Tuscaloosa Development

[TheCapstone]

Halcon strikes development deal for Tuscaloosa acreage

Apollo Global Management LLC will invest up to $400 million in a subsidiary of Houston-based Halcón Resources Corp. that will own all of Halcón’s 314,000 acres in the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale.

The partnership will help Halcón develop its acreage in the oil-rich formation, which stretches across the middle of Louisiana and into Mississippi.

Apollo will contribute $150 million for 150,000 preferred shares of the subsidiary, HK TMS LLC. Apollo has the option to buy 250,000 additional shares. The preferred shares pay quarterly cash dividends of 8 percent per year.

Apollo also will receive up to 4 percent overriding royalty interest from 75 wells to be drilled and completed on the Tuscaloosa acreage. An override gives Apollo a share of the proceeds from the oil and gas sold from those wells.

Kirk Barrell, president of Amelia Resources, said Apollo’s arrangement with Halcón is unusual as well as complex.

“It’s hard to calculate a dollar figure/acre value on the deal,” Barrell said.

But Apollo’s participation is an endorsement by a significant investment capital group and also indicates a long-term commitment to the Tuscaloosa on Halcón’s part, Barrell said.

Halcón has already announced that it plans to drill 10 to 12 wells in the formation in 2014 and to participate in 15 to 20 wells that other companies will drill.

Halcón also announced that its Horseshoe Hill 11-22-H-1 well in Wilkinson County, Mississippi, had an initial daily production rate of 1,208 barrels of oil and 1.1 million cubic feet of natural gas. The company’s analysis of the gas composition shows the well could produce an additional 212 barrels of natural gas liquids per day, bringing the well’s daily production to the equivalent of 1,548 barrels of oil.

Barrell said the well’s gas-to-oil ratio was higher than expected, but a higher ratio is good.

The gas helps lift the oil out of the well, which means the well flows better and ultimately produces a greater amount of oil and gas, Barrell said.

Halcón’s stock fell 18 cents Monday, closing at $6.22 per share, but has risen sharply in the last two months. Last week, Wunderlich Securities raised its rating on the stock, with analyst Jason Wangler writing that “Halcón’s initial well results, and the potential for a joint venture in the sizable asset could really begin to show the value in the play while also allowing Halcón to boost its production and liquidity positions nicely.”

The well counts in the deal show the scale of the development that could come. Fewer than 50 wells have been drilled so far in Amite and Wilkinson counties in Mississippi and West Feliciana, East Feliciana, St. Helena and Tangipahoa parishes in Louisiana. Halcón has leases on 241,000 acres in that region, as well as on almost 73,000 acres west of the Mississippi River where operators have so far drilled few wells.

Halcón also said Monday it plans to develop an oil-handling terminal at Natchez. Chandler Russ, executive director of development group Natchez Inc., said the Adams County Board of Supervisors and the Natchez-Adams Port Authority voted last week to sign options to sell 50 acres of land to Halcón. He declined to name the purchase price but said it would be “fair market value.” Russ said Halcón has committed to investing at last $6 million in tanks and pipes and hiring at least 25 workers.

Houston-based Genesis Energy LP already has an oil terminal at Natchez, which has focused on transferring crude oil shipped by rail from Canada to barges that travel to refineries.

http://theadvocate.com/news/business...pment-deal-for

[TheCapstone]

Midtown Village is getting 4 new tenants.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...ur-new-tenants

Two new restaurants and two new stores are coming to Midtown Village.

Dickey's Barbecue Pit will occupy a 2,132-square-foot space next door to the Ulta.

Dickey's, a Dallas-based chain with restaurants nationwide, also has a location in Taylorville. It features a variety of pit-smoked meats and home-style sides and does catering.

Brother's Pizza Express is opening a 2,823-square-foot restaurant that will offer specialty pizzas, pastas, subs, calzones and salads. It is the first Brother's in the Tuscaloosa market for the

Houston-based chain.

Midtown Village also announced that a boutique called Lavish will occupy a 1,801-square-foot store located between Tuscaloosa Nails and Francesca's. Lavish sells clothing and accessories.

Also new is Total Nutrition, which is opening a 1,757-square-foot store that will carry a variety of health food alternatives, vitamins and supplements.

SRS Real Estate Partners, which represented Midtown Village's owner, Carlyle-Cyrpress

Tuscaloosa I LLC, in securing the new tenants, also reported that Midtown Nails, which offers nail and waxing services, has relocated and added 1,500 square feet and now has a 3,063-square-foot facility.

