
Photo by Jon Anderson
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato, center, talks with community members after delivering his 2025 state-of-the-city address at the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.
The city of Hoover is growing and thriving with solid amenities like strong public safety, excellent schools and beautiful neighborhoods, but it must transform itself to stay attractive for the next generation, Mayor Frank Brocato said in his annual state-of-the-city address Tuesday.
Brocato, speaking to about 200 people at the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel, said it’s important that the city “not just seek progress, but that we seek progress with a purpose.”
Hoover, now the sixth largest city in the state with almost 100,000 people, for the most part has managed to hang onto its small-town feel, “but the growth is undeniable and requires that we make changes so that it does not overtake us,” Brocato said.
I-459 INTERCHANGE
One of those changes is a new Interstate 459 interchange being designed about a mile southwest of the John Hawkins Parkway exit. It’s a $120 million project, and the city is splitting the cost with the Alabama Department of Transportation, Brocato said. Design is about 60% complete, he said.
“We are currently on schedule to have ALDOT open bids sometime later this summer,” Brocato said. “Once completed, the anticipated building time is somewhere between two and three years, and this will be a huge benefit for our city.”
REVAMPING OFFICE PARKS
Another transformation the city is making is addressing vacant buildings in some of its older office parks.
“Allowing these buildings to sit empty is something we cannot afford to do,” the mayor said. “So it has forced us to get creative, to think outside the box on ways to resurrect these spaces in a way that is valuable and purposeful.”
In the Riverchase Office Park, the city has partnered with Signature Homes and a company called CR-Endeavors in the redevelopment of the 90-acre Regions Bank campus. Regions still has operations there, but one of its large buildings was empty, so the city is partnering with private entities to create a mixed-use center called Riverwalk Village.
That village will include state-of-the-art medical facilities, new townhomes and apartments, retail amenities and extensive trails and green spaces, the mayor said. The centerpiece will be an ambulatory surgery center and diagnostic center. The Hoover Health Care Authority currently is evaluating offers from potential operators.

Photo by Jon Anderson
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato delivers his 2025 state-of-the-city address at the Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Hyatt Regency Birmingham — The Wynfrey Hotel in Hoover, Alabama, on Tuesday, Jan. 21, 2025.
The city hopes to leverage that facility to grow more life science and related industries in Riverchase similar to BioHorizons, Biocryst, Bio Life and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Alabama, which are already there, the mayor said.
“The hurdles we faced with Riverwalk taught us valuable lessons about perseverance and collaboration, and we emerged stronger and more unitedd in our vision for this transformative project,” Brocato said.
Work also is underway to stimulate new vitality in eastern Hoover, the mayor said. City officials are working on plans to make Meadow Brook Corporate Park more of a mixed-use center with a technology focus, and new businesses already are moving in, such as Barge Design Solutions and Occupational Health Dynamics.
Just up U.S. 280, the Hoover City Council voted in May to rezone about 40% of the Inverness Center North office park (24 acres) to accommodate 289 new apartments, 18,000 square feet of retail space and 15,000 square feet of restaurant space. A Louisiana-based development company called the Stoa Group is developing a four-story apartment complex called The Heights at Inverness on 15 vacant acres next to the three roughly 150,000-square-foot office buildings in the park, plus new restaurant and retail space along Inverness Center Parkway.
“I am optimistic that it will bring new residents, new jobs and vibrancy to the area,” Brocato said.
Also in Inverness, Bassmaster moved its corporate headquarters to the shoreline of Lake Heather.
RIVERCHASE GALLERIA
The Riverchase Galleria, like other malls across the nation, faces challenges in today’s retail landscape, “but we see those challenges as opportunities for reinvention, and we are working closely with property owners to ensure its future success,” Brocato said.
Despite losing Sears and potentially Macy’s, which is up for sale, the mayor said the Galleria is thriving. But change does need to take place on the campus, he said.
The challenge is that at least eight entities own the property that makes up the Galleria campus, and it has been hard to get them together to discuss the future, Brocato said. The city plans to do a market assessment of the Galleria in 2025, he said.
“That study will evaluate various factors such as the potential for redevelopment, current market conditions, and it would provide recommendations for revitalizing the property,” Brocato said. “Fortunately, we’ve got the owners of the Galleria on board, and we are very hopeful that this will provide some helpful insights in blazing a path forward.”
Just across the street, Trader Joe’s is moving into part of the former Bed Bath & Beyond space in the Riverchase Crossings shopping center, and the developer of that center has additional plans to spur new business there.
HOOVER MET COMPLEX
Hoover Metropolitan Stadium has been a cornerstone of the city since it opened in 1988. Many people feared what would happen after the Birmingham Barons relocated back to Birmingham, but previous city officials had the foresight to transform that campus into a larger sports complex that has proven to be an economic and cultural boon for the city, the mayor said.
Construction of the 155,000-square-foot Finley Center as an indoor sports and event venue also helped the city keep the SEC Baseball Tournament.
And city officials are continuing to reinvest in the Hoover Met Stadium to transform it in ways to keep it appealing for the SEC and others, the mayor said. Over the last three years, the city has invested $23 million in renovations, including modernized locker rooms, a new media room, redesigned and repaved parking lots, upgraded lighting and a redesigned main entrance.
More renovations are underway, including building a new third-base club level, replacing all chairback seating and revamping the concourse.

