Tag Archives: Alabama

Downtown’s former Protective Life building empties

Posted on February 24, 2009 | 4 comments

Protective Life BuildingWe’ve heard from several sources that the former home to Protective Life and the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce among others was in the process of being vacated this month. There has been no explanation as to why all of the tenants of the building have been asked to leave. Those of you that have followed The Terminal during the last almost two years know that our first anniversary celebration was held on the top floor of the building on March 14 last year.

We’ll see if we can learn any additional information and update this post accordingly. We’ll also see if we can’t fill you in on where our second anniversary celebration will be taking place next month in the near future.

Photo: bhamterminal.com

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Posted in architecture, Business

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On the agenda: Construction abound

Posted on February 24, 2009 | Leave a comment

A quick look over this morning’s Birmingham City Council agenda would not necessarily make you think of construction. However, it signals a great deal of construction and growth for the city, once you get down to the introduction and first readings section of today’s agenda.

A great deal of the items focus on the Ensley neighborhood. Item 19 provides $900,000 to move forward with plans to renovate and stabilize the Ramsay-McCormack Building in the Ensley neighborhood. Item 20 provides for $2 million to be used from the city’s Capital Improvement Fund to assist in completing the HOPE VI Tuxedo Court development in Ensley. Item 32 suggests that the scope of work associated with the project will now include a public park and developing a portion of the Ensley Trail.

Item 24 lets Mayor Langford provide $25,000 towards the $1 million commitment to Sloss Furnaces‘ new visitors center, with Item 28 allowing him to execute the project development contract.

There’s more, after the jump:

Continue reading →

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Posted in On the agenda

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Ritz Camera files for bankruptcy

Posted on February 24, 2009 | Leave a comment

Ritz Camera Centers, Inc., which at more than 1,ooo locations in 45 states, presumably makes it the world’s largest camera chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. Locally, the company operates as Wolf Camera, with six locations in the metro Birmingham area and 10 overall statewide.

Its online component, Ritz Interactive, is a separate company, though the announcement is sure to have an impact on the e-commerce side of things. Ritz Camera Centers serves as the web company’s largest supplier.

They still plan to operate during the restructuring.

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Posted in Business

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It’s time to eat some pancakes

Posted on February 23, 2009 | Leave a comment

Considering we couldn’t take advantage of that free Grand Slam at Denny’s after the Super Bowl very easily here in metro Birmingham, tomorrow gives you a chance to enjoy helping a good cause while enjoying some pancakes.

Tomorrow (Tuesday) is National Pancake Day after all, giving customers across the country and at area IHOPs a chance to enjoy a free short stack in exchange for providing a donation to the Children’s Miracle Network. 100% of all donations received in Alabama will go to benefit Childrens Hospital. It would be another way to shine attention on their planned expansion.

Metro locations after the jump: Continue reading →

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Posted in Take a moment

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Quinlan Castle loses its top – temporarily

Posted on February 23, 2009 | Leave a comment

Removing turrets from Quinlan Castle (1 of 2), dystopos/Flickr

Photo: Removing turrets from Quinlan Castle (1 of 2). dystopos/Flickr

While many of us were infatuated with the relocation of the 1917 locomotive on Saturday morning (pictures later), work crews were handling another local historic icon on Birmingham’s Southside.

Folks were worried when they noticed cranes lifting the turret roofs from their resting places atop historic Quinlan Castle. You can breathe a sigh of relief though, as they were moved to the flat portion of the roof in order to make it easier for repairs to be made to them as part of a restoration project being conducted by the property’s owners, Southern Research Institute.

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Posted in architecture

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Welcome to a faster Hub

Posted on February 23, 2009 | 2 comments

If you’re reading this post, I’m happy to report that our site transfer is a success! For those that didn’t get a chance to check out the last post on the old host, we spent the better part of the weekend attempting to get the site to run faster on a new server. This is the result… so far…

We’ll keep you updated with additional minor changes that will be taking place in the next couple of weeks that will speed up the site (among other things).

Enjoy the ride!

P.S. If you want to help us with this transfer, you can always forward and share this post with others…

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Posted in From the Stationmaster

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Dig for plants tomorrow

Posted on February 20, 2009 | Leave a comment

It’s time for the annual (FREE!) Plant Dig presented by the Keep Birmingham Beautiful Commission. I’d try to write a really cool description of the event, but Christina probably did it best when she wrote up last year’s event – including (basic) directions. It’ll be warmer too. The fun’s from 12-4 p.m. at the New Georgia landfill.

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Posted in environmental

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