Category Archives: Business

BBA talks to young professionals Above Birmingham

Earlier this week, Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA) president Dalton Smith talked about the organization’s economic development plan for the seven-county Birmingham region called Blueprint Birmingham with leaders of several young professionals organizations during an event at Above at The Redmont Hotel.

The BBA shared the video of Smith’s remarks to their YouTube channel as well as comments made by Katrina Watson and Michele Amaral about the event and the ongoing planning process.

Incidentally, both women were recently named as recipients of b-metro’s first ever YP Awards.

Blueprint Birmingham was originally scheduled for release in May but is now expected to be unveiled this fall.

Council committee to consider Fire Station No. 22 sale

IMG_3168. JCMcdavid/FlickrToday’s Birmingham City Council Budget and Finance committee meeting is possibly going to be a little more crowded than usual.

The committee meeting takes place at 4 p.m. on the 3rd floor Birmingham City Hall in its administrative wing. Among the items on today’s agenda is a contract to sell the former Fire Station No. 22 to a developer who wants to replace the Spanish Revival structure with a Walgreens. The Birmingham News reports that the property is currently being offered by the city for $200,000.

The fact that the contract has not been approved as of yet by the City Council may partially explain why the presentation made to the city’s Design Review Committee was conceptual on April 29.

Citizens upset with the decision have turned to FacebookTwitter and blog posts in hopes that City Councilors would listen to “constructive alternatives” to the current proposal. The committee’s recommendation will be considered by the full council, which must still make a decision on the matter.

Photo: IMG_3168. JCMcdavid/Flickr

What’s the plan for the former Engine No. 22?

Surveying Engine Number 22; Birmingham, ALWorkers were surveying the former location for Birmingham Fire Department Engine No. 22 early this morning, just one day after the city’s Design Review Committee held over for review a conceptual design that would allow a Walgreens pharmacy to replace the structure – along with the car repair business immediately next door and apparently long time fixture breakfast venue Bogue’s Restaurant.

According to a Birmingham Business Journal article from earlier this month, there have been several inquiries made about redevelopment of the busy intersection where the Lakeview, Highland Park and Forest Park neighborhoods meet.

Jeremy Erdreich’s blog, Bhamarchitect, has received a great deal of traffic, and comments, as a result of his post about yesterday morning’s meeting.

U.S. Pipe plant to close in North Birmingham

U.S. Pipe logoThis morning’s started with the announcement from parent company Mueller Water Products that U.S. Pipe will be closing its ductile iron pipe manufacturing plant in Birmingham’s North Birmingham community. The construction of a new facility in Bessemer which uses a new process that increased output and reduced production costs helped lead to this decision.

According to the press release, 260 positions will be eliminated by March 31 of this year helping the company see $6-8 million in savings during fiscal 2010. The production handled by the North Birmingham plant will be shifted to the company’s Bessemer plant as well as a plant in Union City, CA.

Dunkin is running in Pelham

Pelham's running on DunkinThis morning the line went out the door while another line was going around the building.

The photo shows both of those lines as they looked at 6 a.m. this morning.

Yes, metro Birmingham’s first Dunkin’ Donuts in some time opened at 5 a.m. this morning to a crowd of transplants and other fans. The Boston, MA based donut chain had first announced plans to open as many as 72 locations back in 2007 with a final plan for 21 announced last March.

According to The Birmingham News, Pelham’s finest had to stop by to let them know that motorists were upset by the traffic backup along Highway 119. Don’t worry, it’ll be open until 10 p.m. today. You may even get a chance to run into someone you already know over there around lunchtime…

Photo: Pelham’s running on Dunkin. acnatta/Flickr.

Source: BBVA Compass outsources IT help desk

bbva compass signWe’ve learned that BBVA Compass plans to announce that it will be outsourcing its IT (information technology) help desk. The decision would affect between 25-40 of the multinational bank’s employees in Birmingham, AL. Those employees would have the option of applying for work with the firm that has been awarded the account but would only be guaranteed no more than 60 days of work.

The story sounds similar to one that occurred last fall in Decatur, AL when 35 employees were told they would be laid off by the end of the year. Some of those jobs were moved to Texas with others outsourced to Atento, a unit of a Spain-based telecommunications and technology giant. By the way, BBVA Compass’ parent company is based in Spain.

We’ll update as more information becomes available.

Milestone Books appears to be closing

Milestone Books logoThe word from Birmingham’s {head}:sub/head is that the Vestavia Hills independent bookstore Milestone Books, open for nearly six years, has announced its intention to close. Owner Linda Brown’s email to patrons (posted in its entirety on the popular book blog maintained by former Terminal contributor Travis Bryant) includes a caveat that led to the choice of words for our headline – if someone is interested in acquiring the assets of the store, they’ve got until January 17 to contact her. Otherwise, the inventory sale begins the following day.