6660 University Drive (Huntsville, Madison, Providence: real estate, houses, neighborhood)

[Dudeman'sDudeman]

Anyone know the history on the abandoned property next to CVS on University? Pretty creepy place.

[Dude111]

Welcome to city-data

I love exploring abandoned places....... I dunno if I ever had been to any that were deemed haunted but if I knew it was,I would talk to the spirits when I was there! (Ya dont want them on your bad side)


I hope you like it here Dudeman'sDudeman,thank you for registering!

[MisterEd51]

Some of land between Paramount and Providence Main and north of University Drive comprises the northern part of the Indian Creek Greenway. CVS is located just east of it.

Indian Creek Greenway

[bmrisko]

Wow, I never knew there was an abandoned house to the west of CVS. I guess it is obscured by all the trees there. Is that the property you're referring to?

[Dudeman'sDudeman]

Yes, thats the house. Its not my property. I walked on one of the trails comming from providence and stumbled upon a barn and that house. I never saw it from the road before. I was just curious how long it had been abandoned.

[Dudeman'sDudeman]

Dude111, thank you. I like checking out abandoned places too. Be safe if you check this one out. There was a small shack with someone in sitting outside to the left of the house down the trail.

[DaMadHatter]

It was occupied up until they started building the CVS. I believe they demolished another building where the CVS is and started to demolish the one next door and stopped. My next door neighbor salvaged a few plants from the yard before it was demolished.

The real creepy place is the house across the street where the cell phone murders happened.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by Dudeman'sDudeman

Anyone know the history on the abandoned property next to CVS on University? Pretty creepy place.

This property is in a dead man's zone and it is doubtful that it can be developed for the following reason: It has Restrictive Covenants which restrict its use to single family homes. These Covenants were placed on it back in the late 1950's as it was part of the Beasley Acres neighborhood which is a neighborhood south of University which you get to on Springhill Drive.


In the late 1990's the residents of Beasley Acres were upset that commercial property was encroaching upon their community and wanted to do what they could to stop it. There actually were houses on this land - even the lot where the CVS is had a home on it. The homeowners who were on University were offered big prices for their lots and sold them to commercial developers. The Slyman brothers (the developers of the Village of Providence) proceeded to build the two story building where CVS is. During the construction, the Beasley Acres Homeowner's Association filed a lawsuit stating that they couldn't build a commercial building on it because of the restrictive covenants. This lawsuit went all the way to the Alabama Supreme Court and the Court decided in favor of the Beasley Acres HOA, however, they said that since the CVS building was almost complete, they could go ahead and use it as a commercial property, but all of the other property on University that was a part of the original Beasley Acres could not be developed for commercial uses because the restrictive covenants were still valid.


These restrictive covenants of Beasley Acres are the reason that the houses which look abandoned on the south side of University next door to Hiley Mazda/Volkswagen remain abandoned and they haven't been able to sell them for commercial uses.


There is another group of single family homes further west on University just east of Rainbow Drive that face a similar set of restrictive covenants because they are part of the Hughes Acres subdivision which also has restrictive covenants limiting the lots to single family homes.


If you have been wondering why you see these single family homes along University Dr. which are not being sold, and hauled off for some type of retail development now you know. Until someone can figure out how to legally change these restrictive covenants, these homes are stuck in a kind of no man's land. Who wants to live on a congested highway like University Dr. and comply with the restrictive covenants? Yet at the same time, the Alabama Supreme Court's decision is preventing them from going commercial.

[Preston3124]

Per eMaps that property is owned by Schreiner Development LLC and they have been paying almost $7,000 a year in property taxes since at least 2010. Previous owner was someone named Isbell.

[cooldiver]

Originally Posted by David1502

This property is in a dead man's zone and it is doubtful that it can be developed for the following reason: It has Restrictive Covenants which restrict its use to single family homes. These Covenants were placed on it back in the late 1950's as it was part of the Beasley Acres neighborhood which is a neighborhood south of University which you get to on Springhill Drive.

Thank you for summing all of that up, I remember reading some of this way back when the Huntsville Times was still sort of a real newspaper.

I thought there was some sort of settlement where the owners of the property with commercial potential could get out of the restrictions by paying a penalty to the other owners, but can't find anything about that.

I found this post on skyscraperpage.com:

By JOHN PECKTimes Staff Writer john.peck@htimes.com
Soaring property values along a once rural stretch of U.S. 72 in west Huntsville are pitting homeowner against homeowner in Beasley Spring Acres.

Decades-old deed covenants restrict many lots in the subdivision to residential use, although that didn't stop construction of a $4.5 million CVS drugstore/office building on a restricted lot near the Village of Providence.

Now, with pressure mounting for commercial development along the seven-lane highway as subdivisions bloom on the western side of Madison County, some homeowners in Beasley Spring Acres with highway frontage are thinking about cashing in.

An unusual proposal outlined in a class-action lawsuit would allow about two dozen residents along the highway to lift the deed restrictions to allow commercial development.

A local real estate expert said lifting the restrictions could fetch property owners up to $600,000 and more an acre.