| NEWS Que the "there's the land for a new arena" crowd. UA BOT buys around 10 acres including Northington Elementary.

In a Tuesday meeting, UA's Vice President of Financial Affairs Matt Fajack explained that this land would "unlock a lot of value in an adjacent piece of property."

Sitting at 1300 21st Street East, the Northington lot sits just behind Snow Hinton Park and Bowlero, and beside University Mall. An appraisal on March 2 found the land's value to be roughly $3.66 million.

Dorrill was unable to tell The Thread what this land purchase would eventually become. However, the land does sit adjacent to a 5-acre property already owned by the University which is currently used as multi-day RV parking.

The University owns 3 tracts of land in the area, including the old Fire College. This acquisition would bring the University's total land ownership in the immediate area to roughly 18 acres.

tuscaloosathread.com

UA Trustees Buy Tuscaloosa's Northington Elementary Campus for $4 Million

The University of Alabama System's Board of Trustees unanimously approved a motion to purchase nearly 10 acres of land near Tuscaloosa's McFarland Boulevard, including the closed Northington Elementary School.
tuscaloosathread.com tuscaloosathread.com


A nice place for additional student housing.

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TerryP said:
Not saying we're all cut from the same cloth...but this got me thinking a second about things/places I can get to more quickly walking or biking versus driving.

  • Doctor
  • Dentist
  • CVS
  • Convenience store(s.)
  • Hair salon
  • UPS/ mailing station(s.)
  • Edward Jones
  • Dollar Store
  • and a host of other things...
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No. Not cut from same cloth or live in same environment. Lived in city ONCE. And had nice 10 speed to ride to work. Enjoyed.

not so
much now.
 
TerryP said:
Not saying we're all cut from the same cloth...but this got me thinking a second about things/places I can get to more quickly walking or biking versus driving.

  • Doctor
  • Dentist
  • CVS
  • Convenience store(s.)
  • Hair salon
  • UPS/ mailing station(s.)
  • Edward Jones
  • Dollar Store
  • and a host of other things...
Click to expand...

Charleston is a disaster though when it comes to traffic. It was over ten years ago when I lived there. I can only imagine now with the influx of people and all of the new buildings that have been constructed.
 
BamaFan334 said:
Charleston is a disaster though when it comes to traffic. It was over ten years ago when I lived there. I can only imagine now with the influx of people and all of the new buildings that have been constructed.
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My work schedule is partly designed 'around' Charleston traffic but your point still holds true. There are some real dumbasses on the roads here.

(Traffic here gave me the idea we should have stupid darts. An app or something akin where we could tag drivers with stupid darts. We'd get six or so a day, and they'd have a limit. Get 10, your car is dead until tomorrow. If we can tell Waze there's a tire in the road, why not?)

Charleston County 2010-2018 ... Dorchester and Berkeley are growing at likely a larger rate: Berkeley especially.

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TerryP said:
When I was in undergrad I was staying in Rose for the first semester I attended. I'd walk from Rose to Coleman. It's no shorter than a walk from Tutwiler to the mall area, and the distance between Burke and the mall area...half of that. I don't see the students and a drivce as a big deal. That said, I'm sure UA would provide shuttles like they do on game days.
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I just did a quick measurement of the distance from where Rose Towers was to Coleman. It's 1.2 miles (crow fly). If you take the most likely path of walking it's about ~1.62 miles. The distance from Tut to Northington is 1.91 miles (crow fly) or ~2.53 miles via most likely walking path. The likely walking path from Rose/Presidential is ~3.48 miles.
 
TerryP said:
Now THAT's a good idea at first glance. That school has always operated "autonomously," to a degree, from the rest of the student body.

I'm not a big fan of moving the arena over there but I have to weigh that against what I saw happen in Columbia with their basketball facility and how well it's worked out for UofSC. Their arena is likely twice the distance, maybe more, than one would from the center of UA's campus.


When I was in undergrad I was staying in Rose for the first semester I attended. I'd walk from Rose to Coleman. It's no shorter than a walk from Tutwiler to the mall area, and the distance between Burke and the mall area...half of that. I don't see the students and a drivce as a big deal. That said, I'm sure UA would provide shuttles like they do on game days.

Traffic? If "traffic patrol" can close a major thoroughfare for a half of an hour to let a church out on Sunday's they can handle traffic coming on a game day.

The entrances you've mentioned to T-town don't change. You come through Druid City? Turn left somewhere.

You're in Sandy Springs, right? I know how bad the traffic can get there having lived in the area. I also believe it can be handled in Tuscaloosa, easily, around basketball games. IF we are looking at a new arena, we're looking at 12-14,000 seats: a 1/10th of football traffic.
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I remember those walks well! I walked everywhere from my apartment(old Stadium Apartments) to EVERY CLASS, including to the football facility for practice. Only time I did drive was to go to workouts, because I would often have a class as soon as I finished. Didn’t dare be late!!
 
I've made the walk from the campus to the mall once... and it sucked. But, if UA puts student housing there, they'll just add a dedicated Crimson Ride route for them. Would love for them to add another mixed use facility with a rink as mentioned... they have so many students now, an additional student rec center with more options wouldn't be horrible if it had a lot of student housing around it. There's already a good chunk of students that live in that general area.
 
UAgrad93 said:
I remember those walks well! I walked everywhere from my apartment(old Stadium Apartments) to EVERY CLASS, including to the football facility for practice. Only time I did drive was to go to workouts, because I would often have a class as soon as I finished. Didn’t dare be late!!
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I remember thinking it's so cold I won't bike, but froze walking from Rose to RP. Ferg...stopping point (wanting a shot to warm my ass up.) So cold.

We can register golf carts here now. So, a trip to the store? That's easy. In our day at UA...good lord, what a luxury.
 
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