HBJ August 2021

Keeping you informed and inspired.

VOLUME 4 • ISSUE 8

August 2021

HEALTHCARE

COVER STORY

Huntville’s Regional Infrastructure Gets High Marks for COVID Response

The COVID-19 survey focused on how area businesses were impacted with respect to a remote working environment, their plans for bringing workers back into their offices, and how the area’s infrastructure supported their ability to sustain operations.

By Kimberly Ballard - Page 3

ENTREPRENEUR

Outdoors Educational DEVELOPMENT Exploration at the Little Mountain Forest School

Time spent outdoors and in nature is extremely important for the developing brain. For this reason, two local mompreneurs created the Little Mountain Forest School, a pre-school where nature serves as the classroom.

By Lori J. Connors - Page 17

ADDITIONAL STORIES • USPS Installs State-of-the-Art Sorting Machine in Huntsville Facility

By Noah Logan • Page 14

• Breeze Airways Arrival a Sign of Strong Economic Growth

By Kimberly Ballard • Page 16

• Town Madison Groundbreaking Sets Table for Smorgasbord of Restaurants

By Kimberly Ballard • Page 20

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HUNTSVILLE

BUSINESS JOURNAL Vol 4, Issue 8 August 2021 600 Boulevard South Suite 104 Huntsville, AL 35802

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Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

August 2021

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HEALTHCARE

Huntsville’s Regional Infrastructure Gets High Marks for COVID Response Inquiring minds not only want to know, but they need to know – How did the Huntsville and Madison County regional infrastructure perform in supporting and responding to the COVID-19 pandemic last year?

The Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with the City of Huntsville, and Mayor Tommy Battle’s technology initiatives: GEO Huntsville, Energy Huntsville, Cyber Huntsville, and Bio Huntsville, took the question to local business leaders in the form of a survey.

The COVID-19 survey focused on how area businesses were impacted with respect to a remote working environment, their plans for bringing workers back into their offices, and how the area’s infrastructure supported their ability to sustain operations.

It also asked what the regional government and supporting agencies could have done better.

“We needed to hear from our members what the city’s infrastructure meant for their success,” said Lucia Cape, senior vice president of economic development for the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce. “We needed to identify what was in place ahead of time that helped Huntsville come through the pandemic, as well as what our members think we can do to improve on that infrastructure in the case of future events of this nature.”

In collaboration with Exemplar City, Inc., a local 501c3 non-profit organization focused on educating local governments on how technology can be used effectively, they conducted a 12-question survey from late March through April 15 this year with approximately 170 companies; 150 companies responded.

While 10 of the 12 questions asked about the company’s demographics and status in the

steadily evolving aftermath of the pandemic, the final two questions dug deeply into whether Huntsville’s Community and Government organizations such as the Chamber, the business community, and volunteer organizations, did the right or wrong thing in support of their business during the pandemic.

Overall, respondents said those entities did provide timely and updated information as it related to the virus, and its impact on the population.

When asked whether the area’s infrastructure such as fiber, telecommunications, transportation, and hospitals contributed to their success during the pandemic, 68.4 percent said yes.

The Huntsville City COVID briefings and the Huntsville Chamber COVID Check-in Zoom calls were deemed extremely beneficial in helping form relevant policies and procedures.

There was also praise for the Chamber’s promotion of local businesses offering take-out food and for creating a platform for buying gift cards to support local businesses. Also, their guidance on how to apply and acquire PPP loans was called out as exceptional.

Other comments were directed at the hospital system in our area as being very helpful in offering remote flu and fever clinics for testing and weekly updates; for improving access to childcare so the workforce

was able to work; and most said the messaging on face masks and social distancing was important, while a few felt there should have been more enforcement of mask wearing.

Other notable results show that nearly 55 percent of area employers currently have all employees back working on site, or they are rotating between onsite and remote working.

Manufacturing employees have been working consistently onsite throughout the pandemic, while office workers have been rotating between on-site and remote.

Many said they were still implementing a Flexible Work Option (FWO) based on employee’s preference for schedule/location.

Nearly 84 percent of respondents said they are not planning to reduce office space here because of the pandemic, and just over 66 percent will not mandate vaccinations as a requisite for returning to work.

When asked what protocols they put in place in March last year to sustain business continuity: • Just over 77 percent said they implemented PPE and CDC safety protocols.

• Nearly 74 percent began working remotely.

• Over 54 percent said they implemented flexible office hours.

Many of the survey questions allowed for companies to add their personal comments to the questions.

Of note: • Companies said they had to

By Kimberly Ballard

reduce or furlough staff to accommodate the vast decline in business, but then had to hire more staff than usual to keep up with demand.

• Most companies applied for and received PPP and SBA/EIDL loans • Six weeks seemed to be the most common amount of time companies “went dark”.

• Many companies implemented new policies like allowing employees to bring their kids to work and were given paid time off during quarantine.

• Many said they saw a significant increase in online sales.

“The City of Huntsville worked to stay on site, on task, and in business for our community during the pandemic,” said Mayor Tommy Battle. “It was a tough year, and we are proud to have served our citizens with the services they needed to help get to the other side of COVID-19.”

“The survey helped to validate some of the information we suspected anecdotally about how businesses fared during the pandemic, and now we have excellent feedback that will support the city in future planning,” said Cape. “These survey results give us insight into how our companies were able to keep working and why we have so quickly rebounded economically.”

Of the companies that responded, 21 percent were private sector and federal government contractors; 13.5 percent were nonprofits; 5.3 percent worked in the defense industry or DoD; nearly 5 percent worked in the commercial private sector; just under 2 percent work in state and local government; 1.2 percent work for other federal agencies such as NASA; and 8.8 percent identified as “other”.

Companies with 10 or less employees comprised 27.5 percent of the respondents, and 9.4 percent were 500 employees or more. The rest qualify as small to medium sized businesses or SMBs. u

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Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

Subsidiary of EVENT Publishing

President /Publisher................................................................ Todd Stephenson Editor .......................................................................................... Bud McLaughlin Writers.........................................................................................Kimberly Ballard

Alan Clemons

Lori J. Connors

Mike Easterling

Noah Logan Graphic Design ............................................................................. Justina Simon Website................................................................................................ Jim Gharib Photographers...................................................................................Steve Babin

Kimberly Ballard

Justina Simon Director of Sales ................................................................. Carolyn Stephenson Account Executives......................................................................... Noah Logan Distribution......................................................................................Glenda Mace Huntsville Business Journal is published monthly by EVENT Publishing,

PO Box 14219, Huntsville, AL 35815.

For advertising information call 256.533.8078, e-mail todd@eventhuntsville.com, or visit us on the web at www.huntsvillebusinessjournal.com For editorial information contact editor@huntsvillebusinessjournal.com ALL CONTENTS ©2021. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION OR USE IN WHOLE OR IN PART OF THE CONTENTS WITHOUT THE PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION OF THE PUBLISHER IS PROHIBITED. HUNTSVILLE BUSINESS JOURNAL IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF EVENT PUBLISHING. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. UNSOLICITED PHOTOGRAPHS OR ARTICLES ARE SUBMITTED AT THE RISK OF THE PHOTOGRAPHER OR AUTHOR. EVENT PUBLISHING ASSUMES NO LIABILITY FOR THE RETURN OF ANY UNSOLICITED MATERIALS AND MAY USE THEM AT ITS DISCRETION.

August 2021

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FOOD / DINING

Turbo Coffee Roasters is ‘Making People Faster,’ One Cup at a Time There will be some turbocharging coming soon to help rev up Huntsville’s Lincoln Mill Village.

Florence-based Turbo Coffee Roasters will open in the Lincoln Mill’s historic Dye House in October. The 1,774 square foot café Turbo will be a welcome addition to the Meridian Street corridor; it has the quality, experience, and a vibe that that is well-suited to Lincoln Mill.

