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Michael Casagrande | mcasagrande@al.com
For years there have been rumors and legends of lease agreements that prevent residents with Alabama practice field views from standing on balconies.
Moving into their new apartment near Alabama's campus two years ago, Michael Arkin and his roommates were eager to use its biggest perk.
They grabbed a few chairs and set up a viewing stand from the balcony near the elevators of the now three-year old Central Park complex. Of course they wanted a look at Crimson Tide football practice.
And Central Park has the prime view over the fenced in complex of manicured fields where the work of Nick Saban's program is done in secret. The building is one of three built since 2008 in the exploding real estate market on the edge of the Alabama campus with a view over the covered fence line. In the past, single-story structures lined Hackberry Lane opposite the practice fields, so these views were relatively new.
With these residential structures ranging from four to six floors came talk of hush agreements tenants must sign. This is, after all, the era of heightened paranoia among college football coaches afraid any inside info could help an opponent.
A 2016 ESPN.com story stated Alabama had an agreement with one of the buildings that resident leases spell out rules preventing tenants from watching practice from their balconies. Lane Kiffin, a former resident of one of the buildings, tweeted Saturday it was "actually true."
The developer of the 10-year old The Chimes where Kiffin lived and the newly-built Champions Place confirmed that's partially true for his buildings. They won't sell any condo to someone unless they sign an agreement that states they won't stand on balconies during practices but it didn't come under pressure from the school.
"We're all big supporters of Alabama," developer Kenny Short said. "This is not kids that are renting this out. These are people who like to come home to Alabama and support the program. So, we're not going to do anything -- anything -- to take away or cause any kind of confusion from our standpoint at any of our condominium projects. That's the reason everybody signs that and abides it from Day 1."
Down the street at Central Park, it's a different story.
Neither Arkin, nor Marshall Williams, another former Central Park resident, had to sign any kind of lease provision that stated anything of that nature.
J. Case McNeill, property manager of the company that owns the building, confirmed there are no rules for residents about watching football practice. He's also not aware of the university or football program making any official requests about it.
Short didn't need any direction to set this policy for the buildings he developed.
"No, it was just something that we put in there because that could be an issue and a problem," Short said. "We're all about Alabama around here and we're not going to do anything that would upset anyone over there. That's the reason we have our rules in place and we've never had an issue."
Over at Central Park, residents are free from binding leasing language but not from Scott Cochran. Not long after Arkin and his roommate set up chairs to watch their first practice in their new building, Alabama's boisterous strength and conditioning coach voiced his disapproval of their presence.
"Y'all better get the hell away from here' from the field," Arkin remembered hearing Cochran's famous vocal cords shout across the street.
After that, they left the chairs in the unit but would occasionally "hide behind a little corner" to watch a few minutes here and there.
While Arkin's unit was on the other side of the building, Marshall Williams' had a perfect balcony view of the fields.
He had binoculars and preferred to watch from inside where it was more comfortable.
On occasion, he'd go outside and watch from the balcony. Nobody ever yelled, even the day he put a gas-station cardboard cutout of Nick Saban on the porch.
"Nobody ever said anything about it," said Williams, a senior from Kansas City majoring in mechanical engineering. "I thought it would be on Twitter for sure."
Most of the time, he'd just catch a quick glimpse coming back from class.
"You never really sit and watch a full practice because, I mean, football practice isn't the most glorious thing ever," Williams said. "But like when they're doing team later -- when they're actually running plays and stuff -- is when it's cool to watch to see who is performing better."
Both Arkin and Williams said they felt privileged to know the status of injured players before anyone. Williams noticed linebacker Mack Wilson was back wearing a crimson non-contact jersey last November before the Iron Bowl when it was unclear if he'd be back from the broken foot he suffered a few weeks earlier.
Wilson was wearing a black jersey for injured players during media viewing periods.
"We kinda saw the development of Tua (Tagