Momentum builds in Montgomery

MONTGOMERY, Ala. Alabama's capital is miles ahead of Jackson when it comes to downtown development, but Montgomery still has a journey before it can boast a complete downtown turnaround.

A decade ago, the city's downtown was nearly empty with few businesses and hotels managing to stick it out in the harsh environment. That changed, officials said, when America's favorite pastime came to town.

"The catalyst was the baseball park, Riverwalk Stadium," said Adam Warnke, a state employee and event promoter. "The city worked with the minor league baseball team, the Montgomery Biscuits, and with a public-private partnership, built a fantastic facility downtown."

"Before then nobody came downtown," Warnke said. "There really wasn't a reason to come downtown."

Heads started to turn toward the flow of visitors in the region, and Warnke said people who owned old buildings in downtown started looking at selling or investing money in them.

The timing was just right for the city and downtown, capitalizing on the growing trend of young professionals looking to locate in thriving urban areas — namely in Downtown, USA — where there's a steady supply of things to do.

"Everything is about timing when it comes to development, and I think the city today is primed and ready for this revitalization," said Mac McLeod, the city's development director.

"A little before the baseball stadium was built, we had started construction on the Riverwalk," said Dawn Hathcock, vice president of convention and visitor development for the city's area chamber of commerce.

The park, located on the Alabama River that runs through downtown, became a welcome beacon for development, adding an amphitheater in addition to the stadium, Hathcock said.

"Everyone woke up and took notice at that point."

Conventions

The changes to Riverwalk prompted the city to invest in promoting the downtown for conventions, Hathcock said.

"We had a civic center downtown with a nice Embassy Suites next to it," she said. "Plans were then made to convert the old civic center into a convention center and build a hotel attached to that center."

The Renaissance Hotel and Spa was born, a 342-room facility to host convention visitors. With the already existing Embassy Suites, Hathcock said both hotels were vital to downtown's success.

"That truly, paired with the baseball stadium, really is when we started to see a huge influx of interest in the downtown area," she said.

In Jackson, the awaited convention center hotel has remained a hot-button issue among city leaders, with two deals to bring one here having fallen through over the last several years.

In February, the Jackson Redevelopment Authority hinted that a proposal to bring in developers for such a hotel could be coming.

"We really need to get that convention center property developed," said JRA attorney Zach Taylor at the time, adding the city is taking a "fast-track" approach in finalizing and issuing the request for proposals. So far those RFPs do not appear to have been issued.

The convention complex opened more than five years ago, but with no connected hotel the complex has relied more on one-day events for revenue and visitors. More multiday events, where a hotel would be needed to house convention visitors, would lead people to spend more time in downtown Jackson's restaurants, shops and attractions, supporters say.

Back in downtown Montgomery, the hotels, joined more recently by a Doubletree Hilton, have enticed visitors — including a growing number of convention-goers — to explore the area.

The influx of interest prompted developers to begin work on an entertainment district, known as The Alley, McLeod said.

Working with city officials, the area was officially designated an entertainment district — much like what Mississippi law calls a resort status, one held by Jackson's Farish Street.

"Basically you can take a drink out of one bar and walk to another with that drink in your hand," McLeod said. "That creates the street environment that you see in other areas."

McLeod said the rules work well for Friday and Saturday night patrons but were also crucial in recruiting more conventions.

After The Alley, and its six or seven bars and restaurants came around, Warnke said everything else just seemed to snowball for a time.

But the momentum then sputtered, mostly because of the 2009 recession that similarly took a chunk out of Jackson's revitalized energy.

But, Warnke said, entrepreneurs helped spur another movement, this time in the form of food trucks, the first of which opened last year.

"We're starting to see a lot of young people move into this area (for business)," he said. "Jobs brought them to Montgomery."

"They didn't want to move here," Warnke added, saying the relocation for work led others to seek new opportunities.

"That's how this food truck started," he said. "Three guys saw the opportunity, and they pulled it off."

So far, there have been two downtown food trucks to open within the last year, including the most recent one — The Bullet — which is permanently parked next to the Renaissance hotel. It features food from local eateries that want to market to downtown lunch crowds.

The popularity of mobile restaurants has been in high gear the last several years around the nation. After changes to city ordinances two years ago, Jackson welcomed its first food truck, Lurney D's, and others have followed though they haven't been quite as visible.

Residents or the development?

Developing more business in downtown Montgomery first means putting more people in the area.

"Downtown living has really taken off. The residential lofts that are being built rent as fast as they can build a market for them," McLeod said. "Hopefully, it is going to draw more and more young professionals. In fact, we are seeing some empty nesters that are looking here."

The recent sale of old property downtown has meant more residential units are in the works, but Warnke said attracting residents is tied to offering more attractions.

"It's the chicken and egg analogy. You want people to come downtown, but they also need amenities in downtown," he said. "They need places to shop, places to ride around on their bicycles. They want transportation.

"They want all the things they see the Brooklyn's have and the Nashville's have."

Warnke said there's been a concerted effort over the last year, especially from people who live downtown, to keep pushing new kinds of development.

"We probably need more industry to locate," McLeod said.

A grocery store is one of the loudest verbalized needs. "I hear that more than anything. People say, 'Mac, when are we going to get a grocery store?'

"We're not at that point."

McLeod said Montgomery isn't providing incentive dollars for people to locate downtown, but it does have an incentive package for a grocery store because of the need.

"That's the one thing that's missing within a 2-mile radius of downtown Montgomery," he said. "We have probably 400 or so residents (now) and want to add another 400 or more to get the critical mass we need in order to get (a grocery store)."

Other developments, specifically residential and retail, are in the works as the downtown strives to offer more options to a growing market.

"The target kind of moves around a little," Hathcock said. "The developments that have been done so far have been smaller."

One apartment building opened in a historic structure, offering 12 units, she said. The developers worked to keep the historical integrity, a move that has paid off for the type of residents generally attracted to downtowns — the young professional.

"They can't keep them fast enough," she said of the new apartments downtown. "The moment word gets out that someone is renovating, there's a waiting list."

The smaller, more controlled growth also helps developers gauge the market. With more interest and waiting lists growing, Hathcock said more residential buildings are being eyed for renovation.

"We just had a larger building being done, a little more modern, with probably 25 to 35 units, and I think they have pretty much filled up," Hathcock said.

Now, there's another larger complex about to break ground — one that will have between 80 to 100 units. Additionally, she said, there are some plans for a complex up on the bluff overlooking the river, still within the downtown core development area.

"There was a study done a few years ago, and it basically said that the demand of about 1,500 units is what they felt like the (downtown) could handle," Hathcock said.

"At some point you kind of max out to the development area you have or are landlocked to a certain extent," she said.

"I still feel like we haven't reached that point yet."

Contact Dustin Barnes at dbarnes2@gannett.com or (601) 360-4644. Follow @DustinCL on Twitter.