The Entrepreneurial Center, located in the 100 block of 12th Street North, is sponsored by the city of Birmingham, Jefferson County, and private business. Both the Entrepreneurial Center and OADI, which is currently located in the Oxmoor Valley area, would relocate to the Sears property, which will require another $12 million for renovations. The OADI is a high-tech business incubator affiliated with UAB. The Entrepreneurial Center nurtures information technology and service for the light manufacturing industry.

Controversy between George Barber, owner of Barber Properties, and Birmingham Mayor Bernard Kincaid over the dilapidated Sears structure deprived the city of a chance to host to one of the top motorcycle races in the world. A year ago, Barber asked the city to commit $250,000 annually for three years to bring the North American Grand Prix to the Barber Motorsports Park. The race is part of the MotoGP, a worldwide motorcycle racing series that is the equivalent of the Formula One racing circuit for automobiles. In exchange, Kincaid asked for control of the Sears property, but Barber would not comply, arguing that the economic impact to the city should be a sufficient swap. Famed Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, California, got the Grand Prix instead.

At the meeting, Councilor Carole Smitherman remained skeptical, noting the large expenditure and past problems with Barber as she questioned if the proposal was the best use of the building. “You’re going to have to convince me that this is the best thing to do,” Smitherman said. “We’ve lost money with Mr. Barber because the Mayor demanded that he fix up the blight problem. So we didn’t get a chance to bid on the motorcycle races. So that’s lost revenue.” &

Don Erwin of Barber Properties presented former dairy tycoon and current real estate magnate George Barber’s Red Mountain development plan to some 60 residents at the Redmont Park neighborhood meeting May 24. Barber wants to build a six-story condominium and 21 private homes on 15.5 acres at the crest of the mountain. Two-thirds of the audience passionately denounced the proposal, which calls for a construction project estimated at $75 million. The gated community is to be called The Crest on Red Mountain and would be the only such structure standing on Red Mountain.Rumors about Barber’s building plans have swirled around the Redmont community for the past couple of years. “I know some folks thought we were going to build a tall skyscraper that was going to rival Vulcan, but that’s actually not the case,” Erwin told the neighborhood. At the meeting, drawings of the proposed development were viewed for the first time. Afterward, many residents compared the aesthetics of the condominium complex to a prison and others voiced concerns about the impact of an additional 200 cars on their street, as well as the strain on already tenuous sewer and water pressure situations.Erwin said Barber was focused on making the development a unique, attractive place to live. “If we just wanted to do the easy thing, what we could do is do a single-family, cookie-cutter housing development in there and probably do about 35 single-family houses. But that’s not something that we want to do. To us, that would be an example of a less-than-ideal change,” said Erwin. “The truth is that the Redmont Park neighborhood has always been changing . . . change is always going to occur. There’s nothing we can do to prevent it.”Noting that condominiums are vilified because the structures often block residents’ sight-lines of the city, Erwin pointed out that won’t be a problem with The Crest on Red Mountain. “One of the nice features of our project is that our building is right on the crest of the mountain, so we don’t block anybody’s view. By being on the top, there’s no view, that we can find, that’s blocked in any way,” he explained. The condominium units are expected to range from $650,000 to almost $1 million, depending on the square footage. The four 5,000-square-foot penthouses that will comprise the top floor would be about $2.5 million each. The homes are expected to sell for $850,000 on average.

Redmont Park is currently zoned R-1 (single family homes). A change to R-6 (multi-family homes) zoning allows condominium construction, but many residents question why the single-family homes portion of the acreage would need to be rezoned along with the condominium units. Others simply do not want any rezoning at all, preferring that only private homes be in the neighborhood. “My concern is zoning the property at R-6. I’m not convinced that they made the case for why that needs to be,” said Leah Webb, a Redmont resident. “Overall, I think that Mr. Erwin was trying very hard to make the case, but he just didn’t convince me that a [zoning] change had to be made. I don’t see how this is a win-win situation for anyone.”

Warning that the introduction of this condominium on the mountain will invite others to build the same, Redmont resident Bill Mudd predicted, “Sooner or later Vulcan will be a little blip on the skyline . . . Mudd asked Erwin why Barber didn’t build the development downtown, where the developer currently owns one of Birmingham’s more noxious blights, the long-abandoned Sears building on First Avenue North. Erwin responded that not everyone wants to live downtown. “If we’re going to be a viable city, we have to offer all kinds of living arrangements to different kinds of people. We have to offer condominiums in the middle of town. We have to offer lofts for young people; we have to offer single-family houses. We have to offer the whole range,” explained Erwin, who added that a deal was close to being wrapped up regarding the Sears property.

Erwin refused to delay the vote until the next month’s meeting, even though many residents requested a delay so they could have time to review the plans before voting on the project. The final tally from a secret ballot was 42 residents against the project, with 21 in favor. The neighborhood vote is only a recommendation to the Zoning Advisory Committee (ZAC) and is not binding. The ZAC will make a recommendation, and then pass its decision along to the Birmingham City Council, which has the final word. The ZAC will take up the matter on July 5.

Barber currently has two residences in Redmont Park. One has reportedly been abandoned for several years, and neighbors have complained about rats and an overgrown lawn at the site. An irate resident who lives in close proximity to the proposed development acreage angrily complained to Erwin that Barber has not bothered to discuss the project with her. Other neglected Barber properties make her doubt the developer’s intentions. “Now you’re going to build a project and keep your word? I doubt it,” she hissed at Erwin. &