For years, finding an entertainment option after attending a concert or convention at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex meant driving to other areas of the greater Birmingham area. The BJCC board of directors is touting The MarketPlace, a 50,000-square-foot entertainment district currently under construction in the 2300 block of Richard Arrington Boulevard near the BJCC, as a venue that will change that.

On July 20, the BJCC board of directors voted to hire Bayer Properties as its leasing partner for The MarketPlace, which will include restaurants and nightclubs, as well as retail stores. A 300-room Westin Hotel that will be the district’s centerpiece is also under construction, and will be managed by New York–based Starwood Hotels. Bayer, whose projects include The Summit on Highway 280, as well as national ventures, will also be responsible for marketing the $20 million development. “Bayer’s track record for successful developments made it the prime choice,” says Tad Snider, executive director of the BJCC. The deal includes an 18-month contract that pays Bayer $10,000 a month. The company will also receive a percentage of rent from each tenant it signs. The hotel and MarketPlace are scheduled to open in early 2013.

“The successful opening of the entertainment district is directly tied to the leasing partner that is a part of the project,” says Snider. “We feel like with Bayer Properties, we’ve got the best . . . we’ve found a leasing company that has a reputation, a national network of people looking to open businesses. Having Bayer Properties is a great partner to take up the leasing and marketing.”

At the July 20 board meeting, member Gil Wideman relished reminding other board members that Bayer was his first choice two years ago, not John Elkington of Performa Entertainment, who was fired by the BJCC after two years of work (from 2007 to 2009) for failing to secure tenants for an earlier proposed entertainment district in the area. He also reminded members that Bayer had dropped out of the project Performa was working on (called The Forge) because a multipurpose entertainment venue (domed stadium) was not going to be built. “Well, time passes and things change. And I’m delighted to see you all back in the mix,” Wideman told Bayer chief administrative officer David Fields, who was present to answer questions. “You all have been successful. You’ve got some kind of a good formula. I’m all for it . . . my concern here is that we don’t do everything we possibly can to protect the interest of BJCC. Since you all dropped out, we had the misfortune of supporting a tenant that some of us thought would be unable to perform. And unfortunately, he was given the lease anyway. He could not perform and we wound up losing a significant amount of money on a nonperforming tenant. We don’t want to lose any more money.”

Fields stated that Bayer would scrutinize each prospective tenant closely. “We’ll review their financial wherewithal and have a very careful and affirmative and in-depth analysis of them, just like we do as owners of our own properties. We mitigate against that risk by doing our homework,” Fields said. “We’ve been described as a ‘leasing agent.’ And that is not inaccurate, but I’d just like for the board to know that in our view we’re bringing a broader perspective to the table as well because in order to successfully lease this property, it has to be marketed appropriately and designed and laid out in a certain way, and operated in a certain way. And that’s the sort of global input we can provide and that’s the sort of talent that we are bringing to the table to work on this project.”

It appeared to be all Wideman needed to hear to convince him. “Thank you very much because that’s exactly what I wanted to hear from you, and I wanted it on record,” said Wideman.

“We are devoting several principals of the company, myself [included], to come in here and really just go ‘full metal jacket’ on this project,” said Fields. “There are a whole lot of examples of places that open well and there’s a lot of fanfare. But in order to sustain it over time requires delving into a far broader array of complexity so that it does deal with the design; it does deal with the layout; it does deal with the operation . . . and so that’s what we’re bringing to the table.” &