NO AD Volume 3 | Issue 3 | July 2015
For the families
‘A banner year’
This month, Artists Incorporated Art Gallery will be hosting a special event benefiting the families of fallen veterans. Read details inside.
See page B1
Triple crown
Commercial growth expected to surpass $100 million By SYDNEY CROMWELL Read about the Vestavia Hills father and two sons who have each won an Alabama state wrestling championship.
See page B10
INSIDE City .........................A6 Business ..............A10 Community .........A14
School House .......B4 Sports ....................B7 Calendar ..............B14
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Commercial construction, however, has not had the same rebound, with seven or fewer permits issued per year since 2008. With the exception of Lifetime Fitness in 2012, the citywide value of new construction has not exceeded $5 million per year in that same time.
Since the economic collapse in 2008, Vestavia Hills has seen a slow rebuilding of the new home market. From a low of 26 residential building permits issued in 2009, the city has grown to a high of 114 in 2014.
Fired up By MARIENNE THOMAS OGLE Battling blazes or answering a medical emergency call — no problem. But faced with the upcoming Vestavia Hills Rotary Club Iron City Chef cook-off, the four area first responders who will square off in the July 18 competition all admit they’re intimidated by the challenge. The Firehouse Edition is the 2015 theme of the seventh annual fundraiser and will, for the first time, feature representatives of the fire departments of Homewood, Hoover, Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills, said Kent Howard,
Construction work has begun at the site of the Northport skilled nursing facility. It will be one of the earliest buildings to be completed at the Patchwork Farms development. Rendering courtesy of the Daniel Corporation.
By the end of 2015, however, City Manager Jeff Downes expects the bar for commercial construction will be set higher than ever before. “2015 for new commercial construction
See GROWTH | page A23
Firefighters face off in Iron City Chef
Rotarian and event chairman. The event, which attracts a sellout crowd of about 300 every year, will be at 6 p.m. at the Jefferson State Community College Culinary and Hospitality Institute. “For the last six years, this signature event has had the Iron Chef format, bringing in four Birmingham area chefs to cook a meal that is judged by those in attendance,” Howard said. “But club members started talking last year about mixing it up, and we decided to reach out to surrounding fire departments
See IRON CHEF | page A21
Trey VanHooser will represent the Vestavia Hills fire department in the 2015 Vestavia Hills Rotary Club Iron City Chef cook-off. Photo by Ron Burkett.