10 minute read
By Mike Easterling
from HBJ Mar 2022 issue
Topping Out Celebrated at Downtown Huntsville Project
By Mike Easterling / Photos courtesy of Robins & Morton
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Robins & Morton held a “topping out” celebration at 225 Holmes Avenue, a new fie-story building that will be the future home to Bank Independent, Prince Holdings, and other to-be-named tenants.
The topping out signifies the placement of the final beam and represents the structural completion and mid-point stage of the project.
Once complete, the 77,000-square-foot office building will provide Class A office space and ground floor retail. Bank Independent’s Madison County headquarters will serve as anchor on the ground floor and will occupy offices on the second and fifth floors.
Other tenants are being sought.
“The rest of the leases can be customized once the rest of the tenants are identified,’’ said Lillian Brand of Birmingham’s KC Projects Public Relations.
Both Bank Independent and Prince Holdings currently have office locations on Holmes Avenue.
“We are excited to be one step closer to our new downtown office,” Macke Mauldin, President and CEO of Bank Independent, Inc., said in a press release. “Bank Independent is invested in the future of Downtown Huntsville, and we look forward to watching the continued growth around 225 Holmes Avenue.’’
The new building is located on the corner of Greene Street and Holmes Avenue across from the new city parking deck.
Nola I VanPeursem Architects is serving as the architectural firm for the site. Colliers International | Alabama is the leasing agent.
“This milestone is a testament to the hard work of the craft professionals on this project,” Division Manager Mitch Coley said. “We’re appreciative of the trust placed in us by Prince Holdings and Bank Independent to construct their new building, and of Nola VanPeursem Architects for their confidence in bringing their design to life. We can’t wait to see this building open and housing more businesses in Downtown Proper.”
Bank Independent is rooted in the Northwest Alabama area. Founded in the Colbert County town of Leighton in 1947, the bank now serves 18 communities. Its name evolved from The Bank of Leighton to First Colbert Bank and First Colbert National Bank after moving headquarters from Leighton to Sheffield.
The bank merged with the Bank of Florence and became Bank Independent in 1982, and moved into Huntsville in 2014.
Prince Holdings is a local, family owned and operated asset management firm with a strong emphasis on community reinvestment projects since 2016. w
Meet Kimberly Walker of Walker’s Market: A Leap of Faith Pays Off
By Dawn Suiter / Photo by Lori J. Connors
“Sitdown with Success” spotlights local entrepreneurs who describe their successes and failures, with tips for upcoming business owners. For the full-length interview, visit huntsvillebusinessjournal.com.
Huntsville foodies are well aware of the city’s many hidden culinary gems, one of which is Walker’s Market, tucked into a storefront in the Five Points area of the Old Towne District at 813 Wellman Ave.
Owned by Huntsville native Kimberly Walker, Walker’s Market is truly a one-of-a-kind establishment offering a wide assortment of hand-selected kitchen items, unique small-batch, locally-sourced gourmet foods and wines, and a seasonal selection of fresh, precooked to-go meals and desserts prepared by local caterers and stored in the Market’s coolers.
As Kimberly’s daughter-in-law Chelsea Walker looked after customers, Kimberly paused to discuss her business.
What inspired you to start your own business?
My daughter went to college in Atlanta so in 2013 and 2014 we went over there to see her…there were a couple of stores that were gourmet specialty food stores and they offered dinners and foods to go and some other things, and I was just like ‘this food is so good and I love the labeling and packaging.’ It’s all from small batch vendors, not stuff you’d find in the grocery store. Basically, for the next two years I hemmed and hawed and the kids were like ‘you should just do it!’
What challenges did you face as a fledgling business owner?
It was a very, very new concept. Winning over people at first…people weren’t sure about buying something that was fully cooked, whether they would enjoy it, where it was made, that kind of thing.
When I first started [the Health Department] told me ‘you can’t do this, this isn’t right, this doesn’t exist…’ it took me a while to get them to read their manual and realize that people around the state of Alabama have done this. The biggest thing…was that I didn’t get my food permit until the day before I opened the store. That was very stressful.
What are the keys to your success?
Hard work, customer service, long hours…you’ve gotta be willing to throw yourself into your business 100% and it’s going to have to be your child. And just like a child, it has to grow. And as it grows, you get to relax a little but you don’t ever want to not be involved in every step of the way… it’s all about your customers and word of mouth.
What’s your favorite part of owning Walker’s Market?
The people. I love the people. w
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Boeing’s New Composite Fuel Tank Aims to Significantly Decrease Future Payloads
By Noah Logan / Photos courtesy of Boeing
Boeing has recently conducted several tests at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville to demonstrate the readiness of the new fully composite cryogenic fuel tank for use on aerospace vehicles. This new technology has the potential to add more efficiency to future missions by significantly increasing the payload of those missions.
These tests feature a fully-composite, linerless cryogenic fuel tank, designed and manufactured by Boeing. The 14 foot wide cryogenic composite tank is almost the same in size to the fuel tanks intended for the upper stage of NASA’s Space Launch System rocket, which will be used to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon for the Artemis program.
The company said its engineers and their NASA counterparts put the cryogenic liquid-filled composite tank to a stress test, and the storage survived with pressure levels 3.75 times higher than design requirements. If the new composite technology were implemented in evolved versions of the SLS’s Exploration Upper Stage, the weight savings technology could increase payload masses by up to 30 percent.
“Composites are the next major technological advancement for large aerospace cryogenic storage structures,” said Boeing Composite Cryotank Manufacturing Lead Carlos Guzman. “And while they can be challenging to work with, they offer significant advantages over traditional metallic structures. Boeing has the right mix of experience, expertise and resources to continue to advance this technology and bring it to market in a variety of applications across aerospace and aeronautics.”
The cryogenic tank is lighter due to it not having a metal liner to reinforce it. However, it was still able to withstand 375 percent more than the intended operational pressures without a major structural failure.
Boeing’s Test Program Manager, Steve Wanthal, said the partnership between Boeing and NASA has been instrumental in the development process.
“NASA’s support through this testing has been invaluable,” said Wanthal. “We were able to use their technical expertise and investments made in the testing infrastructure at the Marshall Space Flight Center to continue to advance this technology, which will ultimately benefit the entire industry.”
As well as demonstrating the strength and capabilities of the new tank, the test also provided data that would support the company’s ongoing research on hydrogen as energy for commercial aviation applications. The recent project was sponsored by Boeing and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA.) w
