Hoover to pay Texas consulting firm $150,000 to develop plan for Meadow Brook Corporate Park

The Hoover City Council on Monday night agreed to pay a Texas consulting company $150,000 to develop a plan for turning Meadow Brook Corporate Park into an “innovation district.”

The Waymaker Group from Dallas was chosen from among seven real estate and economic development advisory firms that submitted proposals for the job, said Jackson Pruett, an economic development coordinator for the city of Hoover.

The company is charged with developing a strategic vision for the park, analyzing current and potential future assets for the park and putting together a redevelopment and connectivity plan. The company’s tasks will include:

• Reviewing other local, regional and state strategic plans to understand the area
• Interviewing various stakeholders to understand their vision and ideas and measure their interest in participating in public/private partnerships
• Developing a professional slide show for use in vision casting, fundraising and the pursuit of additional champions for the project
• Identifying strengths, weaknesses, gaps and opportunities among Hoover’s assets
• Starting to define industry subsectors that are ripe for future investment
• Leveraging the combined value of innovation assets of public institutions (colleges, universities and technical colleges), government, private industry, workforce development agencies, entrepreneurial organizations and housing programs to name and categorize areas of future economic investment
• Analyzing research and development activity in the area, new company and entrepreneurial activity, disruptive and emerging technology, and other commercial activity
• Assessing the current and potential future state of regional workforce supply and demand and the workforce’s ability to support innovation-based cluster growth
• Reviewing the assets of regional university research centers and core facilities, including available technologies, services and scientific expertise
• Analyzing the park’s capacity and readiness to obtain funding to support the district
• Determining the best avenue for utilizing existing nonprofit entities to lead the district
• Recommending ways to develop early, mid-level and advanced talent
• Recommending how to develop new and existing facilities
• Proposing structure and governance partners
• Recommending ways to develop real estate within the district
• Taking steps to prepare the district to receive funding
• Coming up with diversity, equity and inclusion measures
• Laying the groundwork for a comprehensive real estate strategy
• Collecting existing building and property information and identifying underutilized real estate and public spaces
• Recommending ways to redevelop and enhance the outdoor experience

Greg Knighton, Hoover’s economic development manager, said city officials know they have to look at ways to ignite activity in the city’s office parks. Most of the parks were developed in the 1980s, and things are different now than they were at that time, Knighton said. The city wants to make the office parks vibrant and successful with new users, filling empty spots and building upon the foundations that already have been laid, he said.

Pruett said some of the things to be considered include research labs, business incubator spaces and potential coworking spaces. Pruett in the past has said that many technology companies attract young professionals who like the idea of living within walking distance of their jobs, so providing housing alternatives in close proximity also is a need.

It also will be important to work hand in hand with the property owners at Meadow Brook Corporate Park, including Daniel Corp., McLeod Software, Drummond Office Group and SDM Partners, he said.

The goal is for the Waymaker Group to have its work done within six to nine months, Pruett said.

Read more about the city's desires for Meadow Brook Corporate Park in this story from the December issue of the Hoover Sun.

The Hoover City Council also on Monday hired agreed to pay the KPS Group $40,400 to develop architectural guidelines for development and redevelopment of commercial real estate in the city and design best practices for future projects in the city.

This would include taking a deeper dive into three key areas where the city would like to see redevelopment: the U.S. 31 corridor, Lorna Road and Bluff Park, Knighton said.

The focus likely will be on building design and architecture and façade appearances, he said. These will be guidelines for things the city wants to encourage, but not regulations, he said.

The work by the KPS Group also is expected to be done with six to nine months, Pruett said.

In other business Monday night, the Hoover City Council:

• Agreed to pay the Birmingham-Jefferson County Transit Authority $83,610 to provide transit service in Hoover for fiscal 2024. The city expects to receive about 883 hours of transit service over the course of the year at a cost of about $95 per hour.
• Approved numerous community service agreements with various entities, with $30,000 going to the Hoover Helps nonprofit that battles hunger and food insecurity, $15,700 going to the Miss Hoover Foundation, $15,000 going to the Robert O. Finley Character Foundation, $13,000 going to the Hoover Arts Foundation, $10,000 going to the Hoover City Schools Foundation, $5,000 going to the Hoover Belles, $5,000 going to the Hoover Service Club and $4,000 going to the Hoover Historical Society.
• Approved licenses to sell alcoholic beverages for the Chevron Hoover gasoline station and convenience store at 3421 Lorna Road, Raceway 6825 gasoline station and convenience store at 1999 Montgomery Highway and Saffron Hwy 280 restaurant at 5426 U.S. 280, Suites 13 and 14.
• Agreed to pay $770 a month to Knox Pest Control for services at 39 municipal properties across the city
• Agreed to hire QCHC to provide health care for inmates at the Hoover Jail
• Agreed to cut high weeds and/or grass at 2125 Tyler Lane and 1901 Greenvale Road and put a lien against the properties to recover the cost of the work due to the properties being a public nuisance
• Annexed a single-family residential property at 995 Bridgewater Park Drive
• Joined Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato in welcoming five new members of the Hoover Beautification Board (Natalie Fleming, Lyn Franks, Savannah Johnson, Rachel Rounsaville and Linda Weathers) and recognizing Pat Lawley as a lifetime member of the Beautification Board after 21 years of service.

See the video of Monday night's Hoover City Council meeting on The Hoover Channel YouTube page.