Economy

The Long View: Coca-Cola CEO Discusses New Project as JeffCo OKs $2M Investment

Mike Suco said Coca-Cola United looks well beyond the present when it looks into the future. “We are a company that thinks not in a year or two or three years,” the president and CEO told the Jefferson County Commission on Thursday. “We think in 50-year increments.” The Jefferson County Commission invested $2 million in that long-term vision for an estimated $330 million, multifaceted Coca-Cola Bottling Company United headquarters that is expected to create as many as 50 new jobs and retain more than 750 jobs. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

JeffCo Considering $2M for New Coca-Cola Development

Jefferson County during its meeting Thursday will consider being part of an economic development project that will create a new gateway in and out of Birmingham. Representatives of Coca-Cola Bottling Company United asked the commission for an economic incentive package of $2 million as the company looks to relocate from its longtime home north of Birmingham Shuttlesworth International Airport to the former Stockham Valves and Fittings location in Birmingham’s Kingston Neighborhood. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Birmingham Council Approves Incentives for Coca-Cola to Redevelop Former Stockham Valve Site

The old Stockham Valve & Fittings site in Kingston could be rehabilitated under a plan presented to the Birmingham Council on Tuesday. The council approved an incentive package for the $340 million redevelopment project in which the Coca-Cola Bottling Company United of Birmingham intends to build a new campus at the Stockham site. Read more.

by Daniel Gaddy

Birmingham Council Approves $421K in Tax Incentives for Japanese Restaurant

The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday approved $421,833 in incentives for a planned Japanese restaurant in downtown Birmingham, and it changed landscaping, buffering and screening ordinances to increase landscaping requirements and protect trees, among other changes. Read more.

by Daniel Gaddy

Two Economic Development Agencies Set to Get $100,000 Apiece From JeffCo

The Jefferson County Commission on Thursday is set to provide $200,000 to a pair of organizations to bolster small businesses in the county. Central Alabama Redevelopment Alliance and Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama each is in line for $100,000 to aid with innovation, economic development and building a strong workforce to support the growth and development of Jefferson County. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Commission OKs Incentive for World Police and Fire Games, Prez Says Don’t Let World Games Problems Deter Investment

Jefferson County can’t let the issues that followed The World Games keep the county from being involved with other economy-impacting events, Jefferson County Commission President Jimmie Stephens said Thursday. During the County Commission’s meeting, commissioners supported a piece of legislation that exempted the World Police and Fire Games, which are slated for Birmingham in 2025, from taxes. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Transportation Secretary Buttigieg Announces $14.5M Award to Turn 4th Avenue North Into a Two-Way Street

U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg stopped traffic on Fourth Avenue North on Wednesday to announce a $14.5 million grant to help reconnect parts of the community that have been divided by transportation decisions of the past. The announcement, staged in the middle of the downtown thoroughfare, outlined a grant to Birmingham to convert Fourth Avenue North — which includes the historic Fourth Avenue Black Business District — from a one-way road to a two-way. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.

Birmingham Council Urges Truist Bank to Keep Roebuck Branch Open

The Birmingham City Council on Tuesday passed a resolution urging Truist Bank to reconsider plans to close its Roebuck branch in March. “A great deal of residents in that area benefit from that branch, rely on that branch and would be negatively impacted if that branch were to close,” said Councilor Clinton Woods, adding that investments are going into the immediate area. Read more.

by Daniel Gaddy

4 Factors Besides Cold Weather That Explain Expensive Winter Power Bills

Like many in the Gulf South, Will Burt’s power bill spiked in January due to extreme weather. But how much of the increase can be attributed to the cold? Read more.

by Stephan Bisaha, WBHM

How Jefferson County Pulled Off a Billion-Dollar Refinancing to Help Stabilize Sewer Rates and Regain Trust

Jimmie Stephens remembers he wasn’t proud of Jefferson County when he took office as a county commissioner in 2010. “I was embarrassed and ashamed of what Jefferson County had become and what its reputation was, in the state and in the nation,” recalled Stephens, now the president of the commission. Jefferson County had become by most accounts one of the worst financially managed governments in the nation laying off more than 1,000 of its employees and filing the then-largest municipal bankruptcy in November 2011. But Stephens, his fellow commissioners, county manager and department heads no longer feel that sense of shame and embarrassment, they say. Last month, Jefferson County got positive reviews from investors and financial publications that would have been unimaginable more than 10 years ago. Read more.

by Solomon Crenshaw Jr., Birmingham Times