Elements of Urbanism: Montgomery, AL
Metro Jacksonville takes a look at the downtown of Alabama's capitol city to see if there's something we can learn from their experience that could be applicable to our own efforts to revitalize downtown Jacksonville.
Tale of the Tape:
Montgomery City Population 2012: 205,293 (City); 377,149 (Metro 2012) - (incorporated in 1819)
Jacksonville City Population 2012: 836,507 (City); 1,377,850 (Metro 2012) - (incorporated in 1832)
City population 1950: Jacksonville (204,517); Montgomery (106,525)
City Land Area
Montgomery: 159.6 square miles
Jacksonville: 757.7 square miles
Metropolitan Area Growth rate (2010-2012)
Montgomery: ?0.23%
Jacksonville: +2.40%
Urban Area Population (2010 census)
Montgomery: 263,907 (ranked 142 nationwide)
Jacksonville: 1,065,219 (ranked 40 nationwide)
Urban Area Population Density (2010 census)
Montgomery: 1,718.4 people per square mile
Jacksonville: 2,008.5 people per square mile
City Population Growth from 2010 to 2012
Montgomery: -471
Jacksonville: +14,723
Convention Center Exhibition Space:
Montgomery: Montgomery Convention Center (expanded in 2007) - 73,000 square feet
Jacksonville: Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center (1985) - 78,500 square feet
Connected to or across the street from Convention Center:
Montgomery: Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center - 342 rooms
Jacksonville: N/A
Tallest Building:
Montgomery: RSA Tower - 397 feet
Jacksonville: Bank of America Tower - 617 feet
Fortune 500 companies 2013 (City limits only):
Montgomery: N/A
Jacksonville: CSX (231), Fidelity National Financial (353), Fidelity National Information Services (434)
Urban infill obstacles:
Montgomery: Railroad serves as a barrier between the riverfront and downtown.
Jacksonville: State & Union Streets cut off downtown Jacksonville from Springfield.
Downtown Nightlife:
Montgomery: The Alley
Jacksonville: East Bay Street
Common Downtown Albatross:
Proliferation of surface parking lots.
Who's Downtown is more walkable?
Montgomery: 80 out of 100, according to walkscore.com
Jacksonville: 88 out of 100, according to walkscore.com
About Montgomery
Montgomery was formed in 1819 when the rival towns of New Philadelphia and East Alabama Town merged. The city is named for Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 1775 while attempting to capture, Quebec City, Canada. Bolstered by the cotton trade, Montgomery rapidly grew and eventually became the capitol of Alabama in 1846.
Montgomery found itself in the center of Civil War politics, becoming the first capital of the Confederate States of America in 1861. In 1886, Montgomery became the first city in the country to implement a city-wide electric streetcar system. In 1955, Rosa Parks helped usher in the modern civil rights movement when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in downtown, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Then the pastor of downtown Montgomery's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr. and E.D. Nixon founded the Montgomery Improvement Association to organize the boycott. Like many downtowns across the country, the area declined in the later half of the 20th century as the city spread outward.
Over the past 15 years, $1.5 billion has been invested in downtown and the surrounding area and optimism in at an all-time high. With several projects still on the drawing board, currently downtown Montgomery is home to 17,500 employees, including 9,500 State Government employees.
Dexter Avenue
Court Square Plaza and Fountain sits in the heart of downtown Montgomery, serving as a central traffic circulator.
The Alabama State Capitol is perched on Capitol Hill. This building dates back to 1851 and served as the Capitol of the Confederate States of America in 1861, before being moved to Richmond, VA.
One Dexter Avenue (left building in image above) has always been in the center of action in Montgomery. Civil Rights pioneer Rosa Parks was arrested nearby and the telegram that started the Civil War was sent from across the street.
Built in 1997, the 23-story RSA Tower is the tallest structure in Montgomery and the . It is considered the trophy of the Retirement Systems of Alabama's Montgomery office portfolio. RSA's other properties are located throughout downtown Montgomery, Mobile and New York City.
Completed in 2011, the RSA's Dexter Avenue office building is the third tallest in downtown Montgomery.
The Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church is where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached his first message of hope and brotherhood.
Riverwalk Stadium
Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium is the home of the Montgomery Biscuits (AA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays) of the Southern League. Completed in 2004, the $26 million stadium is a converted 19th century train shed.
With a seating capacity of 7,500, the stadium includes a street level retail space (The Biscuit Basket) and has hosted several events, such as the NCAA Division II baseball championship tournament.
Commerce Street
Still an active train station, which dates back to 1896, Union Station has been redeveloped to include offices and the Montgomery Visitor Center. The Station anchors the riverfront, which includes a 5,000-seat open air theater featuring concerts, movies and other live performances.