“The development of Huntsville over the last decade has been astounding,” said owner Reese Shirey. “We hope to become a regular place for Lincoln Mill and all of Huntsville to recharge, enjoy quality coffee or food, and hang out with friends.”

Turbo’s slogan “Making People Faster” gets right to the heart of matters: serving up excellent coffee to get people going for the day and to positively impact their lives.

Freshly brewed coffee is often a hallmark of a productive workplace and Turbo anticipates being on the leading edge of a well-caffeinated community.

The Turbo Coffee concept took root in 2014. At the time, Shirey was working as a barista near Auburn. The time spent working in the specialty coffee industry, plus the entrepreneurial spirit that was inspired by Shirey’s dad laid the groundwork for Turbo.

In 2015, Shirey opened his first store in Florence - In the back of his brother Austin’s barbershop business, Greasy Hands.

Turbo soon became a popular go-to. Word of mouth brought customers from across North Alabama to this college town to try its signature beverages. By 2018, Shirey was ready to open another location, this time in Tuscaloosa.

But Shirey had always had his sights set on opening a Turbo in the Rocket City and 2021 appears to be a good year for doing just that.

Lincoln Mill makes for an attractive location because of its history and ambiance, along with its easy access to downtown, I-565, and many of the city’s major hot spots.

Guests can order from an enticing list of espresso drinks such as americanos, lattes, cappuccinos, and macchiatos. In addition to traditional coffee fare, there are also signature selections Cocoa Puff Latte, Green Eye, and

Cold Brew Tonic.

“We take pride in serving the best quality coffee we possibly can, and our menu has something for everyone,” said Shirey.

Not a coffee drinker? Turbo offers plenty of tea, hot chocolate, and kombucha options. In addition to beverages, Turbo serves buildyour-own smoothie bowls.

What’s a smoothie bowl, you ask?

“It’s a very tasty treat,” according to Shirey. “It all starts with frozen açai berries, with added frozen bananas and strawberries, then it’s whipped into a thick consistency, somewhat akin to soft serve ice cream. Finally, it’s all topped with granola and fresh fruit.”

Customers can select additional toppings from among cacao nibs, goji berries, coconut chips, chia seeds, peanut butter, and more.

By Lori J. Connors / Photos courtesy of Turbo Coffee

Smoothie bowls can be ordered with pre-prepared combinations such as the Fiji Bowl or Mango Power Bowl.

Some other menu favorites include superfood smoothies, avocado toast, overnight oats, toasted bagels, pastries, cookies, sandwiches, and a breakfast toastie.

Turbo will also offer catering services, an ideal solution for spicing up ho-hum business meetings.

“We can help curate a menu for larger groups that can include our smoothie bowls, pastries, and coffee,” said Shirey. “If Lincoln Mill’s office tenants need quick on-campus catering, we have it covered.”

For more info, visit www. turbocoffeeroasters.com.

For updates on its Huntsville store, follow the brand on Facebook and Instagram at @turbocoffee_ huntsville. u

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Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

FOOD / DINING

Mor Room to Eat Mor Chikin at New Chick-fil-A Madison Location MADISON — Under a sky of parachuting cows, a ribbon was cut to not only launch a new Chick-fil-A restaurant, but to help ease traffic flow along U.S. 72.

Last month, the original location of the Chick-fil-A at 7885 U.S. 72 in Madison permanently closed its doors after 22 years.

It is now replaced by a Chick-fil-A less than a mile and half west on U.S. 72 at Clift Farm.

“I honestly believe this is one of most highly anticipated grand openings of the year,” said District 4 Commissioner Phil Vandiver.

To put the importance and excitement surrounding the opening into perspective, 22 years ago, the original location was designed to accommodate 3 million customers per year.

According to recent statistics, the store has nearly tripled that, serving 8 million

customers annually.

Then, original drive-thru accommodated 21 cars, and famously backed up out onto the highway as customers waited to get into the parking lot.

Now, there are double lanes built to handle 48 vehicles.

“As you have probably noticed, this location means a bigger parking lot, increased seating, a more efficient drive-thru experience, and the

By Kimberly Ballard / Photos by Steve Babin

opportunity to serve you better,” said Chick-fil-A owner/operator Norman Dull. “It has been a long time since we started out here in Madison. Twentytwo years ago, Madison was a much smaller town. It has been a long, growing process, but we had clearly outgrown our first store and we are excited about this new opportunity.

“We have people in the dining room for the first time in a year-anda-half, and that has always been an important part of our relationship with the community. My heart is full seeing people enjoying our food again.” u

August 2021

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Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

FOOD / DINING

By Lori J. Connors Huntsville’s ‘Forward Thinking, Business Friendly’ Atmosphere is a Draw for Restaurants With Char’s successful dining concept already in place, it’s interesting to see what inspired 4Top Hospitality Partners to bring that restaurant and, coming soon, Amerigo to the Rocket City.

According to 4Top’s development partner, Doug Hogrefe, it all started with taking that left turn.

“When I was the general manager of the Amerigo at Cool Springs (Franklin, Tenn.), I would just run into a lot of people from Huntsville because they would come up and shop at the Galleria,” said Hogrefe. “For some reason, it never clicked in my head, like, why are these people coming up from Huntsville?

What’s Huntsville all about?

“All I knew about Huntsville that every time I drove to Jackson, Miss., I would always see the Huntsville exit for I-565 and it never dawned on me to just go ahead and take a left, to go see what Huntsville was all about.”

A few years ago, the 4Top partners received a flyer from a broker.

“I started researching the town,” said

Hogrefe. “We fell in love with the town.

Huntsville is very forward thinking and business friendly.”

“We opened Char a couple years ago; we were so warmly received,” said Hogrefe. “Once we opened Char, the number one thing our development schedule was, we’ve got to find somewhere to put an Amerigo.”

One thing that 4Top noticed was that Huntsville is not inundated with Italian restaurants, which is unusual for a city of its size. So, the team began looking for a location, then along came COVID. Pandemic notwithstanding, the

4Top team was still able to continue working on the Amerigo project.

“The Market at Hays Farm, looked more and more like where we needed to be,” said Hogrefe. “We just felt that that location, that area, the amount of development that’s going on all over the city, particularly down around Hays Farm, that was where to go.”

4Top Hospitality Group has 15 locations across the Southeast. Through partnerships with some of the region’s most dynamic chefs and entrepreneurs, 4Top has grown more than 300% over the last few years.

4Top formed in 2009 when Hogrefe, Paul Schramkowski, David Conn, and Ben Brock acquired the Amerigo and Char dining concepts. The four have nearly 90 years of experience working with Amerigo and Char alone. Each has worked the front lines in virtually every capacity in the world of dining and know what it takes to keep their restaurants

revelant. Their core philosophy is “a happy staff equals happy guests.

In the beginning, 4Top’s aspirations were somewhat humble, according to Hogrefe.

“We didn’t set up to be a multiconcept operator,” he said. “We don’t have a set-in stone growth plan; we’re just looking for interesting things to do.

“Right now, we’re pretty focused on growing Char and Amerigo. The main thing is that we’ve got to get past this last year. It’s good to see that things are somewhat getting back to normal. We hope that it continues in that direction.”

Hogrefe said Amerigo is the kind of restaurant South Huntsville needs; it has the versatility to check all the boxes, from family get togethers, to youth sports teams, to business meetings, to rehearsal dinners.

“We’re really excited about this project because it’s finally coming to fruition,” said Hogrefe. “The support from the media, the public, the city government, it’s all been wonderful. We really appreciate it.” u

August 2021

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FOOD / DINING

Atlanta-Based Salt Factory Pub Expanding into the Rocket City Looking for upscale, yet modern and approachable cuisine?

Hicham Azhari, co-founder of F&H Food Trading Group is bringing an Atlanta metro favorite to the Rocket City. The Salt Factory Pub is slated to open its doors in Huntsville’s MidCity District in early 2022.

The company’s first location outside the Atlanta metro area will be a sizeable 4,000 square feet and promises a familyfriendly atmosphere that will provide a timeless ambiance, great tasting food, quality customer service, along with plenty of outdoor seating.

