Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex
The Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex (BJCC, formerly the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center) is a sports, convention and entertainment complex located just north of I-20/59 downtown. It consists of a 17,000 seat arena, a 3,000 seat concert hall, a 220,000 square foot exhibition hall, a 1,000 seat theater and various banquet and meeting rooms and other facilities.
The interim executive director is Tad Snider, serving after Jack Fields' contract was terminated in December 2010.
Development
In 1962 a group of architects met with area business leaders and volunteered to put together a master plan for Birmingham's central business district. A major element of that plan was a new "civic activities center" to include sports and performing arts venues and exhibition space. Leading the charge was Birmingham Symphony Association president Alexander Lacy, who worked closely with the Jefferson County Legislative Delegation during a special session to establish the Civic Center Authority of the Cities and County of Jefferson County (now called the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority) to construct and manage the proposed facility. Three special county-wide taxes totaling a projects $2.4 million per year were levied for the project. $250,000 per year was reserved to fund operating expenses while the rest could be used to finance a bond issue for capital investments.
With momentum growing behind the idea of constructing such a facility, architect William A. Briggs of Richmond, Virginia was hired to research the needs of probably users and to generate a detailed program report.
Design competition
The enabling legislation required that the design of the center be generated through an open architectural competition conducted according to American Institute of Architects guidelines.
On June 22, 1966 Lacy led a group of 50 officials from Birmingham and Jefferson County who hosted a press luncheon at the Hotel Plaza in New York City to announce the competition. All architects with a minimum of four years' registration in any state would be eligible to submit a design in the first phase, for which three months was alotted. Nearly 900 firms requested the project specifications and 277 submission were received for first-round judging. Each firm submitted two panels measuring 30" x 40". All of the entries were displayed in Municipal Auditorium the week of November 11, 1966 while the 5-person jury examined them.
The jury consisted of Max Abramowitz of the firm of Harrison & Abramowitz in New York, Gyo Obata of Hellmuth, Obata and Kassabaum in St Louis, architect John Carl Warnecke of San Francisco, Harold Burris-Meyer, an expert in auditorium acoustics, and John Fernald, an acclaimed theater director. Of the 277 entrants, only one, Fritz Woehle, was local to Birmingham. Ralph Merrill and Nicholas Davis of Auburn, Douglas Baker of Montgomery, and Thomas A. Jones of Huntsville were the only other Alabama architects to compete. Eight finalists were announced on November 14:
- Finalists
- Marvin Fitch of Chicago, Illinois
- James Martin Harris of Tacoma, Washington
- B. J. Hoffman and Hanford Yang of Devon, Pennsylvania
- John S. Mill of Los Angeles, California
- George W. Qualls of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Ralph Rapson of Minneapolis, Minnesota
- Elvin Riley of Berkeley, California
- Emanuel Turano of New York, New York
Finalists were given six months to produce additional drawings and a model of the project, extending south to include Woodrow Wilson Park (now Linn Park) in order to show how they planned to connect the civic center to the existing municipal institutions on the other side of I-20/59. Judging of the final entries was begun on May 29, 1967, with the winner announced the next morning at a breakfast hosted by Mayor Albert Boutwell. Convinced by Obata's strong recommendation, Qualls was selected as the winner with Rapson as first runner-up and Fitch as 2nd runner-up.1.
In reviewing the architectural design of the new facility for Birmingham magazine, Philip Morris said "The Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center is a superb piece of architecture [...] Buildings are sculptural and powerful and the greatest bargain Birmingham ever got. The plaza between will be one of the notable plazas in the country."
Construction
Quall's firm, Geddes Brecher Qualls Cunningham, received the commission and produced the final construction documents. Construction of the Exhibition Hall began with a groundbreaking ceremony in July 1969 with dynamite marking the "explosion of creativity, energy, imagination and cooperation" responsible for making the project possible. The detonations were ceremonially set off by Senator John Sparkman, Governor Albert Brewer, Commission President Cooper Green, Mayor George Seibels and Civic Center Authority chairman Alex Lacey. A prior luncheon featured a screening of the film "Renaissance in Birmingham" at the Municipal Auditorium exhibit hall.
The first section to be completed was the North Exhibition Hall, which opened in January 1972 for the first Birmingham Boat Show.
