Exclusive: MidCity unveils major expansion with new music venue and tech hub
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
The 3,000-seat indoor music venue will be designed by Matheny Goldmon Architects in collaboration with Urban Design Associates. Image: Courtesy of RCP Companies
MidCity will build a new music venue, two hotels, a tech campus and more as part of a $300 million, 12-acre expansion.
Why it matters: The public-private partnership is defining what mixed-use developments in Huntsville can be: an "18-hour district," where people can find an apartment, start a new company or catch a show.
- This latest phase is further diversifying MidCity's offerings and solidifying its foothold as a premier destination for the region.
Zoom in: In plans shared first with Axios, developer RCP Companies will build out the MidCity Arts + Innovation Subdistrict with a new mid-sized music venue, two hotels including a 200-room music-branded one, an Innovation Tech Campus and 60,000 square feet of retail and entertainment space.
- The Camp — a MidCity staple and outdoor venue near the entrance to MidCity on University Drive — will move to a new home in the center of the development, expanding to a capacity of 3,000.
- RCP is currently in talks with a national restaurant to replace it, Nadia Niakossary, senior development director, tells Axios.
Zoom out: The new additions will serve to reinforce MidCity's "three-legged stool" approach: daytime activity in education and workspaces; evening and overnight activity via residential and hospitality; and year-round programming from concerts, festivals and other events.
Case in point: The Innovation Campus, developed by the nonprofit Apollo Coalition, aims to provide a launchpad for startups and a home for the city's tech and creative sectors.
- It'll be home to the gener8tor Tech Accelerator, funded by Innovate Alabama, the NextGen HSV high school AI product development program. And will include flexible office space, a SCIF-enabled defense technology space, founder support services and more.
What they're saying: "We want people to come and work on their ideas, form new companies and startups," Niakossary said. "Hopefully one day we'll have the next AirBnB or Uber founded right here in Huntsville."
- Joanna White, managing director of the Apollo Coalition, said in a statement that by locating at MidCity, "we are igniting economic growth through daily collisions between innovators, artists, and students — the creatives who are shaping tomorrow."
By the numbers: A study from real estate advisory firm RCLCO projects the district to account for 40% of MidCity's non-Orion fiscal impact, support 386 permanent jobs and generate more than $420 million in new tax revenues, of which the city of Huntsville is projected to receive $220 million.
For the next leg of the stool, see MidCity Live: a 3,000-seat indoor music venue that will fill a key gap in the local music scene between the large, 8,000-seat Orion and smaller venues.
- Its operating partner will be announced next year, but developers aim to help bolster Huntsville's position as a regional music destination connecting Nashville, Birmingham and Atlanta.
- Alongside The Orion and The Camp, the new, 3,000-seat venue will "complete an entire music ecosystem for artists of every level," Niakossary said.
At the center of the new district, which spans three blocks along Sanderson Road near the Orion, will be the music-branded hotel set to become MidCity's hospitality anchor.
- "This is a music-forward hotel designed to function as a cultural gathering place," RCP co-founder Max Grelier said in a statement.
Catch up quick: The 140-acre MidCity sees 5.8 million visits per year, per RCP, and is aiming for a total 1,850 residential units and 925 hotel rooms alongside office space and 40-plus acres of outdoor gathering space.
State of play: MidCity just opened two $100-million projects in Anthem House and Wellory, Niakossary said, marking roughly 40% completion for the development's overall master plan.
- The new district, an at least $300 million effort, will bring that to around 60% once completed.
It's a regional destination, Shane Davis, Huntsville's director of urban and economic development, told Axios, one that has already exceeded the total investment forecasted back when the project started.
- "The thought wasn't, 'Let's see how quick can we get this fully redeveloped and get out of here,'" he said. "The intent for MidCity has always been to grow it at the pace for when we look back 20 or 30 years from now, it's vibrant … like a downtown."
The bottom line: "This really adds multiple new layers of MidCity, with the robust hospitality portion and adding that mid-sized venue," Niakossary said.