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Photo by Jon Anderson
People hold signs objecting to proposed apartments in the Tattersall Park development at the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at Hoover City Hall in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
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Map courtesy of city of Hoover
Ebsco Industries and Radiant Investments are proposing to put more than 300 multi-family units, a hotel, retail and restaurant development on 33 acres in Tattersall Park in Hoover, Alabama.
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Land use plan courtesy of city of Hoover
This is the proposed land use plan for the Tattersall Park Village Center, which is proposed to include more than 300 multi-family units, a hotel, retail and restaurant space on 33 undeveloped acres in Tattersall Park in Hoover, Alabama.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Greystone resident Ashley Lovell speaks against multi-family units in a proposed village center at Tattersall Park at the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at Hoover City Hall in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
A sketch of the proposed Tattersall Park village center is shown on a screen during the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at Hoover City Hall in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
The crowd listens to discussions about a proposed village center for the Tattersall Park development at the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at Hoover City Hall in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Corporate Realty President Jimmy Holloway discusses plans for a proposed village center in the Tattersall Park development during the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at Hoover City Hall in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
Hoover planning commissioners Jennifer Peace and Mike Wood take part in discussions about a proposed amendment to the Tattersall Park development at the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission meeting at Hoover City Hall in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
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Photo by Jon Anderson
The Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission discusses a proposed village center for the Tattersall Park development during a zoning board meeting at Hoover City Hall in Hoover, Alabama, on Monday, Oct. 14, 2024.
Greystone residents flooded Hoover City Hall Monday night for a zoning board meeting regarding a proposal for a mixed-use development on nearly 33 undeveloped acres in Tattersall Park, but the meeting ended without a decision on the matter.
Ebsco Industries is seeking permission to build up to 170 senior adult multi-family housing units, up to 137.5 other multi-family units, a hotel with up to 125 rooms and up to 45,000 square feet of climate-controlled commercial space, including retail and restaurant space.
More than 1,260 people have signed a petition against the proposal, and many who spoke Monday night objected to the idea of having people live in Tattersall Park, preferring to see the property remain zoned for commercial use.
After about two hours of discussion, the developers asked for a continuance to give them more time to answer residents’ questions and address concerns rather than push for a yes-or-no vote Monday night.
Jay Page, the group president for Ebsco Realty, said his company has been developing pieces of the 63-acre Tattersall Park development since 2014 and is excited about the opportunity to develop the remaining 33 acres of undeveloped space with a mixed-use plan.
Ebsco Realty is working with Corporate Realty on a “village center” plan that would allow for people to live within easy walking distance of retail stores and restaurants and provide a “green space” that would be suitable for food trucks, farmers markets and small, low-key music entertainment, said Jimmy Holloway, president of Corporate Realty.
The 170 senior adult or “active adult” multi-family housing units would be restricted to people age 55 and older. He envisions it looking much like the “active adult” community being built in the Knox Square portion of Trace Crossings across from Hoover Metropolitan Stadium, he said.
The minimum square footage for residential units would be 500 square feet, and there would be no minimum lot sizes. The maximum height of buildings in the village center would be five stories as proposed.
Ray Fitzpatrick, a board member with the Greystone Residential Association (the homeowners association for the Greystone Founders community), noted that when Greystone was annexed into Hoover in 1990, the land now known as Tattersall Park was zoned for “planned commercial” use. “It should stay commercial,” Fitzpatrick said. “They should honor the agreement that was made when the property was annexed.”
He also noted that Ebsco has just completed construction of 321 apartments called The Whitby in the city limits of Birmingham directly across Alabama 119 from Tattersall Park and that there are several other new multi-family complexes in the immediate vicinity.
“There are probably 1,000 new multi-family units on 119 between [U.S.] 280 and Lake Purdy. That’s a lot of traffic,” Fitzpatrick said. “If you see it at 5 o’clock at night, traffic is backed both ways for an extended period of time. The 119 corridor is saturated already with multi-family.”
