What's the next big thing west of County Line going to be? (Madison: live, shopping center)

[BMW Dave]

Originally Posted by LCTMadison

Ha...see in my world, there is only one Bill! LOL!

Bill Stewart will be President next year.....he's Pres-Elect this year. So he'll be living his life at HAAR soon!

And you're right, every time I have had to go to C21 he's there and I always see his truck....gonna have to pick him to see how he pulls that off! I love Bill, he's an awesome guy!

Oh, FYI, closed with "your" attorney Friday....he's a BABE! Nice guy though, but he's very "green". He's so cute (don't tell my DH I said that!). He'll get into his "groove" as he goes. We had a great closing with him!

Hah, I will have to congratulate my Bill on the impending office.

He was a very nice guy, he made mention of it being one of his first I believe.

I'm sure he will keep the closings fun AND make sure everything gets signed after he's been there for a while

[E Limestone Dude]

OK, two new buildings I'd like help identifying.

1. New construction building in front of Car Wash in new 72 Walmart shopping center. If I had to guess it looks like an Applebees or Chili's type buildng.

2. New construction fast food building directly west of the Chick-fil-A in Athens.

Any ideas? Thanks!

[RocketDawg]

If I recall correctly, shortly before the economic collapse 3 or 4 years ago, there had been an announcement of a Providence-type development near Hwy 20 and County Line Road. It's possible that it was on the Madison County side, so not west of CL Rd., but that would have been a big development had it come to pass.

And at the same time, a large shopping center was announced for the SW corner of Zierdt Rd and Hwy 20 (Madison Blvd), but I have no idea what the status is. Last I heard, Wayne Bonner, the developer, still had plans for it, but that was a couple of years ago.

[LCTMadison]

I always felt much of that "development" off County Line (and it was slated for the east side) was a last ditch effort of the old mayor for reelection. I could be wrong.

The Zierdt Rd development if I remember correctly was the one that was so hotly debated because the developer (I think it is Louis Breland??) wanted to deannex that out of Madison city and zone into HSV and there was a HUGE uproar over it.....gosh, that has been so many years ago...I'm not sure if that's 100% correct

Edit: Here's the article about it. It was Lowell Barron leading the charge probably at the request of Breland. I think this is one of the big issues that lead to Battles and Finley having the "hatchet burying" ceremony after they took office.

Madison irate over deannex bill
Saturday, March 17, 2007
By WENDY REEVES
and JOHN PECK Times Staff Writerswendy.reeves@htimes.com john.peck@htimes.com
Barron's plan for retail site called 'back room' deal

MADISON - Madison city leaders are furious over state Sen. Lowell Barron's proposed legislation to deannex more than 250 acres that's being considered for a major retail development.

"This is not just coming at us through the back door, this is the back room," said Madison City Council President Tommy Overcash.

Madison officials have been negotiating since last summer for a large-scale retail development at Zierdt Road and Madison Boulevard with local developer Lewis Breland and a development company linked to Edward J. DeBartolo Jr., former owner of the San Francisco 49ers.

Overcash and Mayor Sandy Kirkindall said Friday they learned three weeks ago that rumors were being spread to the local legislative delegation that Madison couldn't afford a large development on the scale of The Summit in Birmingham.

"There have been no questions about our ability to provide reasonable and necessary incentives," Kirkindall said.

Last Saturday, a proposed bill to deannex 230 acres owned by Breland was advertised in The Times. The property was an-nexed into Madison during the 1960s, Kirkindall said.

On Friday, Kirkindall received notice of a proposed bill to deannex an additional 32.74 acres at the same site.

"Basically, it appears these rumors have set the stage for this deannexation process," Overcash said. "And it seems to be carefully orchestrated."

State Sen. Tom Butler, D-Madison, said lobbyist Steve Raby, whose clients include Barron, told Butler that Huntsville plans to annex the property if the deannexation bill passes. Huntsville Mayor Loretta Spencer was unavailable for comment late Friday, said her communications director, Denise Taylor.

City Planning Director Dallas Fanning denied the city is behind the deannexation bill and declined to say whether Huntsville would annex the property if the landowner asks. "I won't answer a hypothetical," he said.

The measure is already drawing stiff opposition in the 12-member Madison County legislative delegation, where one senator or two House members can kill a local bill.

Butler called it a bad piece of legislation that needs to be stopped. Butler said the deannexation would set a bad precedent and rob the City of Madison of desperately needed tax revenue. Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, also said he's inclined to oppose it.

The property is in Orr's district and borders Butler's.

"Huntsville has annexed all the way around and surrounds Madison and prohibits further expansion of its city limits. Now to come in and try to detach a piece of property that could provide badly needed tax revenue for schools and services is absolutely wrong," Butler said.

"It's a strong-arm tactic that violates local courtesy in the delegation by being outside the sponsor's Senate district."

