Regions Park to return to Hoover Met name, remarks from Mayor’s State of Hoover address

Regions Park will reclaim its former name, Hoover Met, as of Jan. 1, 2013, said Hoover Mayor Gary Ivey in his annual State of the City address to the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce on Dec. 20.

The crowd in attendance at Hoover Country Club applauded at this news.

“Regions Park will continue to be a real asset to our community,” the Mayor said, citing a record-breaking 20,000 in attendance at NCAA soccer games recently and plans for the Hot Rod Power Tour to return in June, among other events.

The mayor also reported that the City balanced its budget for the eighth year in a row, and had $31 million in reserves.

In the realm of recently completed projects, the Hoover Senior Center built a new glassed-in porch, and the Hoover Library added a new outdoor patio for preschoolers.

In the coming year, the City plans to launch a new website by February. By March, $60 million will have been spent on Galleria improvements, and the new Van Maur department store is slated to open in November 2013. Schaeffer Eye center is opening in the former Marks Fitzgerald building and will move its headquarters from Trussville. A new Walmart Neighborhood Market will be built on the site of the old La Chateau apartment complex property off Lorna Road.

Road widening on Highway 31 will begin soon and be completed by the Fall of 2013, according to the Mayor. New sidewalks near Simmons Middle School will be completed by early spring.

“We want to continue to exceed everyone’s expectations in Hoover,” Ivey concluded.