Brookwood Village

Brookwood Village (officially Colonial Brookwood Village) is a 750,754 square foot shopping mall located in Shades Valley on Lakeshore Drive between Highway 280 and Highway 31 in Homewood. It was constructed in 1973 by the Shepherd family. The original building was designed by Giattina Fisher Aycock and won a design award that year from Shopping Center World Magazine. Because the mall is located in a streambed with weak soil, the foundation for the mall is built in deep piles bearing on rock strata. A feature of the original mall was a large skylit atrium in the center with a large fountain populated with tree-like sprayers that filled the area with white noise and mist.

An interior remodeling in the late 1980s decked over the fountain to create a dining and special events platform. New lighting, escalators and flooring were installed and many shop fronts were upgraded.

In 1997, Brookwood Village was purchased for $35 million by Colonial Properties Trust and renamed "Colonial Brookwood Village." Colonial embarked almost immediately on an extensive $50 million overhaul which was completed in 2001. Major additions include a new two-story food court with a "front entrance" for the mall, facing a new outdoor shopping street, modeled on "lifestyle centers" like the Summit. What had been a relatively anonymous interior-facing design was transformed into an attractive outdoor space with a pedestrian bridge over Shades Creek and a shared terrace for two anchor restaurants. This outdoor space also provides outside entrances for several mall tenants, features limited parallel parking, and serves as a valet parking station. The street is also part of a six-mile long walking trail which follows Shades Creek from Green Springs Highway to Jemison Park in Mountain Brook.

The enclosed parking decks have been connected through the former ground floor of the mall and faux building facades energize the outer walls of the deck. The redesign was conceptualized by Street-Works, an Arlington, Virginia-based urban design firm. HKW Architects served as architect of record and developed the conceptual designs for construction. Gar Muse of Cooper Carry, Inc. planned the interiors and contributed to the overall look, drawing from characteristics of the nearby Mountain Brook and Lakeshore communities. Brasfield & Gorrie were general contractors for the revitalization.

An adjacent "Brookwood Village Convenience Center" houses a Vincent's Market grocery store, Jos. A. Banks clothier, Cameras Brookwood and professional offices. An Applebee's restaurant is sited between the mall and convenience center and another restaurant, built as Jimmie's, then Micky's sits vacant nearby.

Tenants

Anchor tenants for Brookwood Village are Macy's on the east end, replacing Rich's which had been in the mall since 1975, and Parisian, occupying the western end, representing a same-owner upgrade from McRae's in the space originally occupied by J. C. Penny. Other major tenants include Gus Mayer, Betsy Prince, Ann Taylor Loft, Z Gallerie, Lillie Rubin, Books & Co., Victoria's Secret and Banana Republic. Full service restaurants include the Copper Grill, Brio Tuscan Grill, Cocina Superior and McCormick & Schmick's.

Colonial Center

In February 2006 Colonial Properties went before the Homewood Planning Commission with plans for a new nine-story office tower to be located adjacent to Parisian on the west side of the mall. In April, law firm Johnston Barton Proctor & Powell announced that they would be moving from their present offices in the Amsouth Harbert Plaza in June 2007 into 40,000 square feet of the new $35.8 million 160,000 square foot office building. Colonial Properties Trust also plans to consolidate its Birmingham-area staff of about 150 people into the new building which is currently (April 2006) starting construction. Plans call for 13,000 square feet of ground floor specialty retail, marketed toward a coffee shop and service-industry tenants as well as a four-story parking deck. Other features include built-in wireless internet, a covered walkway connecting the building to Parisian, and redundant power feeds from two separate substations to reduce the likelihood of outages.

Future plans for Brookwood Village have previously also mentioned a luxury hotel, but no firm plans regarding that possibility have been announced.

References

• Johnson, Rob. (October 1, 2000) "Turning Birmingham's Brookwood Village inside out." Retail Traffic [1] accessed March 26, 2006.
• Colonial Brookwood Village. Description of geotechnical engineering performed by BHATE Geosciences. [2] - accessed March 26, 2006.
• Goodman, Sherri C. (April 21, 2006) "New building's design lures downtown law firm: 9-story tower set for Homewood." Birmingham News.

External links

• Colonial Brookwood Village website