“They saw the growth happening here,” said Nadia Niakossary, Business Development for RCP Companies. “They got in touch with us about MidCity and liked what we were doing. They wanted to be a part of Huntsville’s growth along with their Atlanta restaurants; they thought it was a great opportunity.”

The Salt Factory is in good company.

The MidCity District is also home to Top Golf, Trader Joe’s, Komodo Ramen,

Kung Fu Tea, Wahlburgers, REI, Dave and Busters, and a host of other highquality restaurants and shops. It is also the future home of a world-class amphitheater.

“Beyond Atlanta, Huntsville has become the go-to-market in the South as it relates to innovative cuisine with a custom flare,” said Azhari. “Our economy is bouncing back after the pandemic and is looking for experiential dining options; we feel confident that the Salt Factory Pub will do just that.”

The tone of the Salt Factory’s setting

and service creates an upscale, cozy "neighborhood" experience, fun and vibrant, yet comfortably familiar.

It’s a place where you can sit at the bar and enjoy a cocktail, while taking in the ambiance. Coupled with the MidCity “feel,” it will serve as yet another enticing draw to the district.

The Salt Factory’s décor derives its inspiration from the pubs that dot the English countryside. Featuring exposed brick walls, dark hardwood floors, cozy tufted booths, and custom dim lighting, the restaurant creates an inviting and casual vibe.

Salt Factory’s fare is best described as “classic comfort foods with global influences.” The dishes served are comprised of local and organic ingredients; all designed to complement

By Lori J. Connors / Photo courtesy of The Salt Factory the noteworthy beer line-up of more than 50 different draft and bottled brews. Patrons can also expect a robust wine list, crafted cocktails, and extensive scotch and bourbon menus.

The Salt Factory’s claim to fame is its braised lamb shepherd’s pie, which was featured on the Food Network, and its London broil, which is aged for 37 days.

Its menu also includes fresh seafood, an assortment of delectable entrees, gourmet appetizers, burgers, and pizza.

The Salt Factory Pub opened its first location in 2008 in Roswell, Ga. Because of its popularity, the Salt Factory opened two more locations in the Atlanta metro area.

The Huntsville location, its fourth, represents a significant geographic expansion.

“They have a proven concept in Atlanta,” said Niakossary. “They have a great menu and product; we’re excited to add them to MidCity.”

For more info, visit https://www. saltfactorypub.com/. u

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Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

SPORTS / RECREATION

Alabama A&M’s Aqeel Glass Targets NIL Opportunity While much of the attention of the Supreme Court ruling that opened the door for collegiate athletes to profit off their name, likeness or image (NIL), the majority of the financial benefits will be heaped on major colleges.

But for the NCAA, which acquiesced and decided to drop its block against anti-amateurism rules regarding compensation, it covers the entirety of the organization’s umbrella from Division I to Division III. In Huntsville, the new rules will affect Division II UAH and Division I Alabama A&M. Bryan Hicks, A&M’s athletic director, supports the legislation.

“This is an exciting time for Alabama A&M student-athletes,’’ Hicks told aamusports.com. “As the NIL era begins, we look forward to assisting our student-athletes to improve their potential in today’s job market and their opportunity to continue to serve as great representatives of Alabama A&M University and themselves."

A likely candidate is the Bulldogs’ stellar quarterback Aqeel Glass.

“Overall, I think it’s a great thing,” he told The Undefeated. “It’s a great day for all college athletes.

It’s a great opportunity for everyone to capitalize on the opportunities they have.

“We worked so hard to be in the position we’re in. It’s great to be able to get compensated for all the hard work put in.”

The Chargers don’t have any deals to report, but that will likely soon change, according to Athletic Director Cade Smith.

“We have a few that are in the process right now, pending campus approval,’’ he said.

Like his counterpart at Alabama A&M, Smith isn’t opposed to

the move.

“I support anything that enhances the student-athletes’ experience and am hopeful that these new rulings will do just that,’’ he said.

The new NIL legislation approved by the NCAA allows athletes to profit through avenues such as social media posts, appearances, sponsorships, autograph sales, endorsement deals and private training classes or camps. Athletes can be paid by local or national businesses in exchange for their promotion.

Players are allowed to use agents, attorneys and liaisons to represent them in likeness-profiting discussions, and that respective universities cannot limit a player’s access to NIL compensation or

compensate their own studentathletes via university funds.

Coaches, boosters and other individuals directly associated with a college or college athletics program cannot sponsor a student-athlete.

All NIL activities and compensation must be reported to respective programs, and all schools must be made aware of prospective deals before they are signed. As a result, student-athletes cannot partner with companies and organizations centered around tobacco products, alcohol, gambling, etc.

NIL deals will be subject to state and individual school laws and guidelines, which can be found at uah.chargers.com and aamusports.com.

There is speculation that leagues

By Mike Easterling / Photo courtesy of Alabama A&M University Sports Information

and schools below the FBS level – such as Alabama A&M, a member of the Football Championship Subdivision Southwestern Athletic Conference, other Historically Black Colleges and Universities -will benefit from the new rules.

For instance, Hercy Miller, an incoming freshman basketball player at Tennessee State and the son of hip hop mogul Master P, has reportedly signed a whopping $2 million deal with Web Apps America, according to his father.

When athletes were officially able to profit off their name and likeness after midnight on July 1, Jackson State defensive end and Georgia Tech graduate transfer Antwan Owens made NCAA history as the first athlete to sign an endorsement deal.

Alabama A&M head coach Connell Maynor, though, isn’t so sure the NIL ruling will ultimately lead to HBCUs drawing any closer to a level playing field with FBS schools.

“It will do the opposite,” Maynor told www. hbcusports.com. “All the top players can probably make more money at Clemson, Alabama, Auburn or Oregon than they can at Alabama A&M. “It’s going to benefit the bigtime players, the difference makers.”

Meanwhile, Glass isn’t in a hurry to make a decision. He’s doing his due diligence and making sure everything is aligned.

“As far as my plans in the future,” Glass said, “I got a couple things in the works. A couple of other people have reached out to me. I’m just taking it one day at a time and making sure everything is by the books.

“Then making sure the brands that I align myself with are aligned with my views and respectable enough that their values are with mine.” u

August 2021

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SPORTS / RECREATION

Lee High’s Derrick Gragg Answers Second Call to be AD at Northwestern Huntsville's Derrick Gragg has returned to his professional roots as a collegiate administrator, leaving a senior position at the NCAA offices in Indianapolis to become the athletic director at Northwestern University.

The two-sport Lee High School star and Vanderbilt University wide receiver has spent more than a quartercentury in athletic administration.

Except for the most recent nine months with the NCAA, Gragg has made his living on college campuses.

“I'm so passionate about diversity and inclusion first and foremost and I've always been involved in that area even during my 26-plus years on campus as an athletic administrator.’’

But he’s been an accidental AD. “I had no intentions of getting involved with college athletics and really backed in,’’ he said between his current and future job. “I didn't even know there was a path to it other

than coaching, which I thought I may want to do.

After Vanderbilt, I went to law school at the University of Tennessee for one year and intended to become, of all things, a lawyer in the Marine Corps.

“And then the funny story about that is I heard, and it may have been a rumor, that if you didn’t pass the Bar within your first two times you couldn't be a lawyer in the Marine Corps, that you’d have to go active duty. That was just something that almost frightened me to death.’’

Gragg returned to Nashville, where his future began to take shape.

He talked to Vanderbilt’s athletic academic advisors, and despite hesitation on the administration's end since Gragg was only 22 or 23 years old, he was given the position of director of student life.

Gragg, who has earned a master’s and a doctorate, the latter from Arkansas, has climbed upward since.

After Vanderbilt, he held an assistant post as director of compliance at Missouri, associate administrative roles at Michigan and Arkansas, and was AD at Eastern Michigan from 2006-13 before taking the same job at Tulsa prior to his move to Indianapolis.

