Hoover council to consider buying Lorna Road office building for $1.9 million

The Hoover City Council on Monday night is scheduled to vote on whether to spend $1.9 million to buy an office building on Lorna Road for a relocation of Fire Department administrative offices.

The property in question is the Lorna Professional Building at 3021 Lorna Road, currently owned by Ratliff Partners and located near an entrance to the Monte D'Oro neighborhood and across from Taco Bell.

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said he believes the three-story building has about 24,000 square feet and has a significant portion of that empty. The city needs to find a new location for the Fire Department’s administrative offices because the current offices at the Hoover Public Safety Center are needed for expansion of the National Computer Forensics Institute, run by the U.S. Secret Service, Brocato said.

The city expects the National Computer Forensics Institute to receive more funding for expansion and needs to find a place for the Fire Department offices to move, he said.

The National Computer Forensics Institute has a great economic impact on the city, with more than 20,000 people from all 50 states and five U.S. territories being trained there since 2008, Brocato said. In fiscal 2022, the institute accounted for more than $2.5 million in hotel stays, nearly $2 million in meals and incidental spending and nearly $500,000 on transportation spending, and those numbers are expected to increase in 2023, according to the city.

The city just completed a conversion of about 5,500 square feet of space formerly occupied by the city’s Revenue Department into new space for the institute, including a seventh classroom, eight administrative offices, a lobby and network server room, said Brent Harlan, the special agent in charge for the U.S. Secret Service, which runs the institute.

This expanded the institute’s total space in the Hoover Public Safety Center to about 40,000 square feet, Harlan said.

In fiscal 2022, which ended Sept. 30, the institute trained almost 4,300 people, according to records provided by the Secret Service.

The new 2,200-square-foot classroom will allow the institute to train an additional 1,000 to 1,500 law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges from across the country in digital evidence, forensics and cybercrime investigations over the course of a year, Harlan said.

Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice said plans already are being made to hopefully add three more classrooms, an auditorium and other ancillary space at the institute. The ultimate goal is to have 10 classrooms training 8,000 people a year, Harlan said.

LORNA PROFESSIONAL BUILDING

Brocato said the Lorna Professional Building, which several real estate websites show was built in 1990, would make a good site for city offices.

“The bones are good,” Brocato said. “It’s really in great shape. It’s in a great location. And this gives us an opportunity to so some revitalization in that area as well.”

When asked how quickly he would like to move on the project if approved by the City Council, Brocato said he would want to move forward with the purchase immediately. Regarding relocation of the Fire Department offices, the mayor noted there are still some tenants in the building with which the city would need to work if the city buys the building. “We don’t want to upset anybody’s business,” he said.

The sign in front of the building Sunday night indicated tenants as Always There In-Home Care, The Bruette Agency Nationwide insurance office, Hospice Partners of America, Ford’s Foot Performance, Immigration Law Center and Stratus Orthopedics.

There may be an opportunity to keep some tenants, but the first step is to buy the building, Brocato said.

In addition to Fire Department administrative offices, there may be an opportunity to put other offices there, such as some police administrative offices, the city’s economic development team and some other offices on the second floor of the Hoover Public Safety Center, Brocato said.

Those determinations would be made later, he said.

The Lorna Professional Building is not the only big purchase for the Fire Department on the City Council’s agenda Monday night.

The council also is scheduled to vote on spending nearly $2.7 million for a ladder truck and a fire engine.

However, the Fire Department likely would not receive the vehicles for quite some time. Sutphen Corp. would have 24 to 26 months to deliver the ladder truck and 30 months to deliver the fire engine pumper truck, according to documents in the council’s agenda packet.

The council also is scheduled to vote on a budget amendment to cover a $1.3 million purchase of land along U.S. 31 for a new location for Hoover Fire Station No. 1 in the Green Valley community. The council in October authorized the mayor to enter a contract to buy the land along U.S. 31 for $1.3 million, and this would be a vote to amend the budget to cover that purchase.

Other items on the agenda for Monday night’s Hoover City Council meeting include:

• A resolution to authorize the mayor to extend an agreement to keep the East Coast Pro Baseball Showcase at the Hoover Metropolitan Complex for another five years.
• An ordinance to provide for an agreement between Hoover and Shelby County that would allow the two entities’ fleet departments to use one another’s space and equipment in the event of a catastrophic event that leaves either’s normal facility inoperable.
• A resolution declaring properties at 3416 Cedar Crest Circle, 2260 Farley Road and 1448 Steven Drive as public nuisances due to high weeds and/or grass.