The City of Birmingham is inviting developers to reimagine the site of the old Trinity Church near the Uptown district, aiming for a hospitality-focused development. The city owns the two pieces of land just across the Top Golf and a short walk away from Protective Stadium and the Coca-Cola Amphitheater.
“When you think about the eye of the city and when you walk into our entertainment district what do you see? That site is there right now, and we hope in the next three years or less it looks a lot different,” said Coreata’ Houser the Interim Director of the Department of Innovation and Economic Opportunity.
The city is open to various proposals, including but not limited to hotels, restaurants, greenspaces, or other concepts. The ideal partner would deliver a hotel with at least 100 rooms. The economic benefit and the timeline of construction will depend on the type of project chosen.
“Birmingham is open for business, but two that there’s real development opportunities in Birmingham. We really did not want to limit the development that came into the space, so we opened it up to say there’s a hospitality focus here, emphasized House. “What is the best and highest use of this particular of the site, and then how does not only the city get benefit from that but also the community as well?”
Houser said community feedback is important and will be a part of the process.
“Within the RFP process there is a community benefits agreement that will be included. So, the developers will be responsible to reach out to the community so that whatever the development is its reflective of the actual community.”
Joseph Watson lives in the Norwood community. He noted a hotel would be great for the people coming in to the city for the amenities. He also would like to see more grocery stores and places to eat.
“I would like to see a nice shopping center where we can go like a Ross or a Neighborhood Walmart, where we don’t have to go across town to get our groceries,” he said.
“I would think something more geared towards the young people and trying to keep them out of trouble,” said Mary Murphy.
“We need more stores, restaurants, cause we barely got any,” said Tykerian Fields who lives in Druid Hills.
With tourism and hospitality being the number one growing industry in the city, Houser said the city has a responsibility to ensure people have places to stay, eat and enjoy.
“We have to respond to that because what we do know is people are coming into this city to enjoy everything that we have to offer. So, we need to be responsible to make sure they have a space to stay and they have a true space of entertainment, innovation and community and that’s what this space represents for us.”
Developers can submit plans until the end of October. The city council will approve the final plan.
