Photo courtesy of Crawford Square Real Estate Advisors.
A view of businesses in Phase 1 of Lane Parke in Mountain Brook Village. Developers announced Feb. 22 that they were ready to begin construction on Phase 2.
Construction of the long-awaited Phase 2 of the Lane Parke development in Mountain Brook Village was to begin the week of March 15, according to information available at press time.
Developer John Evans of Evson Inc. delivered the good news about Phase 2 to the Mountain Brook City Council at its meeting on Feb. 22.
“After this long slog, I think we are in the position to physically get going,” Evans told the council.
He said developers would be pulling city permits and “mobilizing” contractors and subcontractors.
“We have satisfied the bank as far as our pre-leasing (for Phase 2),” Evans said.
Evans said that the one exception was an application for conditional use filed by Basecoat on Fifth, a large, high-end nail salon, that was on the council agenda that night.
Later in the meeting, the council voted unanimously to approve the application, clearing the way for Phase 2 construction to begin.
Mary Beyer Lell, a principal at Crawford Square Real Estate Advisors, and Sam Heide, a principal and CEO at Crawford Square, presented an updated parking study from Walker Consultants to support the application.
They said that, according to the study, the salon would not cause parking problems at the development, and Dana Hazen, the city’s Director of Planning, Building & Sustainability, concurred in that assessment.
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,” Lell said.
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.
“The community has been interested in this development for some time, and I know they share with me in the desire to not only see it succeed but thrive as the centerpiece of Mountain Brook,” Heide said in a news release Feb. 23. “Everyone should be proud that this milestone has been reached, and we will continue to work hard to make it a vibrant destination for years to come.”
“We are thrilled to take the final step toward completing Lane Parke,” Evans said in the release. “Our family has been unwavering in the vision that we originally contemplated for this special location.”