He said the decision to leave the NCAA for Northwestern was difficult.

Gragg turned down the Wildcats’ first offer.

The school then promoted its deputy athletic director, but he resigned after being named in a sexual assault cover-up. The backlash

from that coupled with racism charges in the program led him to resign.

The Big 10 private school came back to Gragg. His wife Sonya urged him to listen, again, and he accepted the offer the second time.

“I'm so passionate about diversity and inclusion first and foremost and I've always been involved in that area even during my 26-plus years on campus as an athletic administrator.’’ he said. “It gave me some pause about going back onto campus because I am so passionate about the (inclusive) work.

“But at the end of the day with Northwestern it's an opportunity

By Mike Easterling / Photos courtesy of Vanderbilt University and Northwestern University that few of us in the profession get, an opportunity to even talk to people much less getting offered. The opportunity is one of the premier institutions in the world. It's in the top 10 in the United States. And this will probably get me in trouble with the SEC folks, but it's probably the best conference in the nation top to bottom when you talk about the mix of academics and athletics.’’

Gragg said late Lee High basketball coach Jerry Dugan always supported him as did former Vanderbilt football coach Gerry DiNardo. Gragg said DiNardo “pulled hard’’ for him the year he returned to Vanderbilt from the failed law school attempt and gave him a boost of confidence.

“He thought that I could become an athletic director,” Gragg said. “So before him I had no inclinations.

There were not a lot of African Americans who were athletic directors at the time. There are more now. But certainly not many back then.’’

Gragg is Northwestern’s first black AD. Coincidentally another Vanderbilt graduate, Bob Jones alum Candice Story Lee, a year ago became the first black woman to be named AD in the SEC. Gragg has said it seems like he’s been the “first or only’’ at his career stops.

But, along with Lee, they’re helping change the landscape. u

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Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

COVER COVER S

Chamber President Decade of Growt

By Noah Logan / Ph

Nearly 10 years into Chip Cherry’s tenure as president and CEO of the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce, the city of Huntsville has experienced continuous growth with no end in sight.

Future job growth is predicted to be 40.9%, compared to the national average of 33.5%. Before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the city had issued 590 commercial construction permits in 2019 including the massive Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant, tower additions to Huntsville Hospital and a Facebook data center.

The Rocket City also lived up to its name securing investments on

Redstone Arsenal and Cummings Research Park and establishing a prominent role in America’s return to the moon.

All of this culminated when U.S. News and World Report released its Best Places to Live 2021-2022 rankings in July and Huntsville was No. 3.

Cherry is quick to point out that the success of the HuntsvilleMadison County area is largely due to the mindset of unity shared by the leadership throughout the community.

“The way the community and region grew up, there was a foundation laid a long time ago for regional cooperation,” Cherry

explained. “A lot of other places that I’ve worked, you have a hard time convincing people in various different jurisdictions that it’s in their best interest to work together. Here, that premise was already established.”

Cherry has been instrumental in his tenure with the Chamber in developing and implementing ideas for economic development over the last decade. As president/ CEO, Cherry is the liaison among businesses, organizations and the community at large. His work has certainly not gone unnoticed.

In July 2017, the Huntsville/ Madison County Chamber of Commerce was named Chamber of the Year by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, which is made up of more than 7,500 chambers around the world.

Site Selection magazine also awarded the chamber with the Mac Conway Award for Excellence in Economic Development in May of 2019.

Cherry, who had nearly 30 years of experience chambers in North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia before coming here, cited Huntsville’s

ability to highlight possibilities where others might see barriers as the key to its success.

“We have the largest concentration of engineers in the country and it shows,” Cherry said.

“Other communities, when faced with a challenge, the conversation starts with ‘we can’t do this because…’ and there’s a whole litany of reasons why you can’t do it.

“Here, the conversation identifies how to solve the challenge with option A or option B or a combination of different options. It’s subtle difference than is lost on some people but it is a huge differentiator.

Instead of bleeding out energy dealing with why we can’t do it, you are basically creating energy based around opportunities and options.”

This process has resulted in a livelier and more diverse Huntsville.

Skilled, young workers are flocking to the area and have created a housing boom that is feeding a new demand for the entertainment and hospitality industry. Construction cranes are as much a part of the skyline of downtown Huntsville as are office buildings and hotels.

Even though he is approaching 40 years of working with various chambers around the country, Cherry said he is still rewarded in his work by the same thing that drew him in as a 22-year-old intern: the opportunities for creative problem solving.

He said his role with the chamber allows him to see how pieces of the puzzle are scattered throughout the community and identify how to put the pieces together to tackle a problem or take advantage of an opportunity.

“Taking a very complex, challenging problem, breaking it down and finding the right partners to advance through the problem is very rewarding to me,” he said. “And I love being able to do that with the brightest minds in both Huntsville and Madison.” u

August 2021

STORY STORY

t Chip Cherry and a th for Huntsville

hotos By Steve Babin

Three Questions with Chip Cherry Will the loss of Sen. Richard Shelby’s influence in Washington adversely impact Huntsville attracting federal jobs and money?

Senator Shelby has been a huge blessing to us with his ability to see opportunities in the area and convince his colleagues that it was wise to make the investments here. What has been created at (Redstone) Arsenal for over 60 years now is amazing with how diverse and complementary of one another they are with the army instillations, the FBI, NASA; they all reinforce one another. Will people take shots at Redstone? Certainly. It just works that way when you have a shift like that. But Senator Shelby and his team would agree that his efforts have built a stronger national asset and not just a state asset. This will help it long term to not be blown around by political winds.

How do you project the next 5-10 years to be different from the past 10 years?

We’re already starting to see the benefits of the investments that have been made. Nearly 10 years ago when I first arrived, I attended a presentation that highlighted a gap in the ability to recruit talented people out of college and grad school, ages 22-28, to Huntsville. The recent investments in things like Downtown Huntsville, the Trash Pandas and the upcoming amphitheater have created a stronger sense of place. Now it’s a much easier sell and they see that some of their traditional perceptions of the south aren’t true because of the nature of

what we do here. The most recent numbers I saw show that 47% of people that live in Huntsville are not from the state of Alabama which helps makes us a more dynamic community.

It’s very exciting for me that we are looking over that horizon and seeing some change in that regard.

What has been your strategy for job growth in Huntsville?

We wanted to make the market healthier. And one problem we had that doesn’t jump out at you, when you only look at things like unemployment rate, median income and etc., was a lack of attainable jobs to propel residents from entry level to the middle level of the job market.

When Mazda Toyota would announce a 200- to 400-person expansion, 10,000 people would apply for those jobs even though we don’t have 10,000 people that are looking for work. The reason is because we have a significant amount of people who are underemployed but not unemployed. We were looking at that issue wondering how we could modify our approach and solve that problem and decided that advanced manufacturing would be one of the core pieces in the solution. Before, we had been focused on aerospace, defense, life sciences and other higher end industries but we didn’t have many jobs that make up the middle part of the market between entry-level and highend jobs. We’ve now added 28,000 jobs in that market with predictions of at least 7,000 more over the next few years.

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Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

GOVERNMENT

USPS Installs State-of-the-Art Sorting Machine in Huntsville Facility Last year, the U.S. Postal Service endured a mountain of criticism, particularly around the holiday season.

Slow deliveries. Non-deliveries.

Packages lost. Mail delivered to wrong addresses.

Much of the problem, obviously, was pandemic-related. Staffing was compromised due to employees being sick or staying home due to fears of catching COVID-19 in the workplace.

And the mail volume increased as people shifted to online shopping instead of in-person shopping.

To help alleviate a repeat of last year’s troubles, the Huntsville USPS Processing and Distributing facility includes one of the country’s first new package sorting machines to greatly increase efficiency and volume.

“Last year, we were caught off guard as was everyone,” said Postal Service spokesman David Walton.

“But this year we are making changes and improvements across the board to provide better service.

“And we’re already seeing some early results.”

