Urban Transformation

Cathy Sloss-Crenshaw, president of Sloss Real Estate Group which is the co-developer of Park Place , says this project for her company presented a "rare opportunity to take 12 blocks in the center of a major American city and remold it to serve the needs of its citizens."

The chance to transform an area with the dubious distinction of being located in the nation's poorest zip code was one the Birmingham real estate maven couldn't refuse.

In addition to razing and rebuilding the six blocks on which Metropolitan Gardens once stood, Sloss-Crenshaw rallied other stakeholders on the other six blocks to look at the development as a chance to intentionally build a new urban neighborhood.

Part of the new 'hood includes the YMCA's transformation of historic Phillips High School gymnasium. It has raised $7 million to turn the relic into a youth development center, with a swimming pool, climbing wall and playing fields.

The new 'hood will include a new use for a revamped Phillips High. Birmingham School Superintendent Wayman Shiver says the public school system is working with the Annenberg Institute for School Reform to develop a K-8 "best-practices" school there. Teachers there will develop effective learning strategies that can be transplanted at other city schools.

"This project offers the school system an opportunity to work with the community to improve education not only for the children who live here in Park Place, but for children across the entire city," he says.

AmSouth Bank, one of the largest private, equity investors in the $110 million Hope VI development, owns a drive-through banking center and employee parking lot on one of the 12 blocks. It has bought and demolished an old motel that once stood on the corner of its block.

"We are committed to making sure that whatever future development takes place on that block enhances the Park Place development and that it helps make a stronger Downtown," says Jeff Gish, AmSouth's vice president and its corporate community reinvestment manager.

Other components of the new 'hood include the Rushton Foundation's urban garden on one block, a museum and culinary arts training center planned for the former Powell Elementary School on one block, and Marconi Park in the midst of it all. Sloss-Crenshaw says plans for the park include installing a landmark water fountain, designed by internationally renowned artist, Kerry James Marshall, a Birmingham native.

" Park Place is already being recognized nationally as a major model for urban revitalization," she says. "We are creating - and will create - a thriving, mixed-income, mixed-race community in the heart of Birmingham , Alabama . I am honored to be a participant in this effort."

James Brooks, the Housing Authority's consultant and project manager for its Hope VI development program, says Park Place is one of the best designed and constructed in the country.

"It doesn't look like a suburban apartment complex; it has a downtown, urban feel to it, a very strong urban design," says Brooks a principal of The Boulevard Group. "We intend to submit it for various awards because we think it will win a number of HUD and urban planning and design awards; it's that good."

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