Also added to Midtown Village's tenant mix were an H&R Block tax service franchise, which opened a 2,183-square-foot office, and Cornerstone Management ­— a condominium management, sales and leasing firm, that opened a,870-square-foot

office.

[TheCapstone]

Maki Fresh is coming to T-Town.

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingha...-location.html

[TheCapstone]

Tuscaloosa City Council advancing parkway project

[ttownfeen]

Originally Posted by TheCapstone

Halcon strikes development deal for Tuscaloosa acreage



http://theadvocate.com/news/business...pment-deal-for

This shale is apparently in Louisiana and Mississippi. Even though the shale and the city share a name they don't appear to have anything to do with one another.

Originally Posted by TheCapstone

Tuscaloosa City Council advancing parkway project

Can you post a link?

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Per ALDOT...

Intersection improvements are on their way for McFarland/15th/Veterans. New turning lanes will be installed and such. It's about EFFING time!!!

[ttownfeen]

Embassy suites as 7/04

[ttownfeen]

Riverfront Village progress

[TheCapstone]

Hopefully the Riverfront Village apartments will bring more students to downtown and more businesses will thrive.

[TheCapstone]

Thoughts?

Developer planning Hilton, Marriott hotels for Tuscaloosa

A Birmingham-based hotel developer is planning two new hotels on a 2.99-acre tract near the corner of Courtney Drive and Greensboro Avenue that will add about 180 rooms to the Tuscaloosa market.

Last week, the Tuscaloosa City Council annexed the land, located just north of the Cobb Hollywood 16 theater and near Interstate 20/59. The hotels would be adjacent to three hotels — the Hilton Garden Inn, the Courtyard by Marriott and the Fairfield Inn — already operating in the area.

Later this month, the council is expected to rezone the annexed property to the “highway business” zoning classification in order to accommodate the hotels, city officials said.

Chiman S. Patel of Tuscaloosa Hotel Partners 1 LLC, the development company behind the project, said he is planning to bring a Marriott-brand and Hilton-brand hotel to the tract, with construction expected to begin on the Marriott-brand hotel within the next 30 days.

The Hilton-brand facility is expected to get underway sometime later this year, he said.

No estimated completion date was given.

According to documents submitted to the city’s Department of Planning and Development Services, each hotel will feature about 90 rooms with a shared parking lot between and behind both buildings.

Tina Jones, the director of corporate and group tourism for the Tuscaloosa Tourism and Sports Commission, said the addition of these hotels, once complete, will be a benefit to the city and existing hotels alike.

At convention and conference trade shows, Jones said she can only bid to bring events here based on the number of hotel rooms the city can offer.

With the $31 million, 150-room Embassy Suites hotel at the corner of Greensboro Avenue and University Boulevard nearing completion and the $13 million Hilton Home2 Suites extended stay hotel in the 2600 block of University Boulevard approved for construction, Jones said she already can bid on bigger and better conferences and conventions than before.

“By adding new, quality hotel rooms in the market, that allows me to bump up to the next level on what I’m bidding on,” she said.

About 3,000 hotel rooms are now available in the Tuscaloosa market.

Additionally, Tuscaloosa Hotel Partners 1 is the company behind the nearby 122-room Hilton Garden Inn, meaning Patel has an understanding of what this area needs.

“He is presently invested in the Tuscaloosa market and he understands what the Tuscaloosa market is right now,” she said.

In a related matter, the council voted to withdraw a vote and take no action on Tuscaloosa Hotel Partners 1’s request to vacate an 0.27-acre portion of land at the southwest corner of Greensboro Avenue and Courtney Drive.

The council decided to withdraw the vote after Philip O’Leary, assistant director of the Department of Planning and Development Services, informed council members that the land was, in fact, owned by the Tuscaloosa County Commission.

The commission recently voted against conveying the small strip to the City Council, meaning Tuscaloosa Hotel Partners 1 will have to go before county officials to obtain the land.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...9817?p=2&tc=pg

[ttownfeen]

Hmm, I doubt they would get full Hilton and Marriott branding. For the Hilton-branded hotel, obviously the Hilton Garden Inn brand is out, and there's already an Embassy Suites and Home2 Suites under development, so my best guess would be a Homewood Suites or a third Hampton Inn. For the Marriott-branded hotel, I would guess a Springhill Suites, a Residence Inn, or a TownPlace Suites.

[TheCapstone]

New law firm debuts with office locations in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Hoover

A new law firm has been formed with offices in Tuscaloosa, Birmingham and Hoover.