In 2007, the civic center was underwent a $85 million expansion and was joined by a 12-story, 346 room Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa. The construction of the 1,800-seat Montgomery Performing Arts Centre was included in the expansion project. Furthermore, a massive parking garage was built. However, at street level, retail and dining spaces were built to front adjacent streets.
The Alley is a mixed-use entertainment district built to complement other venues in the vicinity such as the convention center, hotels, and the minor league ball park.
It was originally used as an alley to transport goods from nearby railyards to a row of grocery warehouses. Local architect Mike Watson, anchored the strip with the design of his own establishment, AlleyBAR, which opened in 2009 on the ground floor of his building. Since then, the number of dining and nightlife venues has proliferated in the vicinity. Today, popular venues include Dreamland Bar-B-Que and Saza Serious Italian Food.
Total construction costs of The Alley was $1.6 million utilizing city and county funds. The initial public funding of $1.6 million has led to more than $35 million in private capital investment, 400 new downtown jobs, and annual sales tax revenues of over $1.5 million. Property values have increased 10 times on some of the surrounding buildings.
Commerce Street
Montgomery Street
The Rosa Parks Library and Museum & Children's Wing is located on the block where Rosa Parks was arrest on Decemeber 1, 1955, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and giving impetus to the Civil Rights Movement.
Troy University's Davis Theatre for the Performing Arts has been restored to its original 1930s look.
An Applicable Lesson for Jacksonville
Many believe much of downtown Montgomery's recent revitalization efforts were jumpstarted by the opening of the Montgomery Biscuits ballpark in 2004. However, upon a closer look, Montgomery is benefitting from the locating of several complementing uses within a compact pedestrian scale setting.
For example, the opening of the ball park was followed by the completion of the convention center expansion and Renaissance Hotel two blocks west. Instead of demolition, the largely vacant block of historic buildings and warehouses between the two, were renovated into The Alley, a mixed use development featuring dining, retail, nightlife and residential uses. These complementing uses have combined to quickly establish and area within downtown Montgomery that arguably generates more foot traffic on a regular basis than any similar sized area in downtown Jacksonville.
For those who believe the Northbank core should be a major priority of initial downtown Jacksonville revitalization efforts, what has been accomplished in Montgomery over the last decade, provides credibility to that argument.
Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com
Montgomery City Population 2012: 205,293 (City); 377,149 (Metro 2012) - (incorporated in 1819)
Jacksonville City Population 2012: 836,507 (City); 1,377,850 (Metro 2012) - (incorporated in 1832)
City population 1950: Jacksonville (204,517); Montgomery (106,525)
City Land Area
Montgomery: 159.6 square miles
Jacksonville: 757.7 square miles
Metropolitan Area Growth rate (2010-2012)
Montgomery: ?0.23%
Jacksonville: +2.40%
Urban Area Population (2010 census)
Montgomery: 263,907 (ranked 142 nationwide)
Jacksonville: 1,065,219 (ranked 40 nationwide)
Urban Area Population Density (2010 census)
Montgomery: 1,718.4 people per square mile
Jacksonville: 2,008.5 people per square mile
City Population Growth from 2010 to 2012
Montgomery: -471
Jacksonville: +14,723
Convention Center Exhibition Space:
Montgomery: Montgomery Convention Center (expanded in 2007) - 73,000 square feet
Jacksonville: Prime F. Osborn III Convention Center (1985) - 78,500 square feet
Connected to or across the street from Convention Center:
Montgomery: Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center - 342 rooms
Jacksonville: N/A
Tallest Building:
Montgomery: RSA Tower - 397 feet
Jacksonville: Bank of America Tower - 617 feet
Fortune 500 companies 2013 (City limits only):
Montgomery: N/A
Jacksonville: CSX (231), Fidelity National Financial (353), Fidelity National Information Services (434)
Urban infill obstacles:
Montgomery: Railroad serves as a barrier between the riverfront and downtown.
Jacksonville: State & Union Streets cut off downtown Jacksonville from Springfield.
Downtown Nightlife:
Montgomery: The Alley
Jacksonville: East Bay Street
Common Downtown Albatross:
Proliferation of surface parking lots.
Who's Downtown is more walkable?
Montgomery: 80 out of 100, according to walkscore.com
Jacksonville: 88 out of 100, according to walkscore.com
About Montgomery
Montgomery was formed in 1819 when the rival towns of New Philadelphia and East Alabama Town merged. The city is named for Richard Montgomery, an American Revolutionary War general killed in 1775 while attempting to capture, Quebec City, Canada. Bolstered by the cotton trade, Montgomery rapidly grew and eventually became the capitol of Alabama in 1846.
