Riverchase Galleria, Patton Creek are 'top of mind,' economic developer says

Hoover officials are working hard to make sure “key legacy developments” like the Riverchase Galleria and Patton Creek shopping centers are experiencing the same kind of renewal happening elsewhere in the city, the city’s economic developer told the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce Thursday.

“The Galleria, we all know, has some underutilized and underperforming assets on it,” Economic Developer Greg Knighton told the chamber at its luncheon at the Hoover Country Club.

The city is working with a team of architects and engineers and a construction firm on three or four possibilities for the Galleria, Knighton said.

“We’ll continue to have those conversations and to work with them, but we know it’s going to take a public-private partnership to make certain that that’s happening,” he said. “That is very much on the mind of the city’s elected officials and staff.”

Redeveloping the Galleria is kind of like redeveloping a downtown area, Knighton said.

“You’re dealing with multiple property owners, and everybody has their own vision,” he said. “Trying to get everybody under the same tent and thinking alike can take a little bit of time, especially when they’re in other states and have multiple pieces of property across those states.”

But Knighton emphasized that the Galleria campus is a vibrant center. It’s evident when trying to get into a restaurant on Galleria Circle at night or when visiting Von Maur, Costco, Palmetto Moon or Home Depot, he said.

Meanwhile, the Patton Creek shopping center was acquired in 2015 by a New York real estate investment trust that for years has outsourced management of the property, Knighton said.

The owners recently changed their strategy and have in-house people managing Patton Creek, he said. They have assured city officials that they know the improvements they need to make to redevelop the property, he said.

The Patton Creek website lists 26 vacant spaces in the shopping center, but many of those spots are small spaces. The majority of the leasable space in the center is occupied, including large tenants such as AMC movie theater, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Buy Buy Baby, Barnes and Noble Booksellers, Ross Dress For Less and DSW.

“These two properties (the Galleria and Patton Creek) are key and top of mind with city officials,” Knighton said.

VIBRANT SPOTS

Hoover is seeing economic development successes in multiple places around town, Knighton said.

Stadium Trace Village, at the entrance to Trace Crossings, is coming together as a true multi-faceted development, with medical, grocery, retail and restaurant tenants, an entertainment district on the way and a retirement center behind it, he said.

Ken Harden and Naseem Ajlouny are redeveloping Bluff Park Village with a new Piggy Wiggly and Mills Pharmacy on the way, and those new buildings are stimulating other development such as The Electric restaurant, Knighton said.

Publix is getting ready to open a new grocery store at the intersection of South Shades Crest Road and Morgan Road, and that development has space for other tenants in a small retail strip and two outparcels, he said.

Meanwhile, on U.S. 31 at the entrance to the city coming from Vestavia Hills, the new Hoover Crossings retail strip center gives the city a more attractive gateway to replace an abandoned garage and burnt out restaurant that some called unsightly, Knighton said.

Right next to Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, Hoover resident Jamie Cato is preparing to open Brock’s Gap Brewery, a two-story brewery with a taproom and live indoor and outdoor entertainment, which should be a big attraction for the many people coming to events at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex, Knighton said.

TARGET INDUSTRIES

Hoover also is targeting several industries for growth in the city, including information technology, life science and medical technology, automotive research and development, freight and logistics companies, corporate headquarters and back office operations, Knighton said.

The City Council has added a new zoning category for research and development facilities that allows the city to attract companies that might have small manufacturing and distribution operations that won’t be disruptive to the surrounding community, he said.

“We’re able to market pieces of land in the city we’ve never been able to market before,” he said.

The Hoover City Council in May gave a dental implant company based in Riverchase about $176,000 worth of tax abatements in exchange for a $2.5 million investment in an expansion project.

BioHorizons Implant Systems, which has been headquartered in Hoover about 14 years, plans to add about 11,000 square feet to the 72,000 square feet it already has in the Riverchase Office Park so it can begin packaging some of its products in Riverchase instead of outsourcing the packaging to a company in Minnesota.

The expansion should add about 20 jobs to the 200-person workforce already in Hoover over the next two years, said Todd Strong, BioHorizons’ chief operating officer.

Also, just last week, Millennial Bank broke ground in Meadow Brook Corporate Park for a new corporate headquarters, with plans to move the headquarters from Leeds.

TALENT RECRUITMENT

The city is working to recruit talent for these target industries and in May held a virtual recruitment event to connect college students and recent graduates in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields with companies in Hoover.

More than 85 people registered for the recruitment event, some of them from states such as Texas, Louisiana and Connecticut and some of them whom had never been to Hoover, Knighton said.

City officials are trying to market Hoover as a place where young professionals will want to come live and work, providing a strong talent base for companies that may want to relocate to Hoover or for existing companies that may want to expand, Knighton said.

The city is working with the HAILO Ventures business incubator that opened in The Offices at 3000 Riverchase in June of last year and is focused on helping launch technology companies in the artificial intelligence, operations, logistics and cybersecurity sectors.

The city also is partnering with educational institutions, such as the Hoover school system, colleges and universities, to review workforce development needs and to help schools better prepare people for jobs in industries the city is targeting, Knighton said.

Other partners include groups such as 58 Inc., Alabama Power, the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce and Birmingham Business Alliance.

The city’s economic development office also has been working to assist small businesses, helping them understand how to access federal financial assistance available through the CARES Act and providing mentors to help guide them through difficult decisions.

For more information about Hoover’s economic development activities, go to hooveral.org/962/Economic-Development