Campbell, Guin, Williams, Guy & Gidiere has its Tuscaloosa office at 2711 University Blvd., the location of the former Tanner & Guin law firm.

Nine of the attorneys from Tanner & Guin joined the 16-attorney Campbell Guin team. The Tuscaloosa attorneys are: Jay F. Guin, Bert M. Guy, Justin G. Williams, Robert L. Shields III, Kim D. Ingram, Hannah B. Lansdon, Jonathan D. Guin, Cason M. Kirby and J. Harris Hagood.

Campbell Guin’s attorneys specialize in business, shareholder and corporate litigation; business and corporate law; partnerships and limited liability companies; corporate and municipal bankruptcy; business workouts and restructurings; labor and employment; municipal law; individual income tax; tax-exempt organizations; and trusts and estates, according to a statement from the firm.

The new firm’s lead partners, Andy Campbell and Jay Guin, were classmates at the University of Alabama School of Law. Campbell later built up a business, shareholder and corporate litigation practice in Birmingham, while Guin stayed in Tuscaloosa where he established a practice in corporate tax, merger and acquisition, and bonds and finances as part of Tanner & Guin.

The other named partners and their specialties are:

Guy, who practices in the areas of outside general counsel, mergers and acquisitions and labor and employment law.

Williams, who represents debtors and creditors in complex bankruptcies and handles business restructuring and financial workouts.

Carole Gidiere — formerly was a partner with Campbell — who specializes in complex business litigation involving trials, arbitrations and appellate work.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...am-and-Hoover-

[TheCapstone]

Alabama Fire College will hold groundbreaking Wednesday for renovation project

Officials with the Alabama Fire College will celebrate the groundbreaking on a $2.4 million renovation and expansion project on the campus Wednesday.

The project will renovate the college's existing equipment bay building to create a new 320-seat auditorium and construct a new 19,000-square-foot equipment bay building that will house classrooms and equipment storage. The project will not require new debt but will be funded by a mix of money in the fire college budget and revenues from contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense for firefighting instruction.

The new building, which will provide modular classroom space and needs storage space, is scheduled to be completed by February 2015, said Reid Vaughan, planning officer with the college. The new auditorium is expected to be completed by September, he said.

The college is on track to see more than 25,000 students this year, Vaughan said.

“Essentially, we are offering more types of certification and seeing more students,” Vaughan said.

The new facilities will also allow the campus to improve its ability to host state and federal agencies, Vaughan said, noting the campus was a hub for Division C of the Alabama Emergency Management Agency.

Aho Architects LLC of Hoover is the designer and Civicon LLC of Cullman is the general contractor.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...49/1291/news07

[TheCapstone]

Good news for Holt High

New building in works for Holt High School; county school board approves system’s 2014-19 strategic plan

olt residents won a long-sought-after victory Monday at the Tuscaloosa County Board of Education meeting.

The school board officially approved the Tuscaloosa County School System’s 2014-19 Strategic Plan, and at the top of the list was a new building for Holt High School.

“I’m extremely excited,” said Alice Keene Kemp, a 1972 graduate of Holt High.

“Holt is not dead,” she said. “The school is not dead. We certainly need a lot of support. The morale would be a million times better if we could just have a new facility. It would give the community hope.”

Superintendent Elizabeth Swinford said she will take the plan’s priority list to the Tuscaloosa County Commission to seek funds for the new school construction and other listed renovation projects.

“My next step is to call (the county commission’s) office and then see how they want to do this,” Swinford said. “We want to make sure that it is a public meeting. ...We will have our entire board, they will probably have their entire commission, so we have to advertise it.

“I want to do it now. Leave it up to me it will be tomorrow. I have to check their calendar, but I have some dates already from my board, though. All we’re looking at now is their calendar to see when we can have this public meeting.”

Holt High is the oldest school in the Tuscaloosa County School System. It was rebuilt in 1941 after the original Holt High was destroyed in a fire.

Holt residents have campaigned for a new building for several years. They have shown up at board meetings demanding a new building. And they have conducted visual petitions such as taking photographs of the faces of 1,500 people and hanging them up on a hill overlooking the school’s football field saying they wanted school leaders to “turn and face the change” of the school’s needs.

Swinford was not superintendent of the county schools when most of the community’s pleas to rebuild Holt High went unanswered. But when she became superintendent a year ago, she inherited Holt High’s problems and quickly said she intended to address them.

Several months ago, Swinford

announced that Holt would be her No. 1 priority on the system’s new strategic plan. But when official action didn’t quickly follow, Holt residents said they were tired of hearing what they considered all talk, and said they wanted to see some official steps taken towards building a new school.

