Protective Stadium (Birmingham: sales, yard, office)

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

Agreed. 2010 is the date I use as the start of the downtown "renaissance". That's the year that Railroad Park opened, subsequently igniting that area of town, including Regions Field in 2013. Of course, a "domed stadium" has been talked about here since 1998 with the (in)famous MAPS proposal. While that would've been cool, I'm fairly satisfied with this stadium, especially given its relatively low cost. The design is a bit lackluster, but I'm especially excited about the potential for an entertainment district to spring up around it (a quick glance at the Google image shows how many vacant and/or low-density lots there are in the adjacent blocks).

As for a new skyscraper... I'm not holding my breath, especially after COVID. We did complete a pair of 17 (18?) story buildings last year, both residential and in Southside. Residential tends to have lower floor plates though, so I'd be surprised if either of these broke 200'. Also, you may have heard of a proposal for a 650+ foot skyscraper back in August (ironically during the middle of COVID), but I don't think many of us actually think that will happen. Plus it just looked... weird. One consolation is that our tallest vacant buildings are finally filling back up. In fact, I think Brown-Marx is the last remaining vacant "tall" building with no known proposal.

Shipt is the game changer and catalyst. While downtown Birmingham was always financial driven , Shipt is totally new animal. The new startup Landing is the type of projects cities crave. If successful it may change Birmingham like no other business except UAB. Amazon sees Shipt as a real threat long term.

[TimCity2000]

Originally Posted by mcalumni01

They are testing out the LED stadium lights tonight. You can see it on the construction cam..

i'd say they work! haha

[OldBankhead]

Damn.

[mcalumni01]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

i'd say they work! haha

Yeah I saw them tonight when I got off on the 25th st exit ramp into downtown. What would have been neat if they had put a huge Birmingham sign like at Region Field on the east side of the stadium next to TopGolf.

[MinivanDriver]

New lights look great!

[TimCity2000]

Originally Posted by mcalumni01

Yeah I saw them tonight when I got off on the 25th st exit ramp into downtown. What would have been neat if they had put a huge Birmingham sign like at Region Field on the east side of the stadium next to TopGolf.

yeah, that would be cool... i always wished the BIRMINGHAM sign on Regions Field was slightly more visible from I-65.

[bhamblazer]

Originally Posted by TimCity2000

Agreed. 2010 is the date I use as the start of the downtown "renaissance". That's the year that Railroad Park opened, subsequently igniting that area of town, including Regions Field in 2013. Of course, a "domed stadium" has been talked about here since 1998 with the (in)famous MAPS proposal. While that would've been cool, I'm fairly satisfied with this stadium, especially given its relatively low cost. The design is a bit lackluster, but I'm especially excited about the potential for an entertainment district to spring up around it (a quick glance at the Google image shows how many vacant and/or low-density lots there are in the adjacent blocks).

As for a new skyscraper... I'm not holding my breath, especially after COVID. We did complete a pair of 17 (18?) story buildings last year, both residential and in Southside. Residential tends to have lower floor plates though, so I'd be surprised if either of these broke 200'. Also, you may have heard of a proposal for a 650+ foot skyscraper back in August (ironically during the middle of COVID), but I don't think many of us actually think that will happen. Plus it just looked... weird. One consolation is that our tallest vacant buildings are finally filling back up. In fact, I think Brown-Marx is the last remaining vacant "tall" building with no known proposal.

Agreed. You also had the Children's hospital expansion open up even before RR Park. I don't think we'll see any new skyscrapers for awhile. For one, construction costs are too high right now and we need multiple large office users to move in for that to work. I'm afraid we're also about to see a large vacancy hit the market at The Daniel Building. I doubt PNC will be keeping much of that space.

But with the rise of remote working who knows what that looks like in the future. Existing space is one thing, but companies may not see as much of a need to spend $70M+ building a giant building.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by bhamblazer

Agreed. You also had the Children's hospital expansion open up even before RR Park. I don't think we'll see any new skyscrapers for awhile. For one, construction costs are too high right now and we need multiple large office users to move in for that to work. I'm afraid we're also about to see a large vacancy hit the market at The Daniel Building. I doubt PNC will be keeping much of that space.

But with the rise of remote working who knows what that looks like in the future. Existing space is one thing, but companies may not see as much of a need to spend $70M+ building a giant building.

I'm not sure. I'm hearing whispers. I think between Bill Smith and Shegun Otulana, I'm awfully sure both of those guys are committed to establishing some serious square footage in the downtown market. Between him and Bill Smith, along with incubators such as Innovation Depot,, the two of them are creating a crazy entrepreneurial culture in the market.



By the way, Shegun Otulana doesn't get nearly the discussion he deserves on this forum. Everybody swoons over Bill Smith (Deservedly, I might add), but the Shipt sale was chicken feed compared to Therapy Brands' $1.2 billion sale to KKR. Now he's on to Harmony and Copysmith.

[BammaBoy17]

What happened to the seats that are to the left and right side of the press box having a top over them like in the renderings? Did they omit that design?

[bhamblazer]

Originally Posted by MinivanDriver

I'm not sure. I'm hearing whispers. I think between Bill Smith and Shegun Otulana, I'm awfully sure both of those guys are committed to establishing some serious square footage in the downtown market. Between him and Bill Smith, along with incubators such as Innovation Depot,, the two of them are creating a crazy entrepreneurial culture in the market.



By the way, Shegun Otulana doesn't get nearly the discussion he deserves on this forum. Everybody swoons over Bill Smith (Deservedly, I might add), but the Shipt sale was chicken feed compared to Therapy Brands' $1.2 billion sale to KKR. Now he's on to Harmony and Copysmith.

That would be awesome if we see a big chunk of office space either newly created or re-used in an existing building. Otulana definitely deserves more praise. He flys under the radar, but is having a big impact on Bham. Harmony Venture Labs has a lot of potential. Hopefully KKR will allow Therapy Brands to follow the Shipt model and continue to grow in Birmingham.