Ebsco appeal for auto dealership in Tattersall Park again meets resistance

Ebsco Industries on Tuesday night persisted with efforts to convince Greystone residents to support an automobile dealership coming to the Tattersall Park development off U.S. 280 and Alabama 119, but the company once again was met with stiff resistance.

About 200 people, mostly Greystone residents, attended a community meeting set up by Ebsco at The Church at Brook Hills Tuesday night.

The meeting was billed as a chance for Ebsco, the company developing Tattersall Park, to give residents an update on potential uses of the 20 undeveloped acres between the Publix grocery store and Greystone Way and receive community feedback.

Richard Yeilding, a development consultant for Ebsco, and attorney Charlie Beavers used the time to once again pitch the idea of having an automobile dealership on 12 acres — an idea that already was rejected by leaders of the Greystone Residential Association and the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission (in July).

Beavers said Ebsco realizes the city of Hoover will not approve the automobile dealership without the community supporting the idea, so the developers wanted to take their appeal to the community as a whole and once again test the waters.

Beavers and Yeilding presented two options for development of the 20 acres left to be sold.

One option was for an auto dealership on 12 acres right next to Publix and a donation of 3 acres next to Greystone Way to the city of Hoover for whatever use the city of Hoover deemed most appropriate — perhaps a library branch, meeting space or a park. Another six acres would be sold for some other use.

The second option was to divide the 20 acres into roughly 15 parcels and sell them for whatever uses are allowed under the current zoning. Those uses include barber and beauty shops, restaurants, banks, drug stores, dry cleaners, coin-operated laundromats, day cares and nurseries, offices, grocery stores, schools, nursing homes, veterinary clinics, building material sales (no outside lumber yards), bakeries, hotels, theaters, department stores, furniture stores, auto parts stores and other retail stores.

Currently, automobile dealerships are excluded, but Ebsco has a dealer who is interested in bringing a quality dealership to the property, Beavers said. The potential dealership did not want to be named unless the community appeared open to the idea, he said.

The dealership would have a 50,000-square-foot building, and residents would have more input on landscaping and architectural plans than they would if the property is developed for something else, Beavers said. People would not need to be concerned about loudspeakers because most dealerships don’t use those anymore, he said.

If the 20 acres is sold for other uses, it could support up to 160,000 square feet of retail space, Yeilding said.

Ebsco is not interested in building any buildings and leasing space like a shopping center, but instead wants to sell the land and let businesses build their own buildings, he said.

“We’ve got to develop this property. We’ve got to do something with it,” Yeilding said.

A car dealership actually is a more passive use because it would have fewer customers coming and going than 15 different commercial users, he said.

Greystone resident Jim Averitt said he opposed the auto dealership when it came up last time but advised his neighbors to be careful because they may be less happy with some of the other alternatives.

But most residents in the audience who spoke Tuesday night indicated they don’t want an auto dealership. Some said Ebsco had wasted their time by bringing up the idea again.

Some said a new auto dealership without strong visibility from U.S. 280 or Alabama 119 is destined to fail, and then they would be stuck with a lower-quality auto dealership. One woman said she didn’t care if it were a Bentley dealership; she doesn’t want any car dealership.

Jackie Plaia said her concern is that Ebsco is developing the property with a bunch of businesses that don’t have any type of theme. She also had really hoped the development would be in keeping with the quality of the surrounding area, and she thought Ebsco had the financial ability to do that, but she is not seeing that thus far.

Donna Francavilla said Ebsco is responsible for quality developments such as Mt Laurel and Alys Beach in Florida. “They know how to develop beautiful neighborhoods” that don’t have car dealerships, she said.

Yeilding said Alys Beach was a different situation. “Ebsco tried to do the Taj Mahal, and they burnt up a big pot of money doing it, and that cured them of retail,” he said.

Mt Laurel has been slow to develop, and that experience turned Ebsco off to building shop space, he said. “We’re not building any shop space.”

Francavilla said Mt Laurel appears to be successful. “The point is — Ebsco can do it if they want to, and they can make it into a walkable community,” she said.

Yeilding said Ebsco previously presented a plan that included apartments, but the Greystone neighborhoods didn’t like apartments either. “That’s why we’re back to this.”

Mary Sue Ludwig, a longtime member of Greystone Residential Association board, said a car dealership is inconsistent with the long-term plan for this property.

“From the beginning, we were promised a high-end shopping center. It is ending up to look like a strip mall,” Ludwig said. “We believe Ebsco can do better, and we respectfully ask that they do so.”

Beavers said Ebsco years ago had a grand idea for this development, but the market wouldn’t accept it.

“They’ve got this land in which they have a tremendous amount invested, and they’ve got to do something with it, and so they came to the correct conclusion that they have to make it available for what the market will bring to it or it’s going to sit there vacant,” Beavers said. “It’s working for what the market is bringing to it. Ebsco certainly wanted something different, but it just didn’t happen.”

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said the idea for a car dealership there never excited city officials. Residents want to see something with more character, he said. He believes the community has spoken firmly against a car dealership, and city officials want to work with Ebsco to see if they can come up with a Plan C that residents can be excited about, he said.