Fitzpatrick also noted that Ebsco’s proposed amendment to the Tattersall Park development plan would allow the developer to have 48 more multi-family units if the proposed hotel is not built, so the total possible number of multi-family units is 355, he said. That would be bigger than The Whitby across the street, he said.
The proposed amendment gives the developer too much leeway to make changes in the number of multi-family units and the type of multi-family units, Fitzpatrick said.
“This is a dangerous delegation of discretion to the developer,” he said. He recommended the developer go back to the drawing board and come forward with more specific plans.
Ashley Lovell, a Greystone resident who organized the petition against this plan, said she grew up in Greystone as far back as 1989 and the community doesn’t want the plan that is being proposed.
“I am not anti-development, but I am anti-unthoughtful development,” Lovell said. “I am for thoughtful development that takes real-time feedback from the community, and that hasn’t happened here. … We have been fighting to keep this parcel of land dedicated to something that the community will benefit from.”
Numerous residents complained about the traffic that would be added by another apartment complex in that vicinity, but Aubrey Long, a traffic consulted hired by the developer, said residential development actually generates less traffic than commercial development.
Lovell and others noted that the developer’s traffic study did not take into account traffic that will be coming from the other new developments that are brand new and not fully built out or leased out yet. All the combined new traffic will stress the infrastructure too much, she said.
After the meeting, Lovell said she would like to see a mixture of retail businesses, office space, restaurants, green space and entertainment options much like is in Mt Laurel or Ponce City Market in Atlanta.
Ponce City Market has five buildings with 3 million square feet of mixed-use space that includes retail, office and food offerings. However, it also has 821 apartments.
Lovell also said if multi-family has to go in Tattersall Park, she would prefer it all be age-restricted housing for people age 55 and older and that the units be sold and not leased, but her overall preference is no residential there.
Planning Commissioner Jennifer Peace questioned whether Ebsco was providing enough parking for all the people who would live, shop and visit the village center.
Jerry Calhoun with Nequette Architecture & Design, hired by the developer, said parking calculations were done in conjunction with generally acceptable standards for each kind of use proposed, but Greystone resident Tony Jones questioned where the apartment residents’ visitors were supposed to park. He also objected to any hotel on the property because of the influx of people coming and going all the time.
Greystone resident Kathi Wallace said the women of Greystone are viscerally opposed to an extended-stay hotel, prompting Holloway to say it would not be an extended stay hotel.
Robert Sbrissa, another Greystone resident, said he believes Ebsco is a quality, ethical development company, but there are too many unanswered questions with this development.
Sbrissa said that Greystone residents were expecting to be part of the city of Hoover when the development was annexed decades ago, “but I don’t really feel like a resident of Hoover. … I feel very much like a stepchild of the city of Hoover.”
Hoover talks about being a quality community with quality developments, but “this proposal doesn’t come close to lining up” with that, he said.
Mary Sue Ludwig, who previously served 28 years on the the board of the Greystone Residential Association, said residents have been fighting Ebsco about this property since 2005.
“Every time it has been density,” Ludwig said. “You have tried to put 10 pounds of potatoes in a 5-pound bag, and it just doesn’t sit well with us. We have met with you and have told you what we want there and would work with you in any way to get it, and you have turned a deaf ear. Ebsco is better than that. I know the family. I know what good people they are, but this is not the right place for what you are proposing, and I think that you will find if you build what we need, you will profit more than you know.”
Planning Commission Chairman Mike Wood said that, in the past, Greystone residents have not liked the way Ebsco has sold off one parcel at a time to various businesses and, to him, “this [new proposal] appears to be what you asked for in the past.”
It’s also important to note that residential development is expected to generate less traffic than commercial development, he said.
“I think that if you would try to work with this developer, I think they’re reasonable developers,” he told the Greystone residents. “If you try to work with them, there might be a good compromise. … Maybe we can come up with a better product for everybody.”
The next meeting of the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission is scheduled for Monday, Nov. 11.
