Huntsville/Madison Development News (Cullman, Harvest: renewal, experiences, cake)

[AU HSV]

Culver's in Hazel Green planned opening August 7th. Being right across from Hazel Green High school probably be a very popular stop for lots of folks.
Other stores are slated for Winchester Road, and Hampton Cove.
They like Whataburger have and are expanding rapidly across Alabama.

[AU HSV]

Interesting pic from City of Huntsville, looking west along I-565, in the foreground is The Foundry multifamily development with Governors Drive adjacent to the complex, Stovehouse is just out of the bottom of the pic. The Saturn V at the Space and Rocket Center can be seen upper left. UAH occupies upper center. This was probably taken last fall as the complex is basically complete.



https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...29556035885102

[djmaxwell]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

as mentioned above by David1502
Believe Columbia has around 950 students which I don't think is near capacity. As growth and demographics change another Huntsville school may be needed in Limestone county.
Sparkman of course is a county school and the Madison County school system has already stated that two more schools are needed, one new school is ready for construction @ McKee Road in Toney and possibly another high school in the Hazel Green area
Meanwhile Madison City has its own issues as well Journey Middle School is set to open at 217 Celtic Drive, has capacity to hold 1,200 students 650 students will be enrolled this first year.
According to Madison City Schools, a new elementary school will be located in Limestone County between Hardiman and Segers Roads, south of Powell Road and hold 900 students. This places the school approximately 1 mile west of County Line Road.
School overcrowding is definitely going to be an issue from quite sometime.

I mentioned Sparkman for comparison. The reason students from Triana were zoned into the Madison City School system was because it would be too far for students to travel to the country schools. HSV City Schools is asking its students to do the same. If they had left Providence as a K-8 school, it wouldn't be so bad. Definitely poor planning between the city's annexation and the school system zoning.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by David1502

While there has been extensive growth in the western areas of Huntsville, which is the Columbia High School district, there are a large number of families who have opted for private schools. Also, a lot of the growth has been apartments which tend to be populated with young professionals who don't have kids.

The enrollment for Columbia High School last school year was 950 students, whereas Grisson High School had 1,950 and Huntsville High School had 1,819. So, you can see that Columbia can practically double in size just to catch up to Grissom and Huntsville.

Driving (or walking) around the neighborhoods in the Columbia High School district, you will see many private school signs in yards - specifically Madison Academy, Westminster Christian Academy and JPII Catholic High School. However, I have yet to see a Columbia High School sign or even the elementary school signs, yet I have seen families with elementary school age kids playing in the yard with a private school sign out front. Until the HSV City Schools get better rankings and start attracting the higher income households in the Columbia District, HSV City Schools won't have to worry about building new school buildings. Back in 2014, during the school desegregation court case, the presiding judge asked the number of students who were attending private schools in each district and Providence Elementary School had the highest number in the City with over 450 students. That tells you something about the perception that those families had about sending kids to the local public schools.

If Providence and nearby neighborhoods were the only ones zoned to Providence, it would have been fine. But the zone was gerrymandered for racial reasons so it went down. Generally speaking, those living in Providence are fairly well off financially, so they can afford to send their kids to private schools, even if it means some budgeting.

We went to private school for 13 years, K-12, and never had a single yard sign. I wonder why that's so fashionable nowadays. I see them in my current neighborhood as well.

[Rick In Madison]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

For the foreseeable future yes they are adequate. Most of Huntsville’s western land is zoned manufacturing/industrial. The issue now is overcrowded Grissom High School which is only 6 years old.
It would be ideal to have another high school in Hampton Cove but don’t think desegregation requirements will allow it.

From a simplistic approach after looking at a Huntsville city high school map; maybe shifting Huntsville High's houses north of 431 into Lee and the northern part of Grissom's area that is north of Martin and west of 231 into Columbia in an attempt to relieve Grissom.

https://maps.huntsvilleal.gov/myschoolsmap/

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by Rick In Madison

From a simplistic approach after looking at a Huntsville city high school map; maybe shifting Huntsville High's houses north of 431 into Lee and the northern part of Grissom's area that is north of Martin and west of 231 into Columbia in an attempt to relieve Grissom.

https://maps.huntsvilleal.gov/myschoolsmap/

Yeah that ain’t happening, desegregation among few roadblocks, Huntsville high students won’t go to Lee plus it impacts all of the feeder schools in the areas.
Grissom can be expanded and probably will, time being good ole portables will probably be there a while.
But yeah simple observations usually mean complicated answers.

[AU HSV]

Good info about the Redstone Gateway, the large office complex outside Redstone Arsenal. The city has completed its obligations to the project.


https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/how-...aying-off.html

The project, launched in 2010 with an expected $1 billion in investment, is a complex financial arrangement between the city and LW Redstone, the Army’s hand-picked developer for Redstone Gateway

“This finishes the city’s portion of this, but there is still 2.7 million square feet of office space, retail, hotel space that will be built there,” Mayor Tommy Battle said. “And the Redstone development company, owned by (Corporate Office Properties Trust), will be finishing out the rest of the development. The city was able to help facilitate this. But we were very careful to make sure that we did it at no risk to the citizens.”

According to Redstone Gateway’s website, 16 buildings have been completed outside the arsenal gates with one completed behind the gates. The development includes Boeing’s hub of operations in Alabama. Another four buildings are under development.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

Good info about the Redstone Gateway, the large office complex outside Redstone Arsenal. The city has completed its obligations to the project.


https://www.al.com/news/2023/07/how-...aying-off.html

The project, launched in 2010 with an expected $1 billion in investment, is a complex financial arrangement between the city and LW Redstone, the Army’s hand-picked developer for Redstone Gateway

“This finishes the city’s portion of this, but there is still 2.7 million square feet of office space, retail, hotel space that will be built there,” Mayor Tommy Battle said. “And the Redstone development company, owned by (Corporate Office Properties Trust), will be finishing out the rest of the development. The city was able to help facilitate this. But we were very careful to make sure that we did it at no risk to the citizens.”

According to Redstone Gateway’s website, 16 buildings have been completed outside the arsenal gates with one completed behind the gates. The development includes Boeing’s hub of operations in Alabama. Another four buildings are under development.

Redstone Gateway is a really nice development. It's hard to remember how the open fields there once looked.

Has there been any progress on the new access road from 565/Madison Blvd into the Gateway? I can't remember the name of it.

[AU HSV]

Originally Posted by RocketDawg

Redstone Gateway is a really nice development. It's hard to remember how the open fields there once looked.

Has there been any progress on the new access road from 565/Madison Blvd into the Gateway? I can't remember the name of it.

Resolute Way part of the Restore Our Roads phase 2, but it’s probably not on aldots high priority list .

The second phase includes construction of the new Resolute Way interchange at Interstate 565, just west of Research Park Boulevard, providing improved access to Redstone Arsenal, Gateway Park and Madison Boulevard/Governors West, and the East Arsenal Connector road from the Sparkman Drive exit at I-565 to Patton Road.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by AU HSV

Resolute Way part of the Restore Our Roads phase 2, but it’s probably not on aldots high priority list .

The second phase includes construction of the new Resolute Way interchange at Interstate 565, just west of Research Park Boulevard, providing improved access to Redstone Arsenal, Gateway Park and Madison Boulevard/Governors West, and the East Arsenal Connector road from the Sparkman Drive exit at I-565 to Patton Road.

Yes, that's it. Thanks for the update (I guess no progress has been made).