Barron, a Democrat, is from Fyffe in DeKalb County.

Raby said the issue is not about Huntsville versus Madison but about landowner Breland's "opportunities" to develop the property in the Huntsville city limits. Breland did not return calls seeking comment Friday.

Raby referred inquiries to Sen. Parker Griffith, D-Huntsville, who said he will do whatever it takes to ensure the development is built, regardless of the host city. Griffith said Breland certainly wouldn't pursue a deannexation that would be contrary to the property's development potential.

"The way I view it, it's a win-win for Huntsville or Madison if they put a $200 million development on that corner. That whole strip along Alabama 20 will then be golden."

Griffith said he's heard conflicting reports on whether Madison can provide the incentives for the massive project. Butler said he met with Kirkindall and bond officials and is convinced Madison can afford competitive incentives.

Madison's financial consultants say "there's no question" that Madison can legally and financially support a major retail development.

"They have a AA rating by Standard & Poor and a Moody's A1 rating, so they are fully capable and certainly have the wherewithal to do what they want to do," Jim Birchall, the city's bond attorney with Walston, Wells & Birchall in Birmingham, said by phone Friday. "Madison has excellent credit in the State of Alabama."

Birchall, who represents cities all over the state, said until the 1990s cities were prohibited from lending aid or credit to private corporations.

"What has evolved is one city being pitted against another city and it's created a competition that's left the developers as the only beneficiaries," Birchall said. "It's not a benefit to the citizens of our state."

In Birmingham, The Summit is surrounded by Mountain Brook, Vestavia and Hoover.

"What's to stop one of those cities from going to the owner and saying, 'Why don't you deannex from Birmingham and we'll pay you X amount of dollars?' " Birchall said. "That's where I see this going and it's not good on a number of different levels ... it's just not good public policy."

[Maya Blue]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

If I recall correctly, shortly before the economic collapse 3 or 4 years ago, there had been an announcement of a Providence-type development near Hwy 20 and County Line Road. It's possible that it was on the Madison County side, so not west of CL Rd., but that would have been a big development had it come to pass.

And at the same time, a large shopping center was announced for the SW corner of Zierdt Rd and Hwy 20 (Madison Blvd), but I have no idea what the status is. Last I heard, Wayne Bonner, the developer, still had plans for it, but that was a couple of years ago.

The one on County Line was going to be called WaterStone. I remember seeing plans for it online through the developers website. It was to be around 450 acres. Between the railroad tracks and the FedEx building. There was to be a connector road feeding into Wal-Triana and Balch was to be finished all the way to Madison Blvd.

[bmrisko]

Originally Posted by E Limestone Dude

OK, two new buildings I'd like help identifying.

1. New construction building in front of Car Wash in new 72 Walmart shopping center. If I had to guess it looks like an Applebees or Chili's type buildng.

2. New construction fast food building directly west of the Chick-fil-A in Athens.

Any ideas? Thanks!

My money is on a mattress store...

[E Limestone Dude]

Originally Posted by E Limestone Dude

OK, two new buildings I'd like help identifying.

2. New construction fast food building directly west of the Chick-fil-A in Athens.

The fast food building in Athens is Dairy Queen per this article.

Despite love-hate relationship with Huntsville, Athens carves unique identity (Outlook 2013) | al.com

[FCEddie]

Looks like we have a few new things popping up at the new Wal-mart location.

1) The possible Applebees/Chili's

2) Across the street from car wash is another structure

3) The frontage structure on 72. Could be a mattress store or maybe shoe store.

[DaMadHatter]

Originally Posted by Maya Blue

The one on County Line was going to be called WaterStone. I remember seeing plans for it online through the developers website. It was to be around 450 acres. Between the railroad tracks and the FedEx building. There was to be a connector road feeding into Wal-Triana and Balch was to be finished all the way to Madison Blvd.

Here's an article with the WaterStone plans. Of course this is from 2008 and is not going to happen....

Huntsville Development News: WaterStone: a more in-depth look

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by LCTMadison

I always felt much of that "development" off County Line (and it was slated for the east side) was a last ditch effort of the old mayor for reelection. I could be wrong.

The Zierdt Rd development if I remember correctly was the one that was so hotly debated because the developer (I think it is Louis Breland??) wanted to deannex that out of Madison city and zone into HSV and there was a HUGE uproar over it.....gosh, that has been so many years ago...I'm not sure if that's 100% correct.

Yes, you are correct ... it was Lewis Breland. My only excuse is that both he and Bonner have last names that start with a "B" ....

Which mayor are you talking about? Finley? I think he could have been reelected easily, and it was my understanding that he didn't want the job again. Once again though, I could be wrong. I don't keep up with Madison politics that much.

And WaterStone would have been a nice development, and may still be one of these days. And the Zierdt road development would be nice, but would require some major road mods ... like an interchange for the 565. The land would also be a great location for a golf course/country club.