Photo by Jon Anderson
This map shows the planned location of a 20-acre, 200-square-foot commercial development with a big-box grocery wholesaler at the corner of Valleydale Road and Inverness Center Drive in Hoover, Alabama (shown here next to the Danberry at Inverness retirement community.
The developer working to bring a 200,000-square-foot retail shopping center with a big-box grocery retailer to Inverness has made changes in the development plan in an attempt to resolve neighborhood opposition and gotten approval for the project.
Two years ago, Alumni Properties and Investments tried to get the Hoover zoning board to approve a 103,000-square-foot big-box wholesale store with a tire center and 16 gasoline pumping stations, plus at least eight other retail buildings on 20 acres of wooded land at the corner of Valleydale Road and Inverness Center Drive.
The property is across from Inverness Corners and next to Inverness Plaza. Significant neighborhood opposition led the zoning board to reject the plan in April 2023.
Since then, developers made numerous adjustments to the plan that no longer require a zoning change and that developers hope will resolve concerns.
First, Alumni Properties removed the gasoline station and liquor store that were part of the original proposal and required special approval by the zoning board.
The developer also made changes to move truck traffic off of Inverness Center Drive, which leads to neighborhoods. The developer eliminated a delivery truck entrance and exit onto that road and created a turnaround to require truck traffic to use either Valleydale Road or go directly to and from 280 via a truck route behind Inverness Plaza.
Truck route plan courtesy of Alumni Properties and Investments
This map shows the revised truck route for a 200,000-square-foot multi-use development in Inverness along Valleydale Road next to Inverness Plaza and across from Inverness Corners.
There’s still a standard vehicle entrance off Inverness Center Drive, but it now will allow only right-in, right-out and left-in turn movements. Vehicles will not be able to turn left onto Inverness Center Drive coming out of the new development, said Gary Owens, the managing partner of Alumni Properties. This should force the truck traffic to use the other access points, he said.
Also, the developer worked out an agreement for a second traffic connection to Inverness Plaza, directing some traffic to the traffic light coming out of Inverness Plaza onto Valleydale Road.
The developer also got the Alabama Department of Transportation to approve changes to the intersection of Valleydale Road and U.S. 280, including two right-turn lanes from eastbound U.S. 280 onto Valleydale instead of one, Owens said.
Additional landscaping buffers were added to screen the buildings from Inverness Center Drive and the Danberry at Inverness senior living community, and more brick was added to the building, Owens said.
The red brick should nearly match the brick at Inverness Corners, and the architecture was modeled after the J. Wright Building Co. building in the adjacent Beaumont community, he said.
The developer has not specified the name of the big-box wholesaler or other potential tenants. He identified it only as “big-box membership grocery concept,” but numerous residents who have had meetings with the developer identified it as a BJ’s Wholesale Club store, and Owens did not refute that assertion.
The development also has room for 20 to 25 smaller shops that should include a full sit-down restaurant, cafes, boutiques, shoe store, collegiate apparel store and a bookstore with a café, Owens said.
The city of Hoover has approved the site plan, and the city, Shelby County and ALDOT have approved the traffic plans, Owens said. The Alabama Department of Environmental Management has approved an erosion control plan as well, he said. The developer is working on final approval of leases with tenants.
