UPDATED: New and Upcoming Projects. (Birmingham, Southside: basement, foundations, landscape)

[cherokee48]

Originally Posted by steveklein

I'm a little unclear. Didn't the article state that these will be owner occupied homes getting renovations? And it will be public money that will be used? This seems pretty unfair to those people who don't get selected, no? Isn't this kinda like 100 people randomly winning a $10k HGTV shopping spree? Except that it takes an application so the "winners" aren't random at all.

The way the article reads this would indeed be owner occupied homes getting renovations at $10k of public money. You got straight to the point as there is an application process so it doesn't feel random to me at all. I am all for this and to be fair Woodfin did run on neighborhood revitalization and a key part of his platform was bringing the fruits of the downtown revitalization to the outlying neighborhoods so they can improve as communities as well.

[RocketDawg]

One thing mentioned in the article is that they expected renovations to the BJCC and the new stadium to generate an additional $500K per year in revenue. Is that all? Surely that can't be right.

[steveklein]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

One thing mentioned in the article is that they expected renovations to the BJCC and the new stadium to generate an additional $500K per year in revenue. Is that all? Surely that can't be right.

One would hope that's not correct. Hopefully the payback on a stadium is a few decades and not a few centuries.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

One thing mentioned in the article is that they expected renovations to the BJCC and the new stadium to generate an additional $500K per year in revenue. Is that all? Surely that can't be right.

That's a pretty low bar in terms of additional revenue to meet.

[mcalumni01]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

One thing mentioned in the article is that they expected renovations to the BJCC and the new stadium to generate an additional $500K per year in revenue. Is that all? Surely that can't be right.

It's kinda worded in a way to where it makes it seem not right. A remodel legacy arena and complex, the new stadium, two new hotels and carraway development will bring in 9 million a year. I don't know where the 500K is coming from.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by steveklein

I'm a little unclear. Didn't the article state that these will be owner occupied homes getting renovations? And it will be public money that will be used? This seems pretty unfair to those people who don't get selected, no? Isn't this kinda like 100 people randomly winning a $10k HGTV shopping spree? Except that it takes an application so the "winners" aren't random at all.

The program is very similar to the home rehabilitation program here in Atlanta. The City of Atlanta partners with Invest Atlanta to fund home rehabilitation program for owner-occupied homes with low income, fixed income, and/or individuals over 65+. The program here in Birmingham will be the same thing just applied to the City's neighborhoods where residents are either low income, fixed income, and/or senior citizens 65+ in owner occupied homes. Also like the Atlanta program, Birmingham program will be selected based on qualification submitted via the application process. The only difference Birmingham's program will be set to 100 homes per 100 days, so basically 300 homes per year.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by mcalumni01

It's kinda worded in a way to where it makes it seem not right. A remodel legacy arena and complex, the new stadium, two new hotels and carraway development will bring in 9 million a year. I don't know where the 500K is coming from.

Yeah, that figure sounds like so ****-poor journalism right there from the Birmingham News. The $9.9 million annual figure has been posted since the announcement back in March. It's just odd and random.

However, the one nugget was the specific description saying that the redevelopment of the former Carraway Methodist Medical Center site into another mixed use development and district. The details are oncoming but I have heard there will be a huge effort to elevate the Carraway Boulevard corridor leading into a redevelopment gateway for the Norwood neighborhood.

Also the two luxury hotels coming online with the BJCC expansion. There will certainly be 1,000+ luxury rooms within 1 mile radius of the BJCC upon the completion of the BJCC redo and expansion. This will place the facility in the league of convention centers capable of host large conventions, major conferences, and exhibitions.

[cherokee48]

Originally Posted by mcalumni01

It's kinda worded in a way to where it makes it seem not right. A remodel legacy arena and complex, the new stadium, two new hotels and carraway development will bring in 9 million a year. I don't know where the 500K is coming from.

Yea the figure I'd heard in the media thus far was the projected 9 million per year for the area.

[cherokee48]

Originally Posted by jero23

The program is very similar to the home rehabilitation program here in Atlanta. The City of Atlanta partners with Invest Atlanta to fund home rehabilitation program for owner-occupied homes with low income, fixed income, and/or individuals over 65+. The program here in Birmingham will be the same thing just applied to the City's neighborhoods where residents are either low income, fixed income, and/or senior citizens 65+ in owner occupied homes. Also like the Atlanta program, Birmingham program will be selected based on qualification submitted via the application process. The only difference Birmingham's program will be set to 100 homes per 100 days, so basically 300 homes per year.

I checked into the Atlanta home rehabilitation program you mentioned and it appears to be very successful and most importantly it has helped preserve affordable housing in the city and avoided displacing residents which is exactly what is needed in Birmingham's most neglected neighborhoods (Ensley, East Lake, West End, North Birmingham etc.) especially and in the city generally. In fact it has been so successful that they have 3 owner occupied rehabilitation programs working. Most of the tension with all the attention going downtown was that these neglected areas (which are in prime position to benefit from this program) suffered the most over time and were benefiting the least. I'd say this pivot to pursuing growth and pushing to retain residents more aggressively is the right move.

[jero23]

Originally Posted by cherokee48

I checked into the Atlanta home rehabilitation program you mentioned and it appears to be very successful and most importantly it has helped preserve affordable housing in the city and avoided displacing residents which is exactly what is needed in Birmingham's most neglected neighborhoods (Ensley, East Lake, West End, North Birmingham etc.) especially and in the city generally. In fact it has been so successful that they have 3 owner occupied rehabilitation programs working. Most of the tension with all the attention going downtown was that these neglected areas (which are in prime position to benefit from this program) suffered the most over time and were benefiting the least. I'd say this pivot to pursuing growth and pushing to retain residents more aggressively is the right move.

The problem with Birmingham's revitalization is there is only tax incremental financing (TIF) district within the City of Birmingham. That's the area formerly covered by the Operation New Birmingham service area. The City needs to create at least 5 other TIFs for revitalization to spillover to other parts of the aside from the Downtown, Southside/Five Points South, Lakeview, Avondale, Glen Iris and the adjacent neighborhoods to these. Those multiple CIDs (which is Georgia's version TIFs) along with Invest Atlanta itself funds their owner-occupied home rehabilitation programs.

It's time we ship the idea of more TIFs within the City to Mayor Woodfin so that the item and the concept will be shipped to the Birmingham City Council.