The Automated Delivery Unit Sorter, which has been in operation here since June 27, processes up to 4,500 packages per hour and is 12 times faster than the previous manual sorting system.

The Huntsville ADUS is one of three installed nationwide but 118 will be in operation by November in time for the busy holiday season.

Walton said the new machines are a part of a comprehensive, 10-year plan called “Delivery for America.” The plan includes $40 billion in investments such as new package sorters and facilities

that will modernize and improve the Postal Service’s infrastructure.

In addition to this, an additional 46 annex facilities are being leased within 5 miles of regular facilities across the country to accommodate holiday surges and overflow of packages. As the plans for “Delivery for America” are implemented, the Postal Service has set a goal to meet or exceed 95% on-time delivery across all mail and shipping product classes.

This plan comes a year after the COVID-19 pandemic created an unprecedented surge in online shopping and culminated with a historic volume of packages for the 2020 holiday season.

During last year’s holiday season, USPS delivered a record 1.1 billion packages despite employee shortages caused by the pandemic. The Huntsville facility processed more than 250,000 packages alone.

By Noah Logan / Photo courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service The Postal Service its service performance numbers in the second quarter of this year increased in numerous categories as first-class mail marketing mail and periodicals were all delivered on time at least 6% more often than the first quarter of the year.

Although the ADUS system is replacing manual sorting at the Huntsville facility, no employees at the facility (or any facility across the country) will lose their jobs because of the new machine.

Katrina Pleasant, a Huntsville postal worker since 2016, said the new machine has made her workday more productive while also lightening the load labor wise.

“Before, we had to manually retrieve all the boxes and sort them into the different bins for each city and each route,” she said. “Now that we have the machine, everything is automatic and we can do over 30,000 packages a day.

“We don’t have to do any overtime or 12-hour days anymore. It’s much easier and faster now.” u

August 2021

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EDUCATION

Post-Pandemic Back-to-School Shopping Returns to Pre-Pandemic Days August has always been that transitional month when summer – but not the heat – winds down and families must once again readjust their schedules to accommodate “Back to School”.

Based on consumer surveys, the National Retail Federation had projected that parents with students in elementary school through high school would spend an average $789.49 per family in 2020, topping the previous record of $696.70 in 2019.

College students and their families were projected to spend an average $1,059.20 per family, which would also top 2019’s record of $976.78.

At first glance, it would appear a worldwide pandemic would have threatened the very existence of backto-school shopping in 2020. But on the contrary, the NRF discovered that amid the uncertainty, 55 percent of shoppers surveyed said that despite only 26 percent of classes were likely to be taught in-person, parents would still spend to accommodate at-home learning.

The survey found 36 percent bought laptops; 22 percent purchased computer speakers and headphones; 21 percent bought other accessories like a mouse or flash drive; and 17 percent bought printers.

An additional 17 percent bought non-computer items including calculators, office-type furniture like a desk and chair, and workbooks.

In other words, sales continued to rise as students and their parents simply adjusted to at-home learning.

And in 2021, according to RetailDive, back-to-school shoppers plan to spend $268 per child this year, an uptick of 9 percent from last year.

Spending for preschool is projected to be up by 32 percent in 2021 and college student spending is expected to be up 13 percent with middle school and high school spending up a combined 7 percent.

On the parent-student side, footwear (21%), school supplies (16%) and clothing (14%) lead the pack, as the likelihood of buying computers and study-related furniture are expected to decline.

None of this surprises Wilson McClellan, owner of Schoolcraft here in Huntsville. He has a 10,000 squarefoot showroom off Church Street and has been in the school supply business here for 45 years.

“We just stepped back during the pandemic and watched for a while,” said McClellan. “We sell mostly to teachers through the schools, and some parents, especially homeschoolers, but teachers didn’t know what to do or how to do it last year. They had never been faced with the types of teaching situations where some kids were doing full virtual learning, some were in class two days a week, some three days a week.

“So, while sales were off about 20 percent last year, we survived when a couple of competitors did not.”

This year is a different story with back-to-school sales returning to preCOVID levels, he said.

“Teachers come in and they are happy and upbeat. I see no negativity at all about getting back to their classrooms,” he said. “They sometimes come in groups and their focus seems to be welcoming their students back to happy, colorful classrooms with bright colors and trim and borders on bulletin boards. That is a huge part of our business right now.”

Neither has Up A Creek Indoor Family Adventures in Hampton Cove. They did not shut down last year, according to new owners Chaz and Jordan Rogers. And they are planning a grand opening Aug. 4 in the newly renovated Hughes Plaza in Madison.

“I was a stay-at-home mom and when the opportunity presented itself to provide a fun indoor adventure space where kids can explore and play, I saw it as the perfect way to get my career life back in swing,” said Jordan Rogers.

Chaz’s mother, Jennifer Rogers

By Kimberly Ballard / Photo by Steve Babin

retired from teaching school to become the program director.

Up a Creek offers After School programs, private party rentals, and summer day camps. Their afterschool care program provides pick-up transportation to their facility from all the Hampton Cove and Madison schools, and they provide field trips to local parks and playgrounds.

One of Madison County’s most comprehensive sources for back-toschool activities and community events for kids and families can be found at www.rocketcitymom.com.

The Back-to-School Resource Guide provides “All Things Educational” from school spotlights and event calendars to information about homeschooling, magnet schools, and private schools.

They also offer a Virtual Expo with information about schools, camps, tutors, athletics, and more. u

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Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

TRAVEL / LEISURE

Breeze Airways Arrival a Sign of Strong Economic Growth Get off your couches and pack your bags because nonstop flying from Huntsville is a "Breeze."

Breeze Airways, that is.

The carrier features a “Low Fare, High Flex” program with nonstop flights to Tampa, New Orleans and Charleston, S.C. In fact, Huntsville is one of 16 airports in which Breeze chose to launch its new “Seriously Nice” airline, bypassing hubs such as Atlanta and Nashville with point-to-point flights to and from smaller secondary airports, resulting in shorter travel times.

“We are excited about the new service and expect our community will respond to the new ‘Seriously Nice’ and ultra-low fare air service by taking advantage of the flexibility offered by flying and supporting Breeze Airways,” said Port of Huntsville CEO Rick Tucker.

According to the International Air Transport Association, one of the many hits airlines took due to COVID-19 in 2020, was a significant loss in citypair connectivity, falling 33% when compared to the same time in 2019. It has been suggested that restoring air transport connectivity will be critical to the industry's economic recovery.

Breeze Airways founder and CEO David Neeleman is taking on the connectivity issue with a business model that he began before the pandemic. He said it is designed to stimulate travel and "get people off their couches" so they can go see and do things without having to drive to Breeze Airways founder and CEO David Neeleman

Nashville to catch an affordable flight.

“We saw this trend in airline costs that were forcing cities like Huntsville to fly into hubs like Atlanta, in order to go anywhere,” said Neeleman. “We saw an opportunity where we could offer service using a plane that had low capital costs, which translates to low trip costs, and with these low trip costs, then we could go into markets and offer a much lower fare.

“But, more importantly, we saw a market where people could fly to New Orleans, Tampa, or Charleston, which are all desirable destinations for people living in northern Alabama, and get there in an hour and ten minutes, rather than driving for 10 hours.”

Neeleman, who is also the founder of JetBlue, and his wife Eva Applegate Neeleman, an "Army brat" who grew up in Huntsville, chose Huntsville as a launch point for Breeze Airways while here on a family visit several months ago.

“What impressed me about Huntsville is how much economic vitality there is here with all the growth,” Neeleman said. “If Huntsville supports us with weekend trips to great places like New Orleans, Charleston, and Tampa, we will add more services and more destinations.”

Undoubtedly, 2020 will go down in history as the worst year in history for airlines with a net loss of $118 billion in 2020, with those losses continuing into 2021. As a result, many airlines are facing pressure to reduce operating costs, but again - Neeleman only saw opportunities.

