Parkside District

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The Parkside District is a mixed-use district in Birmingham's Southside bounded by 13th Street and 20th Street, north of 4th Avenue South to the Railroad Reservation.

The northwest corner of the district is taken up by Railroad Park and Regions Field. To the south is Children's Hospital and the expanding UAB campus.

In the 2004 City Center Master Plan Update, the planned Railroad Park was made a central element in a large "Technology and Cultural District" which the planners envisioned connecting the theater and entrepreneurial districts north of the tracks with the expansion of UAB and related research and technology development in Midtown and Southside. The plan proposed that 14th and 17th Streets and 1st Avenue South be transformed into tree-lined "green corridors". Giattina Aycock Architecture Studio prepared designs for Children's Hospital for a pedestrian corridor linking its campus to Railroad Park along 17th Street. Implementation awaits funding commitments from the city and property owners.

Studies made during the development of Railroad Park suggested that it could spur $150-$200 million in related development projects on adjacent properties. Those projects would be supported by master planning work, infrastructure upgrades and economic incentives from by the city.

In 2005 Corporate Realty Development proposed a $40 million residential project overlooking the park at 1st Avenue South and 18th Street. That project stalled as park construction was delayed. The property was later sold to LIV Development and used for their 225-unit LIV Parkside complex.

CRD's Robert Simon also led efforts to construct a downtown baseball stadium, which was approved by the Birmingham City Council in November 2010. At the time, the stadium was expected to sit to the west of Railroad Park and provide a link toward redeveloping the entire area between downtown and Titusville, across I-65 and including the Trinity Steel site now owned by the Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority.

The Rotary Trail, extending Railroad Park's greenway eastward through the 1st Avenue Cut, was constructed in 2014-15. As part of the Red Rock Ridge and Valley Trail system, the greenway may someday extend to Sloss Furnaces to the east and to the Birmingham CrossPlex to the west, along a projected "Cross to Sloss" trail.

A signage and branding plan for the Parkside District was commissioned by REV Birmingham along with Children's Hospital and the City of Birmingham in 2015.

In November 2019 Orchestra Partners and landscape architect Tom Leader announced conceptual plans for a major walkable development extending east and west of Railroad Park along Powell Avenue, including the Powell Avenue Steam Plant and Block 113C.

Public projects

Private developments

Businesses

References

External links