Restaurants, green space set for lower 31 development

Ward Neely admits he isn’t big on “corporate, flashy stuff.”

So when he set out with John Michael Bodnar to develop a new retail destination on the south end of U.S. 31 at the former Motor Lodge site, a “standard, suburban shopping center” was not on his radar.

The new site already has two restaurants announced, Big Bad Breakfast and Waldo’s Chicken and Beer, with more to come. The goal is to create a space for parents to relax and for kids to play, Neely said. Bodnar said he expects two to four more businesses to join, depending on what they are. There will also be a green space in the back, making the area feel similar to the Martin’s BBQ development in Cahaba Heights, Neely said.

Bodnar said the site is a “high traffic” area and the restaurants are a good fit for Vestavia. He is hoping the other tenants will include a small medical office, a dessert/coffee option or something similar.

The development will be built “for the eye, not the pocketbook,” Neely said. Instead of a single, uniform finish across the front of the buildings, he said there will be a multi-building facade.

Neely and Bodnar are working with a hydrologist to investigate the accuracy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s maps. Those maps are used to build base elevations out of the 100-year flood zone, which allows property owners to purchase unrestricted insurance, instead of the more expensive flood insurance. That work should be finished sometime in June, with the two known restaurants set to come sometime next year, Neely said.

From Big Bad Breakfast and Waldo’s, Bodnar said he expects between 80 and 100 jobs, though an exact figure is not yet known.