“If you start with a clean white sheet of paper and say 'OK, what can we do to keep our costs low?", we can use technology to start from scratch,” said Neeleman. “Because of COVID, the price of airplanes dropped a lot in value, so we were able to pick up a bunch of planes for a really low price; and we were able to get parts and spare engines … that helped a lot.

“We have a really smart team of people creating a market with a plane that has lower trip costs but still has a low seat cost, so we can offer low fares for that market. It’s just a different way of attacking the market.”

And Huntsville is one of its beneficiaries.

“There is a ton of pent-up demand and a lot of people who want to get out and see things,” said Neeleman. “They are tired of being stuck in their homes and thank goodness for these vaccines, people can feel more comfortable about doing so."

In talking about the airline industry overall, Neeleman said the airline business still faces challenges in getting going again.

“Once you shut that monster down, there are service issues to be dealt with; and labor issues, which is really tough …. and a lot of the airlines rely on contracted labor for fueling and other services at airports," he said. "When you walk through airports all over the country today, a lot of the restaurants are closed down because they can’t hire anyone to work them.”

And then, he said, there is the retraining of pilots.

“I saw a statistic the other day that said 5,400 pilots took early retirement when COVID hit,” he said. “The airlines were prepared for COVID to go on for years, and that may be true for business travel, but they have been able to stimulate travel in other areas.

“Now you have three or four aircraft types and pilots working on a

By Kimberly Ballard / Photos by Steve Babin seniority basis. Someone retires from one fleet, and someone else must come over from another fleet. They must be retrained, so it can be a very difficult logistical challenge just to restart everything. When you have had a lot of early retirement, it causes a shift in the workforce.”

Meanwhile, Breeze's arrival in the Rocket City is a sign of a strong economy for the area, Mayor Tommy Battle said.

"Huntsville’s dramatic growth and recurring designation as one of the best places to live in the country positions us to attract more residents and visitors,” he said. “With this exciting investment from Breeze Airways, we can expand our airline capacity to reach even more destinations.”

Huntsville International's economic impact extends beyond the city and county lines. In fact, Breeze Airways is expected to make a significant economic impact on the airport’s 18-county service area.

“The announcement of Breeze Airways is an economic development announcement as important as any other because transportation is the key to economic growth and prosperity,” said Huntsville-Madison County Airport Authority Chairman Mark McDaniel.

"Our airport is the connection to other areas of the country and business opportunities found in those areas.” u Port of Huntsville CEO Rick Tucker

August 2021

17

ENTREPRENEUR

Outdoors Educational Exploration at the Little Mountain Forest School Now more than ever, kids need to get outside and enjoy nature!

Studies have shown that the glowing sirens of the computer screen and mobile devices can have negative consequences on developing young bodies and minds.

The remote learning situation of 2020 magnified an already sedentary lifestyle for many. Time spent endlessly gazing at electronic devices is associated with lessened cognitive functioning and decreased academic performance.

Time spent outdoors and in nature is extremely important for the developing brain. For this reason, two local mompreneurs created the Little Mountain Forest School, a pre-school where nature serves as the classroom.

Sarah Callaway, mother of two and former program manager with the Corps of Engineers, and Beth Barry, a nurse practitioner with a 3 ½-year-old son, began their venture last December.

The seed was planted when Callaway and her family lived in Australia. During their 18 months there, her son Max participated in the Australian Bush School program.

Bush schools focus on children learning through outdoor exploration and have their origins in the Forest schools of Europe. In these naturebased schools, trained practitioners nurture learner-led exploration and discovery.

Callaway was so enamored by the concept, she talked with Barry about starting a pre-school of their own, based on the same principles.

She was determined and recounted how Barry once replied, “We’re either going to do this or we’re going to stop talking about it.”

And so, they did.

By the end of 2020, the women were ready for business, securing a contract with the State Parks System and partnering with the Huntsville Land Trust. The first group began in April and quickly filled up.

The pandemic has been an unexpected asset, of sorts. During its peak, many were already discovering

By Lori J. Connors / Photo by Steve Babin

“It’s to empower children to self-regulate, to listen to their guts, to evaluate what the risks are regarding an activity, and make their own choices”

Pictured L to R: Co-founder Sarah Callaway, Emily Alman, and co-founder Beth Barry

“Valuing the child as a whole person and giving them the space to do things for themselves because they are capable. They don’t have to figure it out for themselves.”

– or rediscovering the benefits of nature and the great outdoors.

“We have been very fortunate because of timing,” said Barry.

“Once we decided to do it, it’s gone very quickly.”

The Little Mountain Forest School gets its inspiration from the Reggio Emilia philosophy of “follow the child,” valuing the child as central to their own learning, not just an empty vessel waiting to be filled with knowledge.

“It’s to empower children to self-regulate, to listen to their guts, to evaluate what the risks are regarding an activity, and make their

own choices,” said Emily Alman, lead educator.

“We do it in a way they get to explore, with childled activities that are interest led-and developmentally appropriate,” said Barry. “Valuing the child as a whole person and giving them the space to do things for themselves because they are capable. They don’t have to figure it out for themselves.”

When it came to embarking on their entrepreneurial journey, Callaway and Barry sought out The Catalyst Center for Business and Entrepreneurship for much-needed business coaching.

Through mentoring

and workshops, the women learned the nuts and bolts of budgeting, marketing, and human resources – the very things needed for launching a small business endeavor.

“We couldn’t be where we are without the Catalyst,” said Barry. “They have been absolutely invaluable.”

Along with offering play groups for ages 3 and under and pre-school classes, the pair hope to eventually expand their programming up to the 5th grade, along with offering homeschool enrichment activities.

“We can significantly impact more children,” said Callaway. “They can take it in little bits, take it at their pace and at their level.”

For more info: https://www. littlemountainforestschool.org/. u

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Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

RETAIL

Tenant Lineup Continues to Grow at the Market at Hays Farm In the Southeast, Publix is one of the most popular supermarket chains and where shopping is a pleasure. In fact, Branch Properties is banking on it for their Market at Hays Farm development.

The project broke ground last year and, once complete, it will pack a wallop in offering premier shopping and dining options to the South Huntsville community.

The 111,233-square-foot center is close to fully leased, featuring a wide assortment of dining options, retailers, and service providers.

“As far as leasing goes, it’s been exceptional, there’s been no shortage of tenants,” said Brett Horowitz, Head of Asset Management at Branch Properties. “According to the site plan, it looks as though we are almost 100 percent leased. Whether it’s an actual signed lease, or in a letter of intent and going to lease, or in lease negotiation, I’m looking at a plan that shows maybe one or two spaces that are still unaccounted for right now.”

To sweeten the deal, Branch has attracted two top southeastern restaurant concepts to the Market.

Bookended on the north end by Amerigo, a Nashville-based Italian restaurant and Tom Brown’s on the south end, Hays Farm promises an enticing variety of dining and shopping.

Amerigo selected Hays Farm as the location for its first new restaurant in more than 20 years and it will occupy a 7,573-square-foot space. Tom Brown’s will be opening

By Lori J. Connors

“I think we have a really exciting array of tenants”

“According to the site plan, it looks as though we are almost 100 percent leased.

Whether it’s an actual signed lease, or in a letter of intent and going to lease, or in lease negotiation, I’m looking at a plan that shows maybe one or two spaces that are still unaccounted for right now.” its second north Alabama location, this in a 6,063-square-foot space.

In addition to Amerigo and Tom Brown's, Wingstop and a sushi restaurant soon will join the

lineup. Service tenants will include a 3,300-square-foot Premier Urgent Care, 3,000-square-foot Eye Care Associates and 2,765-square-foot nail salon Grand Nail Lounge.

“I can’t say enough about this project,” said Horowitz. “We’re thrilled with where this project is today. We’re in construction, buildings are going vertical, and we’re on track with our original schedule. We should be delivering to Publix in October, and they usually open around 30 days after we deliver possession.

“So, they’ll be open prior to Thanksgiving and that’s a big deal for them.”

