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Jeff Downes
City Manager Jeff Downes stands on the top floor of the new City Hall and surveys the progress of construction along the central U.S. 31 corridor. Photo by Katie Turpen.
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City Hall project
BL Harbert International, a privately owned construction company with roots in Vestavia Hills, is leading the City Hall project. Photo by Katie Turpen.
It’s hard to ignore excavators knocking down buildings and bulldozers moving dirt on the central U.S. 31 corridor. Residents who have been hungry for growth can now physically see it happening.
Over the next 18 months, Vestavia Hills will experience $125 million worth of construction. These projects include the new Sprouts Farmers Market with companion retail, new City Hall, America’s First Federal Credit Union and Patchwork Farms development.
Once completed, City Manager Jeff Downes said the city anticipates an increase of more than $2 million in annual revenue.
“It’s always been our economic development strategy that we need to get in the game,” he said. “When you start seeing heavy equipment moving earth, you can show that.”
Downes added that last year, the city had more than $700,000 in building permits paid for new construction. This year, with the $125 million worth of construction projects, the city anticipates close to a million dollars in additional building permits.
The new City Hall is expected to be complete by September 2015. Sprouts Farmers Market is set to be operating by the end of the first quarter of 2016, with companion retail in the development plans.
“When you look at where everything is going to happen, you realize it’s all happening there at the center, the commercial corridor of Vestavia Hills,” Downes said. “And with that comes the excitement that others have about development potential along that corridor as well.”
Developers have taken notice of Patchwork Farms, located off U.S. 280 between Cahaba River and Caldwell Mill Roads on the edge of the city. This past November, the City Council approved the Patchwork Farms Master Plan, which included pedestrian-friendly development including a nature park and residential units.
Downes said that contracts have been signed with Daniel Corporation and site contractors to begin mass grading in preparation for development of the parcel around Life Time Fitness.
“Things are happening in all parts of the community,” Councilman John Henley said. “Our goal is to increase revenue coming in to the city.”
Although exciting, these projects haven’t happened without a few setbacks. Downes said with the construction of Sprouts, some buffer areas have been disturbed. Landscape plans are in place to put those buffers back. Furthermore, the businesses along the edge of the entryway to the new City Hall have had to go through some pain of a realigned entryway.
“Whenever you have to grow, you have to shake the status quo a little bit,” Downes said. “As a city you have to be very sensitive to that, and as issues arise we have tried to address them.”
Downes said the growth will generate revenues that can allow the city to start considering quality-of-life opportunities. The city is gearing up in efforts to improve Wald Park as well as sprucing up ballfields and creating more trails. They are also in the process of exploring an internally run sidewalk expansion program to make the community more pedestrian friendly.
Other ongoing improvements include the southern gateway improvement project and expansion of the library lot, which is expected to be finished by the end of March. Zaxby’s in Cahaba Heights is expected to be complete by this summer, and the Winn-Dixie is already complete.
“A lot of these things could not have been done by themselves,” said Downes, citing development constraints with the America’s First Federal Credit Union and Sprouts sites. “This kind of construction is something we haven’t seen in years. This is a proud moment.”
