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Hoover council OKs zoning for 120 townhomes, new businesses on US 280

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Map courtesy of Signature Homes

The Hoover City Council on Monday night voted to “pre-zone” 15.7 acres along U.S. 280 to make way for 120 townhomes and three commercial buildings totaling about 25,000 square feet.

The property is at 5352 U.S. 280, directly across from the Walmart Supercenter. It currently is zoned as a general business district in unincorporated Shelby County and includes a pawn shop, which would be torn down to make way for two restaurants and a 12,600-square-foot commercial building, said Signature Homes President Jonathan Belcher, who is working with Terra Equities on the proposal.

Just south of the 4.5 acres of commercial space to be developed by Terra Equities, a little further away from U.S. 280, would be the 11 acres for the 120 townhomes, according to plans submitted to the city of Hoover.

To the west is an AT&T building and self-storage facility, and to the east are several homes, including mobile homes, along Lyndon Drive.

Signature Homes and Terra Equities also are asking for the land to be annexed into Hoover. The Hoover City Council on Monday night set a public hearing for March 7 to consider the annexation request.

Two people who live nearby off Alabama 119 spoke against the rezoning.

Dr. Cherie Johnson said she wasn’t happy about the possibility of having more than 100 townhomes nearby with two to three people in each. “We barely have the ability to handle the traffic we have now, on top of a sewer issue we’re dealing with,” Johnson said. “I just don’t think our area can handle the infrastructure. Unless you live on 280 or 119, you don’t understand.”

Johnny Tidwell, who said he has lived on Lyndon Drive (right next to the proposed development) for 40 years, said the traffic in that area already is bad. “If they build this subdivision, 280 is going to be awful,” Tidwell said.

Belcher of Signature Homes said the residential portion of the development is expected to be a $40 million project.

He is proposing two-bedroom or three-bedroom townhomes with roughly 1,600 square feet of space each and likely priced in the high $200,000s. He plans to pattern the development after the Edenton Lofts that Signature Homes developed in 2010 off Cahaba Beach Road.

None of the townhomes would have garages, but there would be 225 parking spaces for residents, Belcher said. That is a higher ratio of parking spaces per townhome than Signature Homes has in Edenton Lofts, and there have been no issues with inadequate parking there.

Site plan courtesy of Signature

Based on past experience, Belcher said he would expect one out of every 10 townhomes to include a child for the Hoover school system. The Hoover school system has greater capacity for handling more children on the east side of the city.

The commercial portion of the development, to be handled by Terra Equities, is expected to be a $10.3 million project and include 190 parking spaces for the two restaurants and third commercial building, Belcher said.

The commercial property should generate an estimated total revenues of $16 million to $17 million a year, Belcher said. That would mean $560,000 to $595,000 in annual sales taxes for the city of Hoover, $640,000 to $680,000 in annual sales taxes for the state, $80,000 to $85,000 in annual sales taxes for Shelby County and $80,000 to $85,000 in annual sales taxes to schools in Shelby County.

It should also generate $44,000 to $45,000 a year in property taxes, while the residential property should generate about $66,000 a year in property taxes for the school system, Belcher said.

The City Council voted 6-0 in favor of the “pre-zoning” of the property. Councilman Derrick Murphy was absent.

Council President John Lyda after the meeting said this would be a unique development because that part of Hoover hasn’t had a townhome development approved for quite some time.

Lyda said city leaders have been hearing from Greystone residents who bought large homes in the 1990s and now that they are old enough to downsize, they have no place in that area to do so.

They like living in that part of Hoover, and this would offer them a high-end neighborhood without the upkeep that comes with a larger lot and larger home, he said.

Hoover Councilman Mike Shaw, when this project first was presented to the zoning board in November, said he knows there are a lot of technology jobs in the nearby Meadow Brook Corporate Park, and he would like to see places for those workers to live close by, so this type of housing in that location is appealing to him.

The property that Signature Homes and Terra Equities want to buy is now owned by Sam’s Real Estate Investment Trust and Sharit Real Estate Holdings.

In other business Monday night, the Hoover City Council approved several amendments to the city’s zoning ordinance, including amendments that:

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