

I won't delve into details and renderings until the project is made official, but here's a recap of what is public: a consortium of Huntsville and Nashville developers want to develop at least part of the former housing project into approximately 200 apartments, medical offices, small retail and restaurants, hotel, and the main attraction, an urban grocery store. However, there are two hurdles to overcome before anything happens.

First off, the urban grocery store, most likely a Publix, hasn't even signed on as a tenant yet. In Publix's case, a site presented to the company by a developer must go through an ominous-sounding "committee" before it is approved. Many store sites have made it to committee and have been rejected there, so a Publix store at Councill Court is not a guarantee until that happens, probably later this year. The good news is that Publix has experience with urban grocery stores in places like Greenville; Columbia, SC; and Atlanta.

The other big hurdle is the financing and construction of at least one, but probably two, parking garages. Mayor Battle has publicly said that the cost of the garage(s) will be $10-14 million. (By the way, if you're skeptical about going to a grocery store with a parking garage, it's becoming more common as retailers move into urban areas. So this probably won't be the last time you see this.)

There is good reason to be optimistic. One of the development companies that is part of the project, Nashville-based Bristol Development Group, played a major role in the redevelopment of an industrial area between Downtown Nashville and Music Row known as "The Gulch" by developing two condo towers, Icon and Velocity. In Germantown, another great Nashville neighborhood, Bristol is currently constructing an urban apartment complex similar in size to the one proposed at Councill Court. So these guys have a good track record and know what they're doing.

With the Councill Court project and Belk-Hudson, by the end of 2013, there will be 300 new apartments downtown, and there is room for hundreds more. An urban grocery store, whether it's Publix or another chain, will accelerate residential growth in the city center even further. It also gives smaller businesses, such as a dry cleaners or a sandwich shop, the anchor they need to thrive downtown.

Huntsville's Limestone County gets a land use plan

Huntsville unveiled this week a land-use plan for 9,323 acres of newly-annexed land in east Limestone County south of 72, east of I-65 and north of I-565. The plan was created by Sasaki Associates, a planning and design consulting firm with offices in Boston and San Francisco.

The land-use plan creates mixed-use villages surrounding a 1,500-acre major employment anchor, such as a new Research Park, or as The Birmingham News reported recently, a new Audi plant.

The long-term plan calls for 3-5 million square ft. of office space, 550,000-800,000 sq. ft. of retail, 2-7 million sq. ft. of industrial space, and 10-12,000 total residential units (single and multi-family). Development would be clustered into several mixed-use villages. Along with the plans for new development, the site's "greenprint" was also taken into consideration, where existing tree cover, flood plains/fringes, and wetlands remain mostly untouched. A network of trails and parks would connect parks, employment centers, and residential areas together. The street network in the plan included few cul-de-sacs, instead adopting a traditional "grid pattern." The plan assumed that the conventional zoning currently in place would be complemented by the form-based SmartCode overlay currently being worked on by the city's Planning Department.

The land use plan. (Photo credit: Sasaki/City of Huntsville)

My one major criticism of the plan is how much of this "smart growth" supposedly hinges on two new not-so-smart highways-- the Memphis-to-Atlanta interstate and Greenbrier Parkway. The economic portion of the report suggests that the amount of jobs and economic impact on the site would almost double, and congestion would magically disappear, if the two highways were to be built. While other cities and states are realizing that you can't build your way out of congestion, we think it's necessary to construct an interstate-grade highway terminating at a "spaghetti junction" complete with flyovers at what is now the intersection of two farm roads. I recognize that Browns Ferry and Greenbrier may have to be widened to 4 or 5-lanes one day, but a freeway? That sounds a bit overkill. Hopefully by then (being optimistic here) we will have embraced transportation alternatives.

The annexed area's proposed road network. (Photo credit: Sasaki/City of Huntsville)

Speaking of that, I've always thought it would be awesome if Greenbrier were one day transformed into a "transit village"-- a small  New England-style town anchored by a train station, an intermediate stop on a Huntsville-Madison-Decatur commuter rail line. It would remain in compliance with the land-use plan, though the village could be larger if Greenbrier Parkway were to be scrapped.

Mayor Battle made a good point at the presentation of the plan to the Planning Commission-- this plan will have to be changed every few years to account for unforeseen changes. And with that in mind, I think that the plan is a good start.

The plan now goes to a Planning Commission public hearing on August 23rd.

Download the land-use plan report here.
Download the Fiscal and Economic Report here.

Bikeshare, The Huntsville Way

In honor of the Downtown Ideas Map, here's an idea I had. Remember, the Downtown Ideas Summit is on July 21st at 6PM at the old Regions building on the Courthouse Square.

If you've been to Washington, DC this year, you may have noticed a lot of people riding on red bikes. More than likely, they're using Capital Bikeshare, DC's answer to a phenomenon that began in Paris and has spread to other cities, including Montreal and London. Nashville launched a pilot bikeshare program last year. B-cycle has "franchised" the system they built in Denver to smaller cities, including Madison, WI; Des Moines, IA; and starting this week, Spartanburg, South Carolina.

So, how would such a scheme work here? I would start with about 10 stations with 8-10 bikes each in Downtown and Five Points-- the slower and narrower streets in these areas create an ideal bicycling environment. See the map below.

My concept for a bikeshare system in Huntsville (click to enlarge). Image: Google Earth/Illustration by James Vandiver

The initial system would primarily be used by Old Town/Five Points commuters, downtown workers going to lunch, and weekend visitors going to the museums or a VBC event. Stations would be within 5 minutes (walking distance, hence the 200m radius) of each other, so if one station is full you could easily access an alternate station. Eventually, the system could expand into the Medical District, Lincoln Mill, and other urban neighborhoods as it moves out of the trial phase and as development/demand/sponsorship warrants. More stations could be installed at the city's colleges and universities, and possibly at trailheads of popular greenways such as Indian Creek and Aldridge Creek.

In addition to monthly and yearly memberships, many bikeshare systems are funded through sponsorships from major corporations, such as advertisers and banks. Regions, you've got all of those green bikes-- ball's in your court.