Brookwood Village

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Brookwood Village (officially Colonial Brookwood Village) is a 750,754 square foot shopping mall located on the border between Mountain Brook and Homewood in Shades Valley. The site stretches along Lakeshore Drive between Highway 280 and Highway 31.

History

Brookwood Village, taking its name from the two cities it is in, was constructed in 1973 by the Shepherd family on the former site of Shades Creek Park. 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 1988 decked over the fountain to create a dining and special events platform. The cement and cobblestone-style floors were replaced by pastel carpeting and the round, cement, fluted columns around the supporting beams were replaced with square, white, plaster columns with some decoration. The wood and metal staircases that wrapped upwards with two triangular landings each were replaced by straight, carpted stairs with small landings at the halfway point, slightly wider than the stairs. In addition, new lighting and escalators were installed and many shop fronts were upgraded.

Colonial Brookwood Village

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 the Shades Creek Greenway, a six-mile long walking trail which follows Shades Creek from Green Springs Highway to Jemison Park in Mountain Brook.

The enclosed two-level parking decks at either side of the mall's central atrium have been connected by ramps through a ground floor parking area. Faux building facades energize the outer walls of the decks. 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.

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 JCPenney. Other tenants include Gus Mayer, Betsy Prince, Ann Taylor Loft, Gordon's Jewelers, Z Gallerie, Lillie Rubin, Books-a-Million, K-B Toys, Game Stop, Cache, Chick-fil-A, Sbarro's, Golden Rule Bar-B-Q, Victoria's Secret and Banana Republic. Full service restaurants include the Copper Grill, Brio Tuscan Grill, Cocina Superior and McCormick & Schmick's.

In addition to the anchor stores above, other past tenants have included video arcade chain Aladdin's Castle, booksellers Books & Co, B. Dalton's and Bookland, toy store chain Circus World, Just For Feet, Farrell's Ice Cream Parlour and Restaurant, and Orange Julius.

The adjacent "Brookwood Village Convenience Center" houses Jos. A. Banks clothier, Cameras Brookwood and professional offices. The Ox Restaurant was once located in the parking lot between the mall and the convenience center. An Applebee's restaurant is now in that location. The Metro Grill was located next to Cameras Brookwood from 2001 to 2005. Another restaurant, built as Jimmie's, then Micky's sits vacant nearby. A Vincent's Market grocery store anchored the retail strip until July, 2006.

Colonial Center

In February 2006 Colonial Properties went before the Homewood Planning Commission with plans for a new $35.8 million, 160,000 square foot, 9-story office tower to be located adjacent to Parisian on the west side of the mall. It is scheduled for completion in Setpember 2007.

Plans call for 10,000 square feet of ground floor specialty retail, marketed toward a coffee shop and service-industry tenants as well as a four-story parking deck in the rear of the building. 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. The architect is Joe Trammell of Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio of Atlanta.

Announced tenants

Hotel

In November, 2006 Colonial announced that it was working on plans for a 6 story, 66-foot tall, 280-room luxury hotel for the area east of the mall, adjacent to McCormick & Schmick's restaurant. The Mountain Brook Planning Commission recommended a zoning change to allow for the proposal. In December, Colonial announced that Westin Hotels and Resorts would be the hotel operator, and that a parking garage would be built in place of the existing parking lot in front of Macy's.

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.
  • Wilkinson, Kaija. (April 21, 2006) "$36M Colonial office tower at Brookwood." Birmingham Business Journal.
  • Wolfson, Hannah (November 7, 2006) "New hotel proposed for Brookwood." Birmingham News.
  • Wolfson, Hannah (December 12, 2006) "Westin may build hotel at Brookwood." Birmingham News.
  • Goodman, Sherri C. (January 27, 2007) "Sonat leaving downtown base." Birmingham News.

External links

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