Image courtesy of Goodwyn Mills Cawood
This rendering shows a 4,250-square-foot hospitality club suite being built on the third base side at Hoover Metropolitan Stadium in Hoover, Alabama.
“The SEC Baseball Tournament grows in size and stature every year. We set a record last year with 180,000 participants,” the mayor said. “While we celebrate its rich history in Hoover, we know there are many cities eager to host this prestigious event. That’s why we remain focused on not just maintaining but transforming the Met to meet the needs of today and tomorrow. We are committed to ensuring the Met continues to be a catalyst for growth, a source of pride for our community and a shining example of Hoover’s ability to balance tradition with transformation.”
In August, the SEC extended its contract with Hoover to remain at the Hoover Met through at least 2028, with options to extend until 2030.
OTHER PROGRESS
The mayor took time in his address to celebrate recent accomplishments in public safety, schools and the business sector.
The city saw a nearly 10% decrease in total crime offenses in 2024. The police and fire departments continue to find new tools to fight crime and fires, including 15 drones, the mayor said. One of the newest drones in the fleet serves as a first responder, designed to fly from Hoover City Hall to evaluate crime scenes or other incidents before ground units arrive, providing birds-eye views to public safety personnel before they arrive.
The drone recently was used to help evaluate a brush fire and apartment fire, helping battalion chiefs on the ground determine the best ways to fight the fires, the mayor said.
The Hoover Fire Department also soon will be getting a new Fire Station No. 1 along U.S. 31 in the Green Valley area.
Hoover schools received a 95 on their state report card — their highest grade ever as a district, placing the district in the top 8.5% of state scores, Brocato said. Test scores for students learning English as a second language increased by 7%, and the school district’s graduation rate improved to 97%, he said.
This past year, the city added 4,000 feet of new sidewalks in Hoover neighborhoods, and the Hoover Public Library added a bookmobile to take books and other services into neighborhoods and apartment complexes, Brocato said.
Numerous improvements were made to neighborhood parks, including new parking, benches and landscaping at Russet Woods Park, a new canoe launch at Flemming Park along the Cahaba River, new pickleball courts at Veterans Park and a trail expansion at Loch Haven Park. The Hoover Randle Home completed an $800,000 renovation project last year, and 11 athletic fields in the city were upgraded with artificial turf.
The Hoover Area Chamber of Commerce welcomed 170 new members last year, bringing total membership to roughly 870 members, and the city issued 2,898 commercial construction permits (roughly 300 more than the year before), Brocato said.
And the National Computer Forensics Institute, housed in the Hoover Public Safety Center,
is expanding its space thanks to a $23 million federal grant, adding three more classrooms, a 250-seat auditorium and 20 administrative office spaces, the mayor said.
“This will allow the NCFI to go from training 5,000 students a year to serving over 10,000 students every year,” Brocato said. “There are many cities across the U.S. that would love to call this facility home, and we are thrilled they have chosen to stay right here in Hoover, Alabama.”

Photo by Jon Anderson.
220317_National_Computer_Forensics_Institute
The National Computer Forensics Institute is at the Hoover Public Safety Center and in 2021 trained 3,718 law enforcement officers, prosecutors and judges about cyber crimes, as well as 410 federal agents and members of the National Guard.
Brocato said every year he visits Hoover schools and talks with students who talk about leaving Hoover to move on to what they believe are greener pastures.But Hoover continues to get national accolades about its quality of life, including being named the 7th best city in which to live in the South by USA Today.
“The ingredients definitely are here, but we’ve got to combine them in a way that makes them attractive to future generations so that they will all want to stay in Hoover,” Brocato said. “And not just to stay, but to see the community thrive.
“The reality is the greatest successes of projects like Riverwalk Village, like a revitalization of the Galleria — our generation won’t see them to the fullest,” Brocato said. “It’s our children, it’s our grandchildren, our great grandchildren who will reap the biggest benefits of all of this. We’re doing this for them. They are the purpose behind our progress. … Someone did it for us; it now falls on us to do the same for those coming behind us.”