Construction is slated to be completed this fall, with spaces being turned over to the tenants in

September. As far as construction, supplies, and schedule, everything has gone as well as it can possibly go, despite COVID-induced supply chain issues, the developer said.

Progress is brisk as the lone tenant Staples gets a new façade and the insulation goes up throughout the shopping plaza. Staples has remained open throughout the entire process and will continue to do so - the Haysland location just happens to be one of the highest volume stores in the region.

As the backhoes traverse the large parking lot, criss-crossing the asphalt with clumps of red clay, the Market at Hays Farm is a work in progress.

“I think we have a really exciting array of tenants,” said Horowitz.

“The fact that we’ve signed two major restaurants in a post-pandemic world, I think says it says a couple of things.

One, I think it says a lot of Huntsville, in that these restaurants feel like that the market could utilize another large footprint full-service restaurant. Two, it speaks of the project itself. You don’t typically get such high-end tenants like an Amerigo or a Tom Brown style restaurant to come into a groceryanchored shopping center.

“To get that type of caliber tenant, speaks volumes of Huntsville and of the market, so we’re thrilled.” u

August 2021

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20

Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

ADVERTORIAL

DEVELOPMENT

Town Madison Groundbreaking Sets Table for Smorgasbord of Restaurants MADISON -- Neither a yearlong pandemic, labor shortages, a long delay getting construction materials, a complete building redesign, nor the threat of rain, could stop the lollapalooza of restaurants announcing they are coming or expanding to Town Madison.

Five Guys, Super Chix, Outback Steakhouse, Slim Chickens, and a new restaurant concept known as Prohibition, all broke ground Tuesday on a central site at the corner of Stadium Way and Zierdt Road, just blocks from Toyota Field.

Madison Mayor Paul Finley, who just returned from a quarterly meeting with the mayors of the 10 largest cities in Alabama, said he always returns home more fully aware of how special Madison County is, and how bright the future is in North Alabama.

“It is not lost on me that we are not just having one groundbreaking at Town Madison, but we are having five groundbreakings in one day at Town Madison,” Finley said. “As economic development continues to happen in this area, there are a lot more announcements coming in the days ahead and I commend everybody who has been a part of it.

“With labor and construction costs where they are, you have a lot of different choices. Many investors would hold tight, but you haven’t; so, thank you to these five businesses

and investors, for your investment in our city.”

Tyjuana Watson Lewis, managing partner for Outback Steakhouse in Huntsville and now at Town Madison, said as a resident of Madison, she is excited about all the developments going on.

“We will be bringing a new prototype of Outback called the ‘Joey’ to Town Madison,” she said.

“It will be a sleek new building, much more streamlined, and this will be the first one of its type to open.”

Deepen Patel, partner and CFO of Power Brands Hospitality Group, gave an intriguing description of their new concept restaurant, Prohibition, which will be next door to their Five Guys and Super Chix concepts.

“We have been wanting to bring Five Guys and Super Chix to Madison for a while, and were happy to have found them a home in Town Madison, but we also wanted to bring something unique and special here,” said Patel. “We generated ideas from our current portfolio of restaurants and from restaurants we have visited.

“That is how we came up with Prohibition, a rooftop gastropub with a chef-driven menu and specialty cocktails, what I describe as approachable and affordable. We are very excited about that project.”

Patel said he and his family moved to Madison 20 years ago.

“It has been absolutely incredible to see the amount of growth and development that has been happening

By Kimberly Ballard / Photo by Steve Babin in such a short period of time here,” he said. “It takes a lot of planning and work, so, on behalf of the Power Brand team, we really want to say thank you for giving us a chance to continue in the growth of the Town Madison community.”

Alan Renfroe, cofounder of Legends Development representing Slim Chickens, acknowledged that due to residual fallout from the COVID pandemic, it has taken a few months to put the final deals together.

“On behalf of Slim Chickens, we want to say how proud we are to be a part of all the excitement and growth here at Town Madison,” he said. “We are excited to be a part of all the activity happening here and we are looking forward to growing this part of the Town Madison community.”

T.J. Lee, founder of Leeland Ventures, who was instrumental in bringing Slim Chickens to North Alabama, introduced their building partners, Hudson Company.

“They specialize in building fast casual type restaurants, and they will build-to-suit Slim Chickens to meet their specifications," he said.

“Also, to Louis (Breland) - what a fantastic development. I don’t know of anybody who could have pulled it off but you guys.

"And you have knocked it out of the park here in the shadow of the stadium.”

August 2021

21

DEVELOPMENT

“I want to thank Mayor Finley and your city council, your planners, and the people of this community because this development will lead to the next tax dollars to create more police officers and more firefighters, new fire stations and police stations,” said Strong. “This is how you grow an economy.”

He pointed out that less than two miles down the road, the FBI is building a $1.3 billion campus Breland said he is grateful for the confidence awarded him when his company started Town Madison with a vision of it becoming a destination for people from all over the state of Alabama, making it a tremendous asset to the city of Madison, to North Alabama and all of Alabama.

“A lot of work goes on behind the scenes, and without the leadership of Mayor Finley and people like Madison County Commission (Chair) Dale Strong and District 2 (Commissioner) Steve Haraway, who has been here from the beginning,

our team is working 18 hours a day through some crazy times, but as you can see, we are coming out the backside like we always hoped we would," Breland said.

“Stay tuned because the hits are going to keep on going, there will be more announcements, and more announcements, and more announcements coming shortly.”

Strong, standing alongside Haraway, reflected to just a couple of years ago when the development was nothing but bean fields, cornfields, cotton fields and wheat fields.

on Redstone Arsenal, bringing more than 4,000 people to the area, along with the U.S. Space Command moving its headquarters to Redstone and the Mazda Toyota Manufacturing plant, which will be adding more than 4,000 jobs.

“Town Madison is perfectly positioned not only for today, but for the days ahead. I commend those that have seen the vision,” he said. u

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Huntsville BUSINESS JOURNAL

BIOTECHNOLOGY

HudsonAlpha Project Discovers Plant Chromosomes Older than Dinosaurs It is remarkable that a plant that seems so simple from the outside is not only at least 300 million years old, it also has exceptionally large sex chromosomes, coupled with a complex sex determining system.

As part of a decade-long project, researchers from the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology sequenced the complete genome of Ceratodon purpureus. Their findings were recently published in Science Advances.

More commonly known as fire moss, Ceratodon purpureus, has a lot to say about plant evolution.

Fire moss is found on every continent and can withstand rough conditions—growing in soil, rock, wood, old roofs, sand, and cracks of sidewalks. It was given the name “fire moss” because it is often the first organism to recolonize an area after fire destruction.

Like most mosses, fire moss has separate male and female plants, which is known as dioecy. Fire moss is also haploid; each plant has just one sex chromosome: U for females and V for males.

In humans, many normal chromosomes mix, so that the genes a child receives are a mix of genes from both their mother and father.

This results in new combinations of genes; hence no two individuals are genetically alike.

However, the Y chromosome does not mix with the X chromosome. It is theorized that mixing does not occur because it is evolutionarily beneficial to keep the male genes together. Many believe the lack of mixing leads to gene loss in the Y chromosome.

Another characteristic of the mosses is that the lack of genetic mixing is a feature of both sexes, not just restricted to the male chromosome.

Which bears the question, is it a lack of genetic mixing that causes sex chromosomes to lose genes, or is it something else?

To test this theory, the paper’s first author, HudsonAlpha postdoctoral fellow Dr. Sarah Carey and her graduate school mentor, University of Florida Associate Professor Dr. Stuart McDaniel, turned to C.

purpureus for answers.

To study the fire moss sex chromosomes, the team first needed to generate a high-quality genomic sequence assembly for the moss genome. Scientists at HudsonAlpha’s Genome Sequencing Center, led by co-directors Dr. Jane Grimwoodand Jeremy Schmutz and funded as part of the Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, stepped in to contribute their genome sequencing and assembly expertise to the project.