Montgomery found itself in the center of Civil War politics, becoming the first capital of the Confederate States of America in 1861. In 1886, Montgomery became the first city in the country to implement a city-wide electric streetcar system. In 1955, Rosa Parks helped usher in the modern civil rights movement when she refused to give up her bus seat to a white man in downtown, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott. Then the pastor of downtown Montgomery's Dexter Avenue Baptist Church, Martin Luther King, Jr. and E.D. Nixon founded the Montgomery Improvement Association to organize the boycott. Like many downtowns across the country, the area declined in the later half of the 20th century as the city spread outward.
Over the past 15 years, $1.5 billion has been invested in downtown and the surrounding area and optimism in at an all-time high. With several projects still on the drawing board, currently downtown Montgomery is home to 17,500 employees, including 9,500 State Government employees.
Dexter Avenue
Court Square Plaza and Fountain sits in the heart of downtown Montgomery, serving as a central traffic circulator.
The Alabama State Capitol is perched on Capitol Hill. This building dates back to 1851 and served as the Capitol of the Confederate States of America in 1861, before being moved to Richmond, VA.
One Dexter Avenue (left building in image above) has always been in the center of action in Montgomery. Civil Rights pioneer Rosa Parks was arrested nearby and the telegram that started the Civil War was sent from across the street.
Built in 1997, the 23-story RSA Tower is the tallest structure in Montgomery and the . It is considered the trophy of the Retirement Systems of Alabama's Montgomery office portfolio. RSA's other properties are located throughout downtown Montgomery, Mobile and New York City.
Completed in 2011, the RSA's Dexter Avenue office building is the third tallest in downtown Montgomery.
The Dexter Avenue King Memorial Baptist Church is where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached his first message of hope and brotherhood.
Riverwalk Stadium
Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium is the home of the Montgomery Biscuits (AA affiliate of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays) of the Southern League. Completed in 2004, the $26 million stadium is a converted 19th century train shed.
With a seating capacity of 7,500, the stadium includes a street level retail space (The Biscuit Basket) and has hosted several events, such as the NCAA Division II baseball championship tournament.
Commerce Street
Still an active train station, which dates back to 1896, Union Station has been redeveloped to include offices and the Montgomery Visitor Center. The Station anchors the riverfront, which includes a 5,000-seat open air theater featuring concerts, movies and other live performances.
In 2007, the civic center was underwent a $85 million expansion and was joined by a 12-story, 346 room Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa. The construction of the 1,800-seat Montgomery Performing Arts Centre was included in the expansion project. Furthermore, a massive parking garage was built. However, at street level, retail and dining spaces were built to front adjacent streets.
The Alley is a mixed-use entertainment district built to complement other venues in the vicinity such as the convention center, hotels, and the minor league ball park.
It was originally used as an alley to transport goods from nearby railyards to a row of grocery warehouses. Local architect Mike Watson, anchored the strip with the design of his own establishment, AlleyBAR, which opened in 2009 on the ground floor of his building. Since then, the number of dining and nightlife venues has proliferated in the vicinity. Today, popular venues include Dreamland Bar-B-Que and Saza Serious Italian Food.
Total construction costs of The Alley was $1.6 million utilizing city and county funds. The initial public funding of $1.6 million has led to more than $35 million in private capital investment, 400 new downtown jobs, and annual sales tax revenues of over $1.5 million. Property values have increased 10 times on some of the surrounding buildings.
Commerce Street
Montgomery Street
The Rosa Parks Library and Museum & Children's Wing is located on the block where Rosa Parks was arrest on Decemeber 1, 1955, sparking the Montgomery Bus Boycott and giving impetus to the Civil Rights Movement.
Troy University's Davis Theatre for the Performing Arts has been restored to its original 1930s look.
An Applicable Lesson for Jacksonville
Many believe much of downtown Montgomery's recent revitalization efforts were jumpstarted by the opening of the Montgomery Biscuits ballpark in 2004. However, upon a closer look, Montgomery is benefitting from the locating of several complementing uses within a compact pedestrian scale setting.
For example, the opening of the ball park was followed by the completion of the convention center expansion and Renaissance Hotel two blocks west. Instead of demolition, the largely vacant block of historic buildings and warehouses between the two, were renovated into The Alley, a mixed use development featuring dining, retail, nightlife and residential uses. These complementing uses have combined to quickly establish and area within downtown Montgomery that arguably generates more foot traffic on a regular basis than any similar sized area in downtown Jacksonville.
For those who believe the Northbank core should be a major priority of initial downtown Jacksonville revitalization efforts, what has been accomplished in Montgomery over the last decade, provides credibility to that argument.
Article by Ennis Davis, AICP. Contact Ennis at edavis@moderncities.com