I'm taking suggestions and questions for the 2016 visitors' guide.
Hotels
Restaurants
Shopping
Tourist Attractions
Directions
Neighborhoods (yeah, I had one WKU fan ask me for good places he and his wife could drive around and look at houses)

Lobby for shuttles between Bartow and BJCC. I know we would pay a dollar or two!

Solicit for some discount coupons for restaurants. A map showing those restaurants.

Detailed map with directions to parking areas showing costs.

Have the powers to be make sure all the concession are open in the arena. Food trucks, if B'ham has them, outside the arenas. Makes for more varied and quicker food between games.

Have battles of the bands and/or "cheer offs". Have a tent or meeting area so board members can met and mingle.

I know these ideas are not quite what you were requesting but they are all things I noticed could have enhanced the fan experience.

(06-22-2015 06:09 PM)Monarch Homselr Wrote:  Lobby for shuttles between Bartow and BJCC. I know we would pay a dollar or two!

Solicit for some discount coupons for restaurants. A map showing those restaurants.

Detailed map with directions to parking areas showing costs.

Have the powers to be make sure all the concession are open in the arena. Food trucks, if B'ham has them, outside the arenas. Makes for more varied and quicker food between games.

Have battles of the bands and/or "cheer offs". Have a tent or meeting area so board members can met and mingle.

I know these ideas are not quite what you were requesting but they are all things I noticed could have enhanced the fan experience.

These are actually some reasonable and attainable suggestions in my opinion. Things like this are not far fetched and could really make the event more enjoyable for all.

If and when Norfolk gets the tourney, I've already volunteered to be on a fan experience committee. Hopefully UAB and other future sites will think of setting up something similar. What we as fans may think important may differ from what conference planners may deem necessary.

I already addressed this with UAB but I will put it here also...

very simple make all seats {NON VIP} in the same price range GA...with the 2 sections behind the team bench for the fans of the team playing. Makes it a lot easier for people that buy tickets for each game Ticket office inside the arena stays open 15 minutes after the last game of that night

There's always going to be problems because there's no one size fits all but where fans sit shouldn't be one of them. And while I think it's alright for the host school to have a advantage (you made the bid just for that reason) in a tourney sitting there should never be home team fans sitting behind the other schools bench....

no reason in the world for this to happen...well unless you have a fanbase that buys up all the tickets. I don't think we have a school that fits that.

The GA seating idea would be a good one. I ran into the issue the last two games when my wife & daughter wanted to attend. I only bought one all-session pass for me originally, which was a reserved seat. I was able to buy one seat for Friday in the row in front of me, but Saturday was already sold out in my section.
We lucked out and the people on either side of me had extra tickets. But GA seating would solve that issue.

There will be at least three new hotel options downtown by the time the tournament rolls around.

Hattie B's Hot Chicken is opening in B'ham. Location has yet to be announced, but somewhere near UAB is the rumor... should open early 2016, just in time for the tournament.

UABslant,

Amy early scoop on which hotel brand and where they will be in relation to the BJCC?

(06-27-2015 05:40 PM)Monarch Homselr Wrote:  UABslant,

Amy early scoop on which hotel brand and where they will be in relation to the BJCC?

1) One of the hotel projects is going to be a renovation of an older building called the Empire Building, along with an adjacent building. The Empire Building was originally built in 1909 and was one of the 4 buildings that were a part of the "Heaviest Corner on Earth." It will be renovated and rebranded as a Marriott hotel (approx 250 rooms). This is roughly halfway between the BJCC and Bartow Arena.

2) Another is construction of Homewood Suites hotel (105 rooms) in the 5 Points South area. You may or may not remember this if you were here before. This is closer to Bartow Arena than it is to the BJCC, but this is a popular area with respect to restaurants and bars.

3) A 2 hotel dual-brand Hilton Hotel & Resort project near the Railroad Park is another. Much of the details including which specific Hilton brands (Hilton, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, etc.) are unknown to me at this point. Should be very nice, however, and location is more or less between the BJCC and Bartow Arena, but closer to Bartow Arena.

(06-27-2015 12:34 PM)UABslant Wrote:  Hattie B's Hot Chicken is opening in B'ham. Location has yet to be announced, but somewhere near UAB is the rumor... should open early 2016, just in time for the tournament.

Nashville has 2 and both usually have lines going out the door...

its hard to beat 2 oversize chicken breast/with the wing, two sides, bread and a large drink for $11...

the damn hot is too hot for me but my son loves it. On any of our trips that goes through Nashville we stop at Hattie B's on the way back. When we get with in 20 miles we order on line...go in the out door, pay and sit down and eat. No or very little waiting

Aside from the hotel projects mentioned in my other post, here are a couple of other new/upcoming Birmingham projects:

1) 20 Midtown (3rd Avenue and 20th Street South) - $30 million - mostly residential project, but will also have a new Chipotle Mexican Grill and Starbucks in the ground floor. New Publix will be across the street.

