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It is a large undeveloped piece of property.... but it's also in a bad/industrial area.... we'll see.

Land bought by city has historic site

By Sebastian Kitchen
Montgomery Advertiser


The city of Montgomery purchased 42 acres of downtown property Tuesday for possible use as a future municipal complex with a jail, municipal court and police headquarters. The property includes the historic Western Railways of Alabama yards, an area that has structures dating to 1906.

"It is the largest nondeveloped piece of property close to downtown and the riverfront that exists all in one piece," said Mayor Bobby Bright.

Bright said the city has outgrown the current municipal court, jail and police station, but he had no time frame for moving forward with developing the site and that it is not a priority.

The city agreed to purchase the property from the CSX Corporation for $420,000. They closed on the property Tuesday.

"Whether or not we use it for a municipal complex, it is a good deal at this time, being the largest piece of undeveloped property," Bright said.

Bright said his predecessor, Emory Folmar, tried to negotiate the purchase of the land and paid a down payment of $25,000. He said the city has been trying for years, but it has been difficult negotiating with a corporation the size of CSX.

Along with buying the property, Bright said the city would clear some of the abandoned railroad strips.

Bright said the city will continue to look at other properties and the CSX property might not ultimately be the home of the new municipal complex.

He said the city is willing to talk to Old Alabama Rails and other organizations interested in developing the site as a museum or historic site. With the size of the property, Bright said there is enough space for a museum and municipal site.

Old Alabama Rails was founded to save the site and restore it for use as a museum. Six major railroad companies used the yard to build, repair and maintain engines and cars, and at one time hundreds of people were employed at the rail yard.

Mark Waldo, president of Old Alabama Rails, said he did not have a comment about the purchase, but said the city had not consulted with them in more than a year.

"We had hoped we could develop that," he said. "The city never consulted us at all about acknowledging we wanted to turn it into a railroad museum."

If organizations, corporations or philanthropists are interested in preserving the site, Bright said he is interested in hearing their proposals.

"I would love to have another historic attraction for the city," he said.

Without millions in aid, he does not believe the historic buildings are salvageable.

"They're in such deteriorated shape it is almost cost prohibitive to revitalize them," Bright said

BTW, here's the website of the guys whose pipe dream it was to turn it into a museum/entertainment development-Old Alabama Rails .