City holds meetings to lay out vision for Days Inn property

Following private meetings in mid-March with nearby property owners, the city of Vestavia Hills now has about nine to 10 acres of property to work with for the redevelopment of the former Days Inn and Bar 31 property, up from the 3.5 acres it originally had.

The city and a team of site developers hosted multiple charrette meetings from March 14 to March 16 to discuss their plans for renovating the property, located on U.S. 31 at the southern end of the city.

On March 15, the city held multiple private meetings with property owners, prospective developers, and elected officials to deliberate on the granular details of the plan. Later that day, another public meeting was held, which saw Downes summarizing the progress the city and the project team had made thus far. 

According to Downes, the results of those private meetings gave him further confidence in the city’s ability to enact the redevelopment plan. Downes confirmed that by the time the meetings finished at 4 p.m., the city had thus far convinced the owners of around eight acres’ worth of property to cooperate with its renovation efforts. Even the property owners who had little interest in the project going into the private meetings felt more positive about it after the meetings concluded, Downes said.

The city acquired the property on Aug. 1, 2022 to redevelop what has been seen as a problematic area for the city. In past years, multiple reported crimes, many of them drug-related, have taken place at the hotel, leading to it becoming among the city’s most heavily policed areas. With the redevelopment, the city hopes to negate these problems and bring the area up to a higher standard. 

The meetings all took place at the Vestavia Hills Civic Center, with City Manager Jeff Downes handling most of the public speaking. The first meeting on March 14 was open to the public, and it allowed Vestavia residents to share preliminary feedback on how they would like to see the property redeveloped. Private meetings were held on March 15, with possible proposals discussed March 16.

One of the most agreed-upon proposals discussed March 16 involved touching up the temple on Highway 31, modeled after the Sibyl Temple on Montgomery Highway, with some more modern elements. Another popular proposal called for a large-scale monument sign to greet those entering the city. Other popular ideas included heavily landscaped roadsides, a mixture of small-scale retail locations and hospitality spaces like hotels, and large-scale accommodations for both restaurants and entertainment.

The meeting also saw a few of the project developers sharing two mapped-out examples of how the renovated property might look. The first one, described as a low-scale, village-style retail area, would place a large entertainment and retail space close to the temple and welcoming signage, with a few smaller retail spaces and a hotel placed further back. 

The other proposed example, and the one the developers ultimately felt more passionate about, set the hotel near the welcoming signage to leave a strong visual impression for those entering the city. Small retail buildings would be placed further down and relatively far apart to give passersby a view of the green spaces and other attractive elements near them. By walking up the hill path behind the retail buildings, residents and visitors would reach a large entertainment space set beside an amphitheater. 

On the first day of meetings, residents were encouraged to submit responses through a Visual Preference Survey accessible through Vestavia Hills Listens. The survey questions asked about potential uses for green spaces and landscaping, the kinds of stores and other retail spaces that could be built, and designs for the welcoming signage when entering the city, among other things. 

After completing the survey, residents could walk up to the different tables spread across the room and make suggestions directly to the developers on what to add to the property. They could also look at the developers’ ideas and express which ones they liked best. 

While the ideas presented were ambitious in their scope, Downes acknowledged that whatever ideas the city finalizes will have to remain economically feasible and fit within current laws. 

“With this comes the reality check of what can truly fit, what can truly be parked, what adheres to our zoning codes, what might need some kind of consideration to make the vision become a reality,” Downes said. 

At the very least, all of the property owners who attended the private meetings agreed that the ideas pitched by the city were achievable within these constraints. Additionally, the property owners were willing to wait patiently and give the city the time it needs to enact the best plan possible. 

“All of those enjoining property owners that want to be with us have committed to following us along this process and not jumping the gun and looking at an immediate opportunity,” Downes said. “They want to be part of the bigger picture.” 

At the end of the meeting, Downes briefly went over the next steps the city and site developers will take with the property. For one, they will move ahead with the demolition of the property’s structures over the next four months, an action that the city council approved on March 13. Additionally, they will seek further public input as they try and finalize their renovation plans for publication. 

Once they develop their plan further, they will seek approval from both the city council and the Planning and Zoning Commission. They expect to have the renovation completed within 24 to 36 months. 

“The opportunity is great, the people that we’ve talked to feel like it can be doable, and we want to move forward,” Downes said.