On Monday some Holt residents said they finally got a taste of what they’ve been looking for.

“I feel good about it because just like everyone has said, we feel that Holt has been neglected for whatever reason,” said Ruby White, a Holt resident. “The people in Holt are due as great an education as the other schools. We are in the county, we’re taxpayers, and I feel that we should have the same opportunities.

“Our new superintendent, it seems to me like she is for whatever is right and is trying to help the ones that need help. We all know that Holt High and the Holt community need help. If we bring a new school then we bring new businesses, we bring new homes, we bring more families and we grow our community.”

Jason Bearden, chairman of Holt High PTO’s Committee to Get a New Holt High, said the board is now headed in the right direction, but there are many more steps to taken.

“It’s now in black and white, but it needs to be pushed to the next

issue,” he said. “As (school board member Schmitt Moore) said, ‘We want to see boots on the ground.’ ”

For the 2014-15 school year, Swinford said Holt High will have a new cosmetology class, new lights on the football field and a plan on how to close the school’s achievement gap.

That follows changes she made at Holt High last year, including hiring a new principal, hiring a graduation coach, hiring a chief academic officer, hiring a cosmetology teacher, hiring a construction teacher, paying off the school’s more than $60,000 in athletic debt and providing more than $55,000 in technology to the students of

Davis-Emerson Middle School, a feeder school for Holt.

Swinford said she’s also spent more money per student at Holt High in the past year than at any other high school. The average amount of money spent on a high school student in the system last year was $5,531.

The amount spent per student at Holt High was $6,888. The second-highest amount spent per student was $5,678 at Northside High.

Swinford said after the $32 million needed to build a new Holt is secured, her next step will be to find a location and then begin working with an architect.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...ws07?p=1&tc=pg

[cityscapes]

Question for any of you living in Tuscaloosa -

I'm writing my masters thesis on post-disaster rebuilds and Tuscaloosa is one of my two main case studies. That city center project got off the ground quickly compared to a lot of other projects and I was thinking of discussing it in my essay. I took a look at their Facebook and website and the pictures only show the condo / loft sections but none of the street facing retail that was shown in the initial render. Is there construction activity going on for that section of the project or is that not happening?

Also, the area around the Krispy Kreme and Blue Moon BBQ... is that still undeveloped or has whatever shopping center thing started construction already?


At one point I was going to focus on how rebuilding plans don't take into account current trends in a city but I ditched that. Out of curiosity, do you all think the damaged areas of Tuscaloosa have been slow to recover because a lot of construction activity and consumer preferences were starting to favor downtown and new communities around Lake Tuscaloosa rather than the corridor where the Tornado caused the most damage? If you think it's something else all together I'm interested to hear what people think.

[TheCapstone]

Originally Posted by cityscapes

Question for any of you living in Tuscaloosa -

I'm writing my masters thesis on post-disaster rebuilds and Tuscaloosa is one of my two main case studies. That city center project got off the ground quickly compared to a lot of other projects and I was thinking of discussing it in my essay. I took a look at their Facebook and website and the pictures only show the condo / loft sections but none of the street facing retail that was shown in the initial render. Is there construction activity going on for that section of the project or is that not happening?

Also, the area around the Krispy Kreme and Blue Moon BBQ... is that still undeveloped or has whatever shopping center thing started construction already?


At one point I was going to focus on how rebuilding plans don't take into account current trends in a city but I ditched that. Out of curiosity, do you all think the damaged areas of Tuscaloosa have been slow to recover because a lot of construction activity and consumer preferences were starting to favor downtown and new communities around Lake Tuscaloosa rather than the corridor where the Tornado caused the most damage? If you think it's something else all together I'm interested to hear what people think.

On McFarland and near 15th street? There's work going on there, a new apartment complex is currently being built that will be ready by fall, but across from it where the tornado hit is still an eye sore to me. A lot of potential though. Would be cool to see them kind of connect it to Midtown Village to make it a small outdoor mall, but there needs to be improvements in parking and way for the people at the apartment complex to have a safe walk to it. Just my .02 on what would be attractable and better for business. I know I didn't cover all the aspects.

Also, if you would want, google maps has updates looks of Tuscaloosa if you would like to see.

