Huntsville/Madison Development News (Birmingham, Montgomery: finance, taxable, zoo)

[johnsonkk]

Originally Posted by cooldiver

Actually the Westin ranks 16th by traveler reviews on Tripadvisor and the Element is even worse at 28th. The list is admittedly biased towards the newer properties, but even with that the Westin has some really bad reviews. I mean seriously bad. It makes me question AAA ratings, as the Westin claims to be the only AAA 4 Diamond rated hotel in town.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...e_Alabama.html


I will have to spend a night at 106 Jefferson soon. I like to spend the occasional night in downtown Huntsville, but prices at the AC and the Embassy Suites have really escalated this year so I have not done so for a while.

The AAA ratings are based on amenities and not ratings. Any review sites have difficulty getting the fifth star and angry patrons always go for one star wishing they could pick zero stars.

Best I’ve found is to look at the NEWEST ones and decide on those. Wish there was a year associated with hotels like cars. Indianapolis has not had a new hotel (chain hotel) built since 2005.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by cooldiver

You are correct, at one time there was a plan for 5 Northrop Grumman buildings along Voyager Way, to be developed by Colonial Properties. Building #1 was actually built and is still occupied by NG. There was a groundbreaking ceremony for building #2 in September of 2008 which was never constructed. I believe there is a new building (not Northrop Grumman) further north on Voyager where building #5 was going to be located.

I do not know why the plan was abandoned and whether it had anything to do with Colonial Properties' fate after the GFC.

NG did recently lease a building on Wynn Drive directly across from the legacy NG/TRW building at 213 Wynn Drive. The legacy building at 213 Wynn Drive was built in two phases, with the first phase being opened right around 40 years ago.


The legacy building at 213 Wynn Drive might be attractive to Huntsville and to the state of Alabama if they need additional land for the cyber academy.


Maybe there will be a press release soon with more details on the plans.

I expect NG was willing to pay a premium to have their name be highly visible at the main entrance to Redstone Arsenal.

Hopefully the access roads to 565 and Governors West will be built soon, as all of the new stuff at Redstone Gateway plus the growth on Redstone proper will increase traffic and congestion at Gate 9. Which also (I guess) drives a new expressway to Gate 10.

I expect you're right about showing the name. Boeing has already done that with their complex near the old Gate 9 location.

Perhaps the reason the other 4 buildings were never built was that Redstone Gateway wasn't in the works when Northrop Grumman announced the buildings, then when RG came about they decided that was even a better, more highly visible area, and closer to the customer.

To me, Redstone Gateway is an astounding development

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by cooldiver

Actually the Westin ranks 16th by traveler reviews on Tripadvisor and the Element is even worse at 28th. The list is admittedly biased towards the newer properties, but even with that the Westin has some really bad reviews. I mean seriously bad. It makes me question AAA ratings, as the Westin claims to be the only AAA 4 Diamond rated hotel in town.

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...e_Alabama.html


I will have to spend a night at 106 Jefferson soon. I like to spend the occasional night in downtown Huntsville, but prices at the AC and the Embassy Suites have really escalated this year so I have not done so for a while.

To be honest, I've never stayed at the Westin/Element, but I've been to their breakfast buffet and it was really good. The hotel lobby looked first class.

For the matter, I've not stayed in a hotel in over 30 years, and that was a couple of nights when we moved to the new house we'd constructed and the power hadn't been turned on yet.

I'm going almost totally by outward appearance, and 106 Jefferson is beautiful on the outside and I would be disappointed if it wasn't the same on the inside.

As you mentioned, it might be a good idea to do a staycation at 106.

[AU HSV]

Zoo location announced
https://whnt.com/news/north-alabamas...-location/amp/

located on 279 acres of land north of Martin Line Road next to Interstate 65, just south of Tanner. It will be easily accessible from US-72, US-31, I-565, and the Huntsville Browns-Ferry Exit on I-65.

Looks like Bucee gonna have some company.

[harry chickpea]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

Zoo location announced
https://whnt.com/news/north-alabamas...-location/amp/

located on 279 acres of land north of Martin Line Road next to Interstate 65, just south of Tanner. It will be easily accessible from US-72, US-31, I-565, and the Huntsville Browns-Ferry Exit on I-65.

Looks like Bucee gonna have some company.

Artist conceptual maps and drawings are all fun, but there are some basic questions where reality might intervene in the final design. How does one protect a Sumatran rain forest exhibit from north Alabama winters with snow and sub-freezing temperatures? In an era where UNA has pampered lions to keep PETA at bay, just how feasible is a large scale park like this, given the inevitable lawsuits and bad publicity? Then there is the simple fact of life in that area - how the heck do you get all of those expensive and irreplaceable animals into a storm shelter when a tornado passes? Paging Noah, will Noah please come to the front desk?

[Surge0001]

Stole this one from one of the General Threads


Huntsville is ranked 2nd highest in the U.S. (in Mid-sized cities) for % of population that earn 6 figures or more



https://www.latticepublishing.com/bl...ix-figure-jobs

[RocketDawg]

Looks like Huntsville will finally get its information signs and cameras, at least along 565. What's interesting about the story in the link is that the city was approached 20 years ago with installing them but showed no interest. That seems unbelievable but I think that was probably under Loretta Spencer's mayorship so maybe it's not too surprising.

https://www.al.com/news/2021/08/i-56...ge-boards.html

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

Zoo location announced
https://whnt.com/news/north-alabamas...-location/amp/

located on 279 acres of land north of Martin Line Road next to Interstate 65, just south of Tanner. It will be easily accessible from US-72, US-31, I-565, and the Huntsville Browns-Ferry Exit on I-65.

Looks like Bucee gonna have some company.

Nice. Looks like those guessing the location were wrong. Regardless, it'll be a very good addition and I hope they can pull it off.

Buc-ee's will have a LOT of traffic, and a lot of them will conceivably go to the zoo and aquarium.

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Looks like Huntsville will finally get it's information signs and cameras, at least along 565. What's interesting about the story in the link is that the city was approached 20 years ago with installing them but showed no interest. That seems unbelievable but I think that was probably under Loretta Spencer's mayorship so maybe it's not too surprising.

https://www.al.com/news/2021/08/i-56...ge-boards.html

Excellent, if they were installed 20 years ago they would be obsolete and probably not working. Think Birmingham had issues with there’s years ago and basically were unusable.

Memorial Parkway is in dire need of boards and cameras as well. Due to the roller coaster effect of the exit ramps you are driving blind as to what’s ahead.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by harry chickpea

Artist conceptual maps and drawings are all fun, but there are some basic questions where reality might intervene in the final design. How does one protect a Sumatran rain forest exhibit from north Alabama winters with snow and sub-freezing temperatures? In an era where UNA has pampered lions to keep PETA at bay, just how feasible is a large scale park like this, given the inevitable lawsuits and bad publicity? Then there is the simple fact of life in that area - how the heck do you get all of those expensive and irreplaceable animals into a storm shelter when a tornado passes? Paging Noah, will Noah please come to the front desk?

Might take more than an EF-5 to blow an elephant over.