FEATURE ARTICLE, JUNE 2011

TUSCALOOSA LOOKS AHEAD
The commercial sector talks about the damage sustained from the storm.
Savannah Duncan

One of the worst tornados in history struck Tuscaloosa, Ala., on April 27th. Photo by Donny Jones of the Tuscaloosa Chamber of Commerce.

On April 27, one of the worst tornadoes in U.S. history touched down in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, tearing apart property of all shapes and sizes. The tragedy left many residents and businesses scrambling to find space to live, to try to re-open their businesses and to begin to rebuild their lives.

The tornado first touched down in an industrial area, where it destroyed several warehouses before hitting the Tuscaloosa Housing Authority on 10th Avenue, badly damaging its offices and surrounding apartments.

One of the largest commercial property corridors hit was 15th Street, which was filled with light retail and fast food restaurants. Paul Harbor, assistant vice president and loan officer at Grandbridge Real Estate Capital’s Birmingham office describes this area as the crosshairs of Tuscaloosa. “That’s why it was such a devastating storm,” he says. “It went through a major part of the city.”

After striking 15th Street, the tornado crossed over to McFarland Boulevard where it struck a larger strip center, destroying a Hobby Lobby, Big Lots and several restaurant outparcels. Additionally, Harbor says it hit many multifamily properties.

“It was so big it cut across pretty much all property classes,” says Robert Shaw, CCIM at Tuscaloosa-based Hamner Real Estate.

Shaw says the tornado left residents and business scrambling for remaining space. “It seems like they are just trying to sit down and get their arms around what’s going on,” says Shaw. He says that many businesses have been seeking short-term leases while making the decision to rebuild or relocate.

Before the tornado, Shaw says Tuscaloosa had started to see an uptick in activity. He believes the tornado created of a sense of urgency for prospective businesses to close on property for fear that someone else would take it.

Sam Brewer, a broker at Progressive Properties’ Tuscaloosa office, says that he has seen some out-of-town contractors, disaster relief crews and major insurance companies looking for temporary office and warehouse space to lease for a year.

Despite the devastation, real estate brokers see this as a positive opportunity to rebuild Tuscaloosa to better serve the community.

“Everyone didn’t want it to happen the way it did,” Brewer says. “There was a tremendous loss of life and personal property but it’s really opened the door to redevelopment in some areas that needed it.”

15th Street previously held retailers and single-family homes some of which had lined the street for nearly 60 years. Brewer says the corridor was developed in an era when there wasn’t necessarily a master plan, so it ended up being an amalgamation of smaller parcels and strip centers with freestanding buildings that were poorly zoned and didn’t have any architectural similarity.

“Some would argue that Tuscaloosa is under-retailed, so this is a chance where some pretty attractive parts of are now available,” says Shaw.

Harbor agrees. “You could really come back and better serve the area and the community. I definitely see that coming in the future,” he says. 

Brewer also points out that some of the parts of town that were hit were lower income parts of town, so he sees a great opportunity for better quality affordable housing to serve the area.

 “The opportunity was there before but Tuscaloosa wasn’t on the map,” says Brewer. “It’s definitely on the map now. To me, it’s just created more opportunities; it’s brought more people to evaluate how we can develop Tuscaloosa going forward.”

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