At the time construction began the total cost was estimated at $34 million. By the time it was completed in 1976 the total had grown to $104 million.
The electronic sign visible to I-20/59 was the subject of some controversy. A local sign company negotiated to place advertisements on it in exchange for providing signage within the center. Members of AIA Birmingham lobbied the authority to eschew commercialization of the sign in order to preserve the architectural integrity of the complex. The sign was replaced with more sophisticated electronic marquees in 1997 and 2010.
Coliseum
The arena, formally called the BJCC Coliseum seats about 17,000 for sporting events and up to 19,000 for concerts. The 22,400 square-foot oval-shaped arena floor measures 110' x 220' and is 75' feet from floor to ceiling. A four-sided center-hung scoreboard, designed by Daktronics, measures 18' by 18' on each side. Also on each side is a 7.5'-by-8'8" ProStar 16.5mm video display. Backstage there are 2 locker rooms and 6 dressing rooms as well as a press room and a VIP Reception area. The arena can accommodate 8 trucks backstage--3 on truck docks and room for 5 more. The arena also contains several luxury suites and a press box.
In its first years the arena was home ice for the Birmingham Bulls of the World Hockey Association and was also the home court for the Samford Bulldogs and UAB Blazers basketball teams before they moved to on-campus arenas. It later served as the home of the Birmingham Steeldogs arena football team. The coliseum also hosts major concert tours, Disney on Ice, the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus, and other events, including trade shows, and
The BJCC has hosted four Southeastern Conference men's basketball tournaments between 1979 and 1992 and the 1999 Conference USA men's basketball tournament. It has also hosted the NCAA college basketball tournaments serving as first and second round host in 1984, 1987, 2000, 2003 and 2008. The BJCC has been a regional site five times - 1982, 1985, 1988, 1995, and 1997. It was also the site of WWE Armageddon 2000.
The BJCC was the host of the 2009 Davis Cup first round tie between the United States and Switzerland on March 6, 7, and 8, 2009. The three day attendance total of 45,708 made it the most attended first-round tie in U.S. Davis Cup history. In the summer of 2009 the BJCC board spent $560,000 to install acoustic panels and screens in the arena to improve sound performance. Later that year the board approved $100,000 to upgrade the structural capacity of the ceiling in order to accommodate a performance by Miley Cyrus, but arena officials worked with the promoter to design an alternative rigging solution that did not require the modifications.
Concert Hall
The 2,700-seat Concert Hall hosts concerts and Broadway-style productions and is the home of the Alabama Symphony Orchestra pops series. Built in 1973 with 3,000 seats, an $11-million renovation was completed in 2008 to update seating areas, circulation spaces and backstage equipment.
Exhibition Hall
The 220,000-square-foot Exhibition Hall is used for Birmingham's largest trade shows and conventions. It is divisible into three smaller halls and can accommodate 1100 exhibit booths.
The North Hall was the first to open in 1972. The East Exhibit Hall opened in 1992.
Theater
The BJCC's theater opened in 1974. It contains 1,000 total seats, but normally utilizes 800. When arranged for a proscenium stage 100 seats on either side are removed, and for a thrust stage, those are opened, but the first rows are covered with additional stage platforms.
The theater is used for operas, ballets, and smaller concerts and stage shows. The theater stage is 132 feet wide and 48 feet deep with a grid height of 58 feet. The proscenium is 28 feet tall by 70 feet wide. There are 2 rehearsal areas, 2 chorus dressing rooms and 6 dressing rooms, including a star's dressing room. The original construction included lighting capable of switching between 10 pre-programmed scenes.
A Birmingham News columnist enthused that the new stage would provide top-of-the-line facilities for the city's numerous amateur and academic theater groups. In practice, the requirement of paying union scale to cast and crews made the BJCC theater inaccessible to most local groups. The Birmingham Children's Theatre was contracted early on as a house company for the new facility, which it has primarily shared with touring shows.
Other facilities
The complex contains 64 meeting rooms totaling 100,000 square feet of meeting space, including a 16,000-square-foot ballroom that can seat up to 1,200 for banquets.
The ten-story Medical Forum, with meeting space, a 275-seat auditorium, classrooms, conference space, and offices, is also located here.
