EARD promotes riverfront expansion for local colleges
By Rebekah Nicodemus
Staff Writer
Acquiring property in areas considered vital to riverfront redevelopment is a top priority for members of the East Alabama Riverfront Development (EARD) as redevelopment begins to move forward. Both Troy University and Chattahoochee Valley Community College have expressed a desire to locate in the area surrounding the 14th Street bridge.
Troy University Vice-Chancellor Curtis Pitts said that the university’s Phenix City campus needs to expand, and he would like the expansion to take place on the Phenix City riverfront. The campus had a 25 percent growth rate last year.
“All of our buildings out here are full,” he said. If the school is able to secure the land at the base of the 14th Street bridge, Pitts said the business and counseling programs, and possibly the nursing programs would locate there, in a building expected to be three stories and 48,000 square feet. He said he did not know how quickly Troy University would be ready to expand, as the timeframe would depend on fund-raising and approval by the university administration.
“It’s in the feasibility stage,” he said. “We’re looking at it hard.”
The final EARD general membership meeting of the year, held on Nov. 18, included extensive discussion about the land at the end of the 14th Street bridge. Doug Faust, vice president of consulting services for the Boulevard Group, the urban development planning firm working with EARD to plan downtown and riverfront redevelopment, said that the 14th Street bridge area and the proposed hotel site near the Dillingham Bridge were the most important pieces of land to the redevelopment process.
“We have to own the foot of the bridge,” he said.
EARD members discussed obtaining an appraisal of the land at the foot of the 14th Street bridge, now owned by the Phenix City Housing Authority, in an effort to help the educational institutes move toward obtaining the land.
EARD President Sammy Howard said he was excited that riverfront redevelopment seems to be moving forward. “What we’ve been wanting is something to happen,” he said, “now we’ve got to make sure it happens in the right way.”
The need for a new economic development director for the city was also discussed at the Nov. 18 meeting. City Manager Max Wilkes said the city has interviewed several candidates for the position, and that three of the candidates had been invited for a second interview.
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Contact Rebekah Nicodemus at Rebekah@phenixcitizen.com