Proposed Development at CrossPlex Causing Controversy
If you build it, they will come. That’s one reason the Birmingham City Council approved the $3.7 million for infrastructure improvement at the CrossPlex in Five Points West. The project includes new roads and sidewalks around the 38-acre property. Once that’s complete, Bob Nesbitt can get to work.
He’s the developer of what’ll be called CrossPlex Village. Think Olympic Village but on a smaller scale. The core is the sports complex, which includes a pool, an indoor running track, and an arena. The village will eventually have retail and restaurant space and a hotel. Nesbitt already has some tenants, but the project has been on hold for so long they started getting antsy.
“It was kind of touch and go with respect to a couple of tenants as to whether or not they would stay in place in light of those delays,” Nesbitt says.
He managed to convince them that it was just typical Birmingham politics and that the project is still in the works. But one tenant is causing a lot of controversy. “There were questions about the quality of the hotel primarily,” he says.
Members of a group called the Jefferson County Millennial Democrats are unhappy with the decision to bring a Comfort Inn and Suites to CrossPlex Village. The group says it’s concerned this hotel won’t attract people in the same way others do, like the Redmont in downtown Birmingham with its rooftop bar and restaurant. They say the West Side doesn’t get the same treatment as other areas of Birmingham when it comes to development.
However, residents of Five Points West disagree. Susan Palmer is president of the Central Park Neighborhood Association. She says the communities around CrossPlex Village have been in talks with developer Bob Nesbitt about amenities they’d like to see in a hotel, and their voices were heard.
“They will have an 80-seat conference room, which was requested by the neighborhood. They’re going to have continental breakfast, which was requested by the neighborhood. They’re going to have a fitness center that was requested by the neighborhood as well,” she says.
So, there may not be a rooftop bar, but they’re getting what they asked for, Palmer says.
The city is set to launch the infrastructure project in January, but there may be more disagreement over who will occupy the space when the time comes.
Trump’s border czar says a ‘small’ security force will stay in Minnesota
Tom Homan says this federal force will stay "for a short period of time" to protect immigration agents who remain as the sweeping crackdown draws down.
At least 6,000 killed over 3 days during RSF attack on Sudan’s el-Fasher, UN says
More than 6,000 people were killed in over three days when a Sudanese paramilitary group unleashed "a wave of intense violence" in Sudan's Darfur region in late October, according to the UN.
Photos: The flying doctors of Lesotho won’t let their wings be clipped
This band of airborne health workers bring essential medical care to isolated communities in the southern African nation. In addition to turbulence, they face a new obstacle: budget cuts.
U.S. Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin finishes another Olympic race without a medal
U.S. Alpine skier Mikaela Shiffrin looks unstoppable everywhere except the Olympics. She's running out of chances to medal at the Milan Cortina Games.
‘Major travel impacts’ expected as winter storm watch issued for northern California
As people travel for the holiday weekend, much of Northern California is under a winter storm watch, with communities bracing for several feet of snow.
Sunday Puzzle: Common threads
NPR's Ayesha Rascoe plays the puzzle with WWNO listener Shyra Latiolais and Weekend Edition Puzzlemaster Will Shortz.