[SpawnOfVulcan]

Originally Posted by cityscapes

Question for any of you living in Tuscaloosa -

I'm writing my masters thesis on post-disaster rebuilds and Tuscaloosa is one of my two main case studies. That city center project got off the ground quickly compared to a lot of other projects and I was thinking of discussing it in my essay. I took a look at their Facebook and website and the pictures only show the condo / loft sections but none of the street facing retail that was shown in the initial render. Is there construction activity going on for that section of the project or is that not happening?

Also, the area around the Krispy Kreme and Blue Moon BBQ... is that still undeveloped or has whatever shopping center thing started construction already?


At one point I was going to focus on how rebuilding plans don't take into account current trends in a city but I ditched that. Out of curiosity, do you all think the damaged areas of Tuscaloosa have been slow to recover because a lot of construction activity and consumer preferences were starting to favor downtown and new communities around Lake Tuscaloosa rather than the corridor where the Tornado caused the most damage? If you think it's something else all together I'm interested to hear what people think.

The City Center project is still putting on finishing touches of the residential portion. Those were the first phases, so the next should be the retail once the most recent residential portion is open for occupancy this fall.

The area around Full Moon and Krispy Kreme is still undeveloped, and the shopping center planned next to Krispy Kreme is still planned. They've had a tenant announced every few months since the project was initially announced. I'm not sure what the hold up is with it, but I know they've already found some tenants.

That last paragraph of yours is a good question. There has been continued, modest growth around the North River (Lake Tuscaloosa) part of town, but really nothing that would stand to outpace recovery in the damaged areas.

I'm actually doing my masters thesis on Land Use Land Cover change and it's spatial distribution/disparity throughout areas of the county affected by the tornado. So, if you're willing to wait a few months, I might be able to give you a little more insight, haha.

[TheCapstone]

Northport approves $14 million bond issue to finance ongoing projects

The Northport City Council unanimously approved a $14 million bond issue Monday night to pay for three city projects that are under way.

The city will repay the money over the next 30 years at an interest rate of 4 percent, said City Administrator Scott Collins. The projects being financed include the $5.75 million widening of Mitt Lary Road, a new $4.25 million communications system for the police and fire departments and the building of a $4 million new fire station No. 2, already under construction on Highway 69. Earlier this year, the City Council authorized Collins to proceed with the projects, using $2 million from Northport's reserves until the city went forward with a bond issue.

“On behalf of the city staff, thank you for the new fire department and for the communication system,” Collins told the council, adding that the previous communications system was outdated and beyond repair. “The need for the communication system can't be understated. It's something long overdue and is a great asset for the city,” he said.

Though only design work has been done on the widening of Mitt Lary Road, the project is on schedule and will receive construction bids in about 90 days with construction starting about 60 days after that, Collins said.

The road, which lies between Alabama Highway 69 and U.S. Highway 43, will be widened from two lanes to three to include a center turn lane. Additional turn lanes will be added at the intersections of both highways 43 and 69 to aid vehicles entering and exiting Mitt Lary.

“The process has gone fairly smoothly so far,” Collins told the council Monday. “There will be some participation needed with (Alabama Department of Transportation) on the intersections at 69 and 43 to make the expansion feasible.”

Although the road will be widened to three lanes, no private property will be taken as the road widening will still be within the city's right of way, Collins said.

The widening of Mitt Lary is very important considering the residential and commercial growth in that area, said Councilman Steve Acker, who represents the area. A neighborhood called Bristol Park is under construction just north of Mitt Lary and will eventually have 282 homes.

“With the new construction going on up there, we feel the widening will have a positive impact on traffic flow,” Acker said. “It's a main connector in the city.”

In other business, the council voted unanimously to approve a contract with Walker Associates to serve in a consulting role to the city's engineering department for the remainder of 2014. The firm will help the city plan some large projects involving the water and wastewater departments, Collins said.

“It gives us the ability to have an outside consultant and make sure we are as service oriented as we can be,” Collins told the council.

The contract is for services to be billed hourly, for no more than $25,000 for the rest of 2014. The term will serve as a pilot period, and at the end of the year the council can decide if they want to extend a contract for a longer period, Collins said.

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...news?p=2&tc=pg

[TheCapstone]

Harley-Davidson dealership coming to Tuscaloosa area

http://www.tuscaloosanews.com/articl...9837?p=1&tc=pg

[TheCapstone]

Also, I wanted to take some new pics of the Embassy Suites Hotel downtown, but couldn't due to traffic. They had Bama Bound yesterday and it was all hectic. The hotel is coming around nicely and just a few blocks down, the apartment complex is almost complete.

Other than that, the most construction I saw was on UA's campus. Saw "The Joe" being pulled apart, then about 4 or 5 buildings either being built or renovated.