Cool News (Tuscaloosa, Talladega, Jasper: buyer, sell, offer)

[TimCity2000]

Originally Posted by pjg66

Here is another article about some projects in Downtown and Southside:

http://al.com/opinion/2020/10/what-p...-comeback.html

Although it comes from David Sher's Comeback Town, it was written by Robert Crook, owner and founder of Ironvest Partners. The premise is that in spite of Covid-19, the rejuvenation of Downtown and Southside is proceeding forward at a healthy pace.

The author predicts that the 2020 census will show job and population growth for Birmingham. On that point we will just have to wait and see. But it is nice to read such optimism about Birmingham and enthusiasm for its future.

i'm not sure we'll see population growth just yet, but i hope i'm wrong. yearly estimates have been wildly inaccurate for some cities, and the number of multi-family developments this past decade would seem to indicate that we have turned the tide... question is, how are the other neighborhoods doing? are other areas of the city still losing residents, or have they finally bottomed out?

[TimCity2000]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

While we'll see gains in the 2020 census, I think the 2030 census is when the foundational changes of the past ten years will begin to really show.

i like your optimism... hope the previous estimates have been wrong. the good news compared to past decades is that at the very least we seem to have finally reached the bottom. unfortunately the past few estimates have been stagnant... it's past time we see growth! can you imagine this city getting back up to 360,000?

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

i like your optimism... hope the previous estimates have been wrong. the good news compared to past decades is that at the very least we seem to have finally reached the bottom. unfortunately the past few estimates have been stagnant... it's past time we see growth! can you imagine this city getting back up to 360,000?

I don't want to oversell that point. I think the 2020 census will show a blip, little else.

[tmullen99]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

i like your optimism... hope the previous estimates have been wrong. the good news compared to past decades is that at the very least we seem to have finally reached the bottom. unfortunately the past few estimates have been stagnant... it's past time we see growth! can you imagine this city getting back up to 360,000?

360,000 within the city limits will probably never happen again unless something major that no one can predict happens like landing some leading national companies' headquarters or becoming the next destination city due to some weird tourism trap that makes the city be seen as "cool" on a national level (such as Mardi Gras/French Culture - NOLA, Country music - Nashville, Hip Hop/Black culture - ATL) Birmingham is still having a hard time not still being seen as "Bull Connor-Ville" and the largest city of "Alabackwards" (which is ridiculous and unfair, but the reality remains) ... also, that 360,000, 1950 census number where "we were equal to Atlanta" is a little misleading. Yes, we had 360,000 in the city proper in 1950, but only about 500,000 in the metro whereas Atlanta had 360,000 in the city proper and 1 million in the metro already in 1950. Birmingham, being a city of 210,000 and a metro of 1.2 million now, is more prosperous and "booming," so to speak, than at any point in our history.

[mcalumni01]

ICYMI...

https://bhamnow.com/2020/10/14/dread-river/

https://www.birminghamal.gov/2020/10...redevelopment/

https://bhamnow.com/2020/10/14/birmi...enovation/?amp
A few interior renderings included

[TimCity2000]

the suburbs have gotten into the brewery game some as well recently. i'm sure there are others already open that i'm missing here...

existing:
Homewood - The Grocery (formerly Red Hills Brewing) - opened 2019
Trussville - Ferus Artisan Ales - opened 2019
Trussville - Slag Heap Brewing Co. - opened 2018

proposed:
Hoover - Brock's Gap Brewing Co. - 2021?
Pelham - Oak Mountain Brewing Co. - 2021?

New breweries head to Hoover and Pelham + more local beer happenings

[bhamblazer]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

I'm pretty optimistic about the region right now for several reasons:

The downtown area is undergoing an amazing transformation. Just two hours ago, my wife and I were driving home from the Sidewalk Theater, and took a detour to look at all the new construction and recently-completed projects. What's more, the city hasn't even gotten started. There are years of potential development ahead for the city center, stretching from I-65 all the way to Avondale and beyond. This cannot possibly hurt the city in terms of becoming an attractive destination for the creative class.

There has been plenty of growth in both new and existing business. Healthcare, tech, construction, and finance are all showing amazing strength, especially considering the broad national economic climate.

Several years ago, it was discussed on this forum how Birmingham would become more of a distribution center rail/trucking transfer facility and the newly completed I-22 link to I-65. Several key new projects show that this promise is coming true.

I'll go out on a limb with something. If you believe geopolitical gurus such as Friedman and Zeihan, the US was already beginning to make policy moves to bring the supply chain back to the country, as seen with the corporate tax cuts and reduced regulations. Now, having gone through the misery of coronavirus, the need to reshore will become an even higher priority regardless of who wins the election. Birmingham as a market with a significant manufacturing capacity, should benefit from this.

So, yeah. Plenty to like. Mind you, there are problems to resolve. But the past ten years have seen a renaissance of the city that, quite frankly, I didn't think possible in 2010. While we'll see gains in the 2020 census, I think the 2030 census is when the foundational changes of the past ten years will begin to really show.

Agreed with all of your points. Birmingham's economy has gotten more diversified than in year's past and the industry clusters we have are the ones that have shown resiliency in this economic crisis. These foundation industries plus the beginning stages of adding much more distribution center capacity should provide solid economic growth.

One area that I feel like we have a lot of unmet potential is biomedical sciences. We should be doing a better job of leveraging all the research at UAB and SRI into getting more bio science R&D, lab space, and pharma operations in the metro. This is another industrial cluster that should be set to grow in the US and Birmingham should be in this game.

Hopefully the 2020 census will show a slight population increase for the city & metro, but I agree that it will likely be the 2030 census before we see any marked improvement. But all the seemingly continuous residential capacity being added downtown, continued growth of UAB, growing the tech ecosystem, logistics, etc should set up a solid upcoming decade.

[TimCity2000]

https://www.census.gov/library/fact-...-students.html

interesting... if i'm reading this correctly, students count towards the cities that they live in during the school year? i would've thought the opposite. guess that makes sense though since you're more a resident of that city than your hometown while you're in school (COVID has definitely blurred this a bit...).

[TimCity2000]

Originally Posted by bhamblazer

Hopefully the 2020 census will show a slight population increase for the city & metro, but I agree that it will likely be the 2030 census before we see any marked improvement.

metro will likely be a loss, since we lost walker county.

[bhamblazer]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

https://www.census.gov/library/fact-...-students.html

interesting... if i'm reading this correctly, students count towards the cities that they live in during the school year? i would've thought the opposite. guess that makes sense though since you're more a resident of that city than your hometown while you're in school (COVID has definitely blurred this a bit...).

It's supposed to work that way, but often times the census form gets mailed to their parents' house and mom or dad fills it out and includes the student as part of their household.