By Sam Prickett
Hoover is moving forward with redevelopment plans for the Bluff Park Village Shopping Center.
During a special-called meeting Jan. 16, the Hoover City Council approved $3.5 million in sales tax rebates for the proposed expansion, in which Piggly Wiggly and Mills Pharmacy will move into the shopping center from the neighboring Shades Mountain Plaza.
The redeveloped shopping center also will include a new, salad-and-sandwich restaurant called the Electric, developed by the restaurant group behind Birmingham’s El Barrio and Paramount. The Dollar General that currently occupies the shopping center will remain there for at least another five years, Bluff Park Village owner Ken Harden told the council.
The project also will make the shopping center more walkable by constructing new sidewalks and green space.
“Bluff Park deserves a store like this,” said Naseem Ajlouny, the owner of the Shades Mountain Plaza Piggly Wiggly. He originally had planned to shut down his store’s Bluff Park location when its lease expired in 2021; the prospect of a new, expanded location made him reconsider, he said.
If the council did not approve the redevelopment, he said, the Shades Mountain Plaza location would be “leaving regardless.” That location will stay open until the new development is complete.
The new store, which will closely resemble Piggly Wiggly’s Dunnavant Valley location, will provide a “European-style” shopping experience, Ajlouny said, meaning it would provide “fresh food, fresh produce (and) fresh meat.” He estimated the new store would open by May 2021.
According to the agreement with the city, the Piggly Wiggly will receive a 33% sales tax rebate over the next 20 years, with a maximum total of $2 million. Harden will receive a 33% sales tax rebate from all the new stores in the development over 20 years, with a maximum of $1.5 million.
Officials said the redevelopment of the shopping center would be a boon to the Bluff Park neighborhood and would bring new commercial development into the area.