The adjacent 838-room Sheraton Civic Center Hotel provides a large ballroom and other convention and meeting facilities nearby.
Future
There are plans for a major expansion of the BJCC itself to increase and upgrade the exhibition facilities and construct a new covered multi-use stadium. Commitments to fund these plans were curtailed by political backlash against using public funds to construct a domed stadium. The 2006 election installed a Jefferson County Commission that promised not to support the full expansion plan. Accordingly the BJCC authority has begun shifting its priorities toward expanding convention space and developing an entertainment district without the multi-use stadium. After support for a smaller arena emerged, the board asked its consultants to project the costs and benefits of a 40,000 seat covered multi-use facility that could be configured for football.
Meeting in Salt Lake City in February 2007 the Civic Center board, including Birmingham mayor Bernard Kincaid and Jefferson County Commission president Bettye Fine Collins, voted unanimously to pursue a $505.5 million expansion which would include $380 million for a 40,000 seat arena which could be used to provide 175,000 square feet of exhibition space. Other projects included in the package of plans include $17 million for land purchases, $10.5 million for additional parking facilities, $10 for improvements to infrastructure, $6 million for upgrades to existing facades, $5 million for a new skywalk to the existing arena, $2 million for refurbishing of the existing arena, and $75 million to pay off current debts.
The Commission was unsuccessful in lobbying the Alabama legislature to affirm and extend the Jefferson County occupational tax which has been challenged in court. Without being able to rely on that source of funds, the county could not pledge its support.
Part of Birmingham's "City Center Master Plan" envisions replacing the existing elevated highway with a below-grade corridor which would simplify interstate access to the downtown area, mitigate the noise and visual effects of highway traffic, and allow for a landscaped plaza to bridge over the highway. If carried out, this plan would create the connection between the BJCC and Linn Park which was envisioned as critical during the original design competition.
A private developer, Performa Entertainment Real Estate of Memphis, Tennessee, was contracted to develop land djacent to the BJCC as an entertainment district, tentatively called The District, a $50 million development which could begin construction as early as Fall 2007. Another private developer had once announced plans to build a major new luxury hotel adjacent to the BJCC regardless of the outcome of the expansion plans for the public facility.
After taking office in November 2007 Birmingham mayor Larry Langford won support from the City Council for his Birmingham Economic and Community Revitalization Ordinance which included doubling business license fees in the city to fund a $500 million bond issue for construction of a domed stadium. Although he had campaigned on the possibility of building a dome in the western part of the city, he told the BJCC authority and the Birmingham Regional Chamber of Commerce that the downtown site was best. After the measure passed, he announced that the downtown site was unsuitable for a large-scale development and that land near the Birmingham Race Course on John Rogers Drive would be better. At the same time he indicated that the city's annual $3 million payment to the BJCC, used to finance existing bond debts, would be redirected to a new authority which will operate his proposed dome.
Notes
- Morris-1975
References
- Glover, William (December 31, 1968) "Birmingham Area Seeks to Improve Image with Performing Arts Center Associated Press
- Adams, Les, editor (1969) Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center National Architectural Competition. Birmingham, Alabama: Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority
- Roberson, Peggy (July 1969) "Civic Center gets to start with bang" Birmingham News - via Birmingham Rewound
- Haarbauer, Donald Ward (1973) A critical history of the non-academic theatre in Birmingham, Alabama. Ph.D. dissertation. University of Wisconsin.
- Morris, Philip (October 1975) "Here's Looking at YOU, Birmingham: Commentaries on Design and Land Use." Birmingham magazine. Vol. 15, No. 10, pp. 17-22
- Geddes, Robert L. (1986) Principles and Precedents: Geddes Brecher Qualls Cunningham. Process Architecture No. 62. Tokyo: Books Nippan. ISBN 4893310623
- "Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 18 Mar 2006, 21:03 UTC. 18 Mar 2006, 21:39 [1]
- Williams, Roy L. (January 8, 2008) "BJCC can survive, official says." Birmingham News
- Huebner, Michael (September 8, 2008) "BJCC completes $11 million concert hall makeover." Birmingham News
- Solomon, Jon (March 9, 2009) "Birmingham tennis fans, passion help city score in hosting Davis Cup." Birmingham News
.jpg){kind=link}