Sun Hoover
Neighborly news & entertainment for Hoover
Volume 1 | Issue 1 | October 2012
Mall makeover By Black Friday, Galleria shoppers could see massively different mall
Football
fever
Hoover quarterback Connor Short led the Bucaneers to the top of the state rankings through the first four games of the 2012 season. Find more on Hoover High, plus photos from Hoover’s Homecoming and a report on Spain Park’s impressive start inside. Photo courtesy of Marvin Gentry / Belmont Studios.
Sports page 20
Bluff Park Art Show Oct. 6
Pre-Sort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Birmingham, AL Permit #656
By REBECCA WALDEN
Top right: A rendering of the Galleria as it is slated to appear following more than $60 million in renovation. Above: Included in the planned changes are the relocation of the mall’s central elevators and the introduction of Von Maur into the old Macy’s location. Rendering courtesy GGP.
Renovations costing more than $60 million are currently underway at the Riverchase Galleria as owners seek to entice new customers for the 2012 holiday shopping season. Officials at Birmingham-based Hoar Construction, the company responsible for the project, said the top priority is to complete substantive parking deck renovations and interior remodeling projects before the day after Thanksgiving – or Black Friday as it’s known in the retail world. “The schedule and phasing for the project was developed with the shopper in mind in order to minimize disruption to the overall shopping experience,” said Mark Hendricks, vice president of Hoar Construction’s Alabama division. During the initial phase, which began in September, construction teams are remodeling the center court public restrooms and the mall’s parking deck. And this month, construction began on a major aspect of the remodel— new elevators in the mall’s center court. Hendricks said the existing elevators would remain operational until the new elevators are completely installed, and then demolition and
See GALLERIA | page 21
Artist Mary Sowell displays her work during the 2011 Bluff Park Art Show. This year, the show, always held on the first Saturday in October, is celebrating 49 years. Find out more inside.
Community page 10
INSIDE Sponsors .................. 4 City ............................ 5 Community .............. 6 Business ................... 14 Food .......................... 16
Opinion ..................... 18 School House .......... 19 Sports ....................... 20 Celebrations ............ 21 Calendar ................... 22
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Certificates of Need approved for both contesting hospitals By JEFF THOMPSON On Sept. 18, Alabama’s Certificate of Need Review Board approved requests to build two free-standing emergency facilities in west Hoover. The approvals, granted to UAB Medical West and Princeton Baptist Medical Center, come at the peak of a territorial dispute between the two
organizations. Both UAB and Baptist have filed oppositions to each other’s request to open near the intersection of Interstate 459 and Alabama Highway 150. According to Clark Bruner, health planner with the State Health Planning and Development Agency, the CON Board heard testimony from both sides during last month’s meeting, and an administrative law judge in Montgomery
had previously considered extensive documentation. Following more than an hour on the subject, the board decided to approve Certificates of Need for both facilities. He added that appeals were likely coming. Neal Morrison, chairman of the CON Review Board, said he felt the board’s decision to
See EMERGENCY | page 21