Long-awaited Phase 2 of Lane Parke to begin construction soon
The long-awaited Phase 2 of the Lane Parke development in Mountain Brook Village should begin construction by the week of March 1, said developer John Evans, who delivered the good news to the Mountain Brook City Council at its pre-meeting for Monday, Feb. 22.
“After this long slog, I think we are in the position to physically get going,” Evans told the council.
He said developers will be pulling permits from the city the next week or so and “mobilizing” its contractors and subcontractors.
“We have satisfied the bank as far as our pre-leasing, with the exception of one tenant that is on the City Council agenda tonight,” Evans said.
He was referring to a request for a conditional use filed by Basecoat on Fifth, a large, high-end nail salon.
Later, during its regular meeting, the council voted unanimously to approve that conditional use for the salon, clearing the way for Phase 2 construction to move forward.
The construction of the 50,000-square-foot Phase 2 of Lane Parke is a 14-month project, so it should be finished by about April or May 2022, Evans said.
“You should be seeing us going vertical by April,” he said. “You will see structural steel, us pouring concrete slabs.”
C.S. Beatty Construction will do some additional underground utility work on the west side of the development.
Evans also said that Phase 1 of the project, which measures about 70,000 square feet, is now completely leased.
The final tenant, a workout facility called X4 Fitness, should be open by May or June next to Sol y Luna restaurant in a space measuring about 3,000 square feet, he said.
X4 will likely approach the Grand Bohemian Hotel and offer workout packages for visitors and market the facility to the residents of the apartments nearby, Evans told members.
“I think it will connect well with that end of the development,” he said.
“We are excited about the use, and we think it will bring more people to the development, which is our goal,” said Mary Beyer Lell, a principal at Crawford Square Real Estate Advisors, the company that is helping lease the development.
X4 is run by “very experienced operators who are local to our community who will get out there and be in the community,” Lell said.
When Phase 2 is complete, Lane Parke will have about 120,00 square feet of retail, 276 apartments and the 100-room Grand Bohemian, Evans said.
“That will take up all 27 acres of the old Park Lane Apartments and the old Mountain Brook Shopping Center,” he said.
Lell and Sam Heide, a principal and CEO at Crawford Square, presented an updated parking study from Walker Consultants to support the application for a conditional use for Basecoat on Fifth.
They said that, according to the study, the salon would not cause parking problems at the development. Dana Hazen, the city’s Director of Planning, Building & Sustainability, concurred in that assessment.
The council voted unanimously to allow the salon to open.
The next regular meeting of the City Council is scheduled for March 8 at 7 p.m.