2) Pizitz Building (2nd Avenue and 19th Street North) - $66 million - mostly residential project, but will have indoor urban market on ground floor (like Pike Place Market in Seattle)

3) Liv Parkside (1st Avenue and 17th Street South) - $30 million - mostly residential project along with ground floor retail space

4) L&N Parkside (4th Avenue and 16th Street South) - $30 million - mostly residential project along with ground floor retail space

5) Thomas Jefferson Tower (2nd Avenue and 16th Street North) - $22 million - mostly residential project along with ground floor retail space and restaurant

6) Redmont Hotel - historic hotel newly renovated and now part of the Hilton Curio Collection; 120 rooms; new ground floor restaurant featuring locally sourced produce

7) Negro Southern League Museum (1st Avenue and 15th Street South) - $2 million - to be adjacent to Regions Field baseball park; will feature exhibit space, theatre, baseball-themed restaurant, indoor bar, and outdoor terrace on the top floor

8) Chicken Salad Chick (7th Avenue and 21st Street South)

9) Lyric Theatre (3rd Avenue and 18th Street North) - $7 million - renovation of a 1914 vaudeville theatre; directly across the street from the Alabama Theatre

There's much more going on, but these are a few of the things going on. Hard to keep track of it all frankly. Downtown Birmingham is experiencing a bit of a rebirth right now, largely credited to the success of the Railroad Park and the development it triggered in the surrounding area.

In addition to what Blazer85 posted, this is also being developed right now:



Crews began working on the highly-anticipated Centennial project for the Rotary Club of Birmingham earlier this week, said Bill Jones, co-chair of the Centennial project. "It's unbelievable," the retired O'Neal Industries veteran said in an interview. "It's taken us a long time to get to this point...We're finally at the starting gate and we're out of the gate." Wilsonville-based Clements Dean Building Co. will serve as the contractor for the project, which Jones said he expects will cost around $3.5 million after stabilization costs and construction.

Jones also said the project will take eight to 10 months if crews do not run into any major obstacles, but he expects the Rotary Trail will actually take 10 to 12 months, due to a lot of the unknowns about the structure of the walls along the cut.

http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/ne...ction.html

(06-28-2015 08:49 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(06-27-2015 05:40 PM)Monarch Homselr Wrote:  UABslant,

Amy early scoop on which hotel brand and where they will be in relation to the BJCC?

1) One of the hotel projects is going to be a renovation of an older building called the Empire Building, along with an adjacent building. The Empire Building was originally built in 1909 and was one of the 4 buildings that were a part of the "Heaviest Corner on Earth." It will be renovated and rebranded as a Marriott hotel (approx 250 rooms). This is roughly halfway between the BJCC and Bartow Arena.

2) Another is construction of Homewood Suites hotel (105 rooms) in the 5 Points South area. You may or may not remember this if you were here before. This is closer to Bartow Arena than it is to the BJCC, but this is a popular area with respect to restaurants and bars.

3) A 2 hotel dual-brand Hilton Hotel & Resort project near the Railroad Park is another. Much of the details including which specific Hilton brands (Hilton, DoubleTree, Embassy Suites, etc.) are unknown to me at this point. Should be very nice, however, and location is more or less between the BJCC and Bartow Arena, but closer to Bartow Arena.

The current Empire Bldg:


Homewood Suites on Southside Birmingham near UAB:


No date set yet build a dual-flag Hilton Hotels & Resorts hotel in Birmingham’s growing Parkside district. As of May 8th, many of the details of the project are still being determined as developers work with the city of Birmingham on permits.

(06-28-2015 11:01 AM)BamaScorpio69 Wrote:  

(06-28-2015 08:49 AM)Blazer85 Wrote:  

(06-27-2015 05:40 PM)Monarch Homselr Wrote:  UABslant,

Amy early scoop on which hotel brand and where they will be in relation to the BJCC?

1) One of the hotel projects is going to be a renovation of an older building called the Empire Building, along with an adjacent building. The Empire Building was originally built in 1909 and was one of the 4 buildings that were a part of the "Heaviest Corner on Earth." It will be renovated and rebranded as a Marriott hotel (approx 250 rooms). This is roughly halfway between the BJCC and Bartow Arena.

The current Empire Bldg:

The multi-story building just to the left of the Empire building in that picture is also going to be another Marriot-branded (Courtyard, Residence, Fairfield,Townplace, Springhill, etc.). The two hotels will be connected by the lobby and ground floor restaurant.

Quote:Two new Marriott hotels and a new Chris Hastings restaurant are in the works in a $45 million project at the downtown site once dubbed "the heaviest corner on earth."

As we reported back in November, the 16-story Empire building at 1928 First Ave. N., will be converted into a 117-room Autograph Collection by Marriott hotel in a project led by Georgia's Ascent Hospitality.

Today, Ascent said the adjacent former Alagasco headquarters building will be developed into a 120-room Marriott hotel that will include a new restaurant involving noted local chef Chris Hastings.

The hotel at the Empire Building is scheduled to open in 2016, Ascent's website claims. The company manages 13 hotels in the state.