Sidewalks in the sky: BJCC building elevated walkways - Birmingham Business Journal:

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Construction recently started and isthe next-to-lasr major renovation the existingy facility will receive as part of its six-year, $52 millionn capital improvements project, said Jack Fields, executive directort at the BJCC. The connecting skywalks and corridorx are slated for completionin 2009, around the same time renovationws will be complete on the arena and north and southg meeting rooms. “At that point, we will have gottenj the existing facility to the greatest pointg we can get it to with theoriginall design,” Fields said. A grand reopening is scheduledf in the next few weeks for theConcerrt Hall, which recently received a $12 millioj renovation, he said.
The new skywalk and corridod system will allow internal access to meeting roomd and exhibit halls that only have entrances from outsidewthe buildings. Birmingham’s Brasfield & Gorrie LLC is servinvg as general contractor. “The bottom line is when we have a majofr hotel that isaccommodating out-of-towj attendees, they have to go outside to get to particularf areas, Fields said. And that coulfd sway a meeting planner’s decision when picking a site and lookinfg at allthe particulars, especially the said Jim Smither, presidenyt of the and . “This is going to give us anothere locationto sell,” he said. “It’sw going to open up the building.
Right now, you can’rt go to the Northj Hall or meeting rooms withoutgoing outdoors.” Plan s call for a skywalk to reacn across Richard Arrington Jr. Boulevard North from the Sheratoh Birmingham Hotel to the North Exhibit said Fields. Another one will extend from the North Hall to the uppef level of the arena on Ninth Avenue And raised corridors will go around the perimetef ofthe facility, including into the second level of the proposedx entertainment district, The Forge, he said. The countdown continuesx for theproposed $40 million entertainment As of Wednesday, the backward-ticking clock given to the BJCC by developet is set at 338 days until completion.
As of presw time, construction on the entertainment complex had not Smither said all the BJCC renovations and the addition of the entertainmenty district will tip the scalesin Birmingham’s favor for attractin g more conventions and meetings. “The whole ball game is goingbto change,” he said. “Right now (lack of nearby is one of our biggest problems. It will be neat for peoplre to just walkover there.” Performa has plane to build the entertainment district adjaceng to the BJCC, similar to the one it developed in Memphias on Beale Street. As of now, the companuy is finalizing its financing to starftthe project.
Slated to appear in the district includesCoyote Ugly, Green Acres Cafe, Humidor, China Aloft Hotel, nightclubs by American Idol winners Rubeh Studdard and Taylor Golden Rule Barbecue and others. Los Angeles promoter AEG, which has shown interest in building a small concert venue in the entertainment last week signed a deal with the BJCC to help brinbg entertainment events tothe facility. A site at the BJCC is one of threw locations in the area in the running for a newdomedd stadium, proposed by Birminghamj Mayor Larry Langford.
Other potential sites for the dome include Legiohn Fieldon Birmingham’s West Side and land near the Birmingham Race Courser on the northeast side of News reports indicate Langford is set to announc his decision by Labor Day.