Sequencing the complete fire moss genome took over a decade to complete, in part because of technology and complications with the sex chromosomes.

“The sex chromosomes are complicated by their many sequence repeats that are hard to assemble from short sequence reads,” said Schmutz.

“As technology advanced over the past decade while we were sequencing this genome, we replaced parts of the genomes with newly resolved pieces.

PacBio long read sequencing combined with a mapping technique called HiC eventually allowed us to resolve the complete sex chromosomes.”

Carey, who was then a graduate student in McDaniel’s lab at the University of Florida, was surprised when the genome data was received from the GSC team. The sex chromosomes in fire moss were huge. Each of the fire moss sex chromosomes is estimated to have 3,400 genes, over 30 times more than the human Y chromosome.

“The extremely large fire moss sex chromosomes do not undergo recombination, but they do not degenerate and lose genes like the human Y,” said Carey. “Our work suggests this so-called suppressed recombination is not as clearly linked to gene loss as

By Lori J. Connors

many previously thought.”

The research team also discovered that the fire moss sex chromosomes are at least 300 million years old—older than mammalian sex chromosomes and even older than dinosaurs.

Control of reproduction in crop plants is potentially vital for food production, and the moss genes may provide tools to boost female or male linked function.

As a practical example, only female flowers make fruits in many crops, like melons, squash, strawberries, grapes, and many others. In breeding programs, breeders often use sterile male plants to control the parents of seeds and breed more of the desirable female offspring.

The moss sex chromosome may provide a new tool for studying genes that might have long term economic benefits, which could be key to accelerating breeding programs or increasing crop yield. u

August 2021

23

BRIEFCASE

Boys & Girls Clubs of North Alabama Receives $2M Pledge from Redstone Federal Credit Union Boys & Girls Clubs of North Alabama has received a $2 million commitment from Redstone Federal Credit Union toward its Doors to the Future capital campaign.

The donation, which will be paid over the next five years, is the largest single gift ever awarded to the organization.

“This is a transformational gift from Redstone,” said Patrick Wynn, president and CPO of Boys & Girls Clubs. “The future is bright here in the Huntsville area.

"We want to make sure that the Boys & Girls Clubs continue to keep pace with the needs of our youth and make sure their futures are equally as bright.”

Redstone’s leadership gift signals the launch of Doors to the Future, a comprehensive campaign designed to expand the capacity of Boys & Girls Clubs. The campaign, which totals over $7 million, will enable the organization to develop new Centers for Advancement, increase their transportation, build their scholarship fund, and expand into North Huntsville.

Boys & Girls Clubs serves about 5,000 youths annually, and Wynn expects the added facilities and resources to serve an additional 950 students.

“We see this investment as another way to improve the futures of youth and families who live in the areas that we serve,” said Joe Newberry, president and CEO of Redstone. “So many success stories have come out of the Boys & Girls Clubs and this gift will create opportunities for even more.

"The organization continues to be a catalyst for positive change in the community, which is also one of our guiding principles.” u

Brennaman Named Alabama Retail Comp Marketing Representative Shea Brennaman recently joined Alabama Retail Comp, the state’s

workers’ compensation fund for retailers and other small businesses, as a marketing representative.

Brennaman, a Huntsville native, will represent ARC in North Alabama and Birmingham. She joined ARC from Decatur City Schools, where she worked as a fourth-grade teacher and was a 2020-2021 finalist for the West Decatur Teacher of the Year. She graduated magna cum laude in 2016 from Auburn University, where she was a member of Mortar Board and several other honor societies. She continues to be a contributor to USA Today’s Auburn Wire.

Brennaman joins ARC Marketing and Agency Relations Director Boyd Edwards in promoting ARC’s workers’ compensation program through its network of independent insurance agents.

Alabama Retail Comp is the selfadministered, self-insured workers’ compensation fund sponsored by the Alabama Retail Association. The Alabama Retail Association represents retailers, the largest private employer in the state of Alabama, before the Alabama Legislature and the U.S. Congress. u

HudsonAlpha VP for Education Granted Excellence in Human Genetics Education Award The American Society of Human Genetics has named Dr. Neil Lamb as the 2021 recipient of the Arno MotulskyBarton Childs Award for Excellence in Human Genetics Education. Lamb is a faculty investigator and vice president for educational outreach at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology.

Lamb oversees all educational programming developed at HudsonAlpha, including the creation of innovative teacher training, student experiences, public enrichment, classroom kits and digital resources that re-shape how science education is delivered.

The award, which includes a plaque with a $10,000 prize, recognizes individuals for contributions of exceptional quality and importance to human genetics education internationally.

“Neil’s creative and engaging approach to connecting with people at all levels allows him to make the

most complex topics understandable,” said Dr. Richard M. Myers, president and Science Director and M. A. Loya Chair in Genomics at HudsonAlpha.

“Neil built HudsonAlpha’s educational outreach program from the ground up, and it now reaches not only across the state of Alabama, but across the country and around the globe.”

In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, Lamb expanded his bi-weekly Shareable Science blog into a video series aimed at reducing misinformation about the virus and providing an easy to understand explanation of the science behind the disease, how it spreads and what scientists are doing to help diagnose and treat the disease. The video series garnered nearly 200,000 views from people all across the country.

“He is an extremely talented and dedicated genetics and genomics educator and serves as an inspiration to the next generation of educators and mentors in our field," said Dr. Gail Jarvik, president of ASHG. “I am personally pleased to recognize Dr. Lamb’s work with this award that is co-named for my own mentor.” u

Davis to Head Up Research Park Leasing, Sales for NAI Chase Commercial NAI Chase Commercial has hired Rick Davis as executive director, Research Park- Leasing & Sales in the Huntsville office.

Davis, a former executive director of Cummings Research Park for the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce, will be responsible for all leasing activities for Corporate Park, Park Place, 4900 Bradford, 4811 Bradford Drive and other Chase properties within or adjacent to Cummings Research Park, the nation’s second-largest research park.

“We are thrilled to have Rick Davis join our office leasing team, focusing on our client base in Cummings Research Park," said Charles Grelier, president of NAI Chase Commercial. "Rick has an impeccable reputation with businesses and civic leaders and provides invaluable experience when it comes to economic development and site selection for business and industry."

Davis, a former longtime television sportscaster, served with the chamber from 2003-2011. After that, he joined

the Birmingham Business Alliance as senior vice president for economic development, a position he held until January 2019.

Davis was chief operating officer of the Baron Critical Weather Institute and was also associated with Averbuch Realty.

NAI Chase Commercial is a member of the world’s premier managed network of commercial real estate firms, NAI Global. u

Mary ShirleyHowell joins HudsonAlpha as Director of Business Recruitment Mary Shirley-Howell has joined the the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology as its director of business recruitment.

Shirley-Howell brings more than 10 years of area development experience to HudsonAlpha, serving in multiple leadership roles in the Auburn University Office of Research and Economic Development. Shirley-Howell earned her bachelor’s and MBA from Auburn University, and MA from Saint Mary's University of Minnesota.

“I have been fortunate to work with HudsonAlpha on collaborative projects in the past and now I am thrilled to join the HudsonAlpha Economic Development team,” said Shirley-Howell.

“It’s an exciting time in the genomics world, and I look forward to attracting biosciences companies to Huntsville and HudsonAlpha.”

Shirley-Howell joins HudsonAlpha’s Economic Development team, which recruits start-up, early-stage and established bioscience companies to the HudsonAlpha biotech campus.

In her role, Shirley-Howell will engage with local, regional and state economic developers, and national and international site selectors to grow the biosciences hub at HudsonAlpha and Huntsville.

“Mary’s experience in campus development and commitment to HudsonAlpha’s vision will keep HudsonAlpha growing and thriving,” said Carter Wells, HudsonAlpha vice president for Economic Development. “With a campus expansion underway, Mary joins at an opportune time for recruiting innovative bioscience companies.” u

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