A look ahead: Demolition updates

There is about to be a lot of activity around Mountain Brook Shopping Center. Starting mid-January, the portion of the shopping center that used to house the old Western Supermarket, Ollie Irene and Smith’s Variety will be demolished. The portion from the Rite Aid to the edge of the building will remain standing.

Demolition will take six to eight weeks, said Evson Inc. President John Evans, and work does not stop there. 

There are also plans to construct a new culvert behind Mountain Brook Shopping Center, extending under Lane Parke Road to the Botanical Gardens. The new culvert will replace a 50-year-old culvert that has been behind the shopping center since Evans’ grandfather built the property. Despite the demolition and construction plans that are in place, Evans said they are working for there to be as little disruption as possible.

“We’ve committed ourselves to the [Lane Parke] first phase tenants that their customers should be able to come and go with as little inconvenience as possible,” Evans said.

While there might be a few delays around Mountain Brook Shopping Center, they plan to keep Montevallo Drive open, and there will always be access from Montevallo Drive to the new Western Supermarket, said Bill McReynolds, senior program manager with Hoar Program Management.

As the project progresses, McReynolds said many people have asked when Jemison Lane will be completed. The hope is for that road, which will run through the current Regions Bank on Montevallo Drive, to be completed in late fall this year. 

“It all has to happen in sequence,” McReynolds said.

Once the old Western is demolished, Regions Bank will start work on its new location — which will be located across the street. They have seven months to complete the project and get the new location up and running, McReynolds said, after which they will demolish the current location and be able to finish Jemison Lane.

“This whole thing is a ballet of do the demolition, get out of their way,” Evans said.

The city of Mountain Brook has been brought up to speed on the demolition and construction plans for the area, McReynolds said, to ensure fire, police and other city officials know what is going on around the Lane Park area.

“We’ve worked with the city for 10 years, and we thought it was our obligation to keep them up to speed with our plans,” Evans said.