UAB Hospital Response

Re: Phase Two of Stadium Trace Village

Stadium Trace Village has already been tremendously successful in attracting a fantastic mix of tenants to Phase I. This includes the previously announced Aldi new prototype larger-format store, as well as the UAB Family Medical Center and Map Development’s 100% leased Village Shoppes to be occupied by local retail and fresh restaurant concepts. Furthermore, we look forward to announcing soon several great new-to-Alabama retail tenants that all will enjoy.

Stadium Trace Village Phase II is more than 148 acres and has approximately fifty acres of commercially zoned land. This land is beautifully positioned with easy access and high-elevation views of Hoover and the surrounding countryside. For the commercially zoned land, we welcome and will continue to pursue uses including other high-quality specialty medical or technology operators and compatible uses, including the finest assisted living facilities.

We are in the final stages of completing the forty-three-acre Phase I and were pleased that UAB Medical West Hospital expressed interest in fifty acres on Phase II of our project. Infrastructure improvements that include additional lanes on both Stadium Trace Parkway and HWY 150, dedicated right-hand turn lanes to keep traffic moving, and widened streets within our project were all designed to assure easy access.

Broad Metro cooperated with the City and UAB Medical West because we believed that a $412 million world-class hospital with walking trails, bike paths, greenspaces and other fantastic amenities would be the highest and best use for that fifty acres of land. We agreed with the vision of City leaders that it would provide support for Hoover’s quality of life, internships for high school students and build upon Hoover’s existing medical and technology initiatives. Economics for the project were supported by Keivan Deravi, an economics professor from Auburn University at Montgomery, whose economic impact study demonstrated how the benefits outweighed the costs by more than ten to one. (The study is available by link: http://broadmetro.com/uab-medical-west.)

Our all Alabama-based development team met with all interested parties, including every councilman and appropriate city leader multiple times. In an effort to answer concerns about traffic the hospital would bring, Darrell Skipper of Skipper Consulting presented detailed traffic analysis. He additionally attended all meetings including staying until late on a Sunday afternoon to answer every question at a Trace Crossing Residents Association meeting. (Skipper Consulting is a Birmingham-based traffic engineering firm whose reputation for traffic engineering, transportation planning and parking consulting is unparalleled.)

Broad Metro is of course disappointed by UAB’s recent announcement to locate the hospital on land owned on I459 at exit one. We sincerely wish that the citizens of Hoover could have had the opportunity to learn more about the proposed hospital. However, we also understand that these are God’s precious acres, and we will be able to present other great opportunities for the City of Hoover in the near future.

This holiday season we can truly say that we are so very thankful to all of our team members as well as to the new friends and neighbors in this wonderfully diverse community who took the time to learn more about this project. We appreciate the encouragement we received from Hoover residents for pursuing the project, especially from those who even went as far as signing petitions in support of the UAB Hospital.

We would also like to thank Mayor Brocato, City Administrator Allan Rice, and the Hoover City Council Members for their forward-thinking efforts. Once it was announced that UAB Medical West in Bessemer would be converted into a non-acute care facility and that UAB would be looking for a new location for an acute care hospital, Mayor Brocato began communication with Bessemer’s Mayor Gulley to ensure that the Bessemer facility would expand its first-class emergency room and provide other vital health care services. Only then did the Mayor pursue the relocation opportunity for Hoover. He sought to ensure a strong, sustainable future for the City of Hoover and its surrounding communities. This goal and vision are shared and applauded by all of us.

We also thank UAB Medical for considering Hoover’s Stadium Trace Village site. UAB is one of Alabama’s finest corporate citizens, and their leadership was very open to considering all of the options before making their decision. Furthermore, they expressed how they liked the opportunities that the Hoover site presented and were complimentary of the effort made on their behalf by the City of Hoover and Broad Metro.

We wish UAB Medical West the best of luck and continued success in providing world-class, life-saving health services to Western Jefferson County.

Sincerely,

William Kadish
Director of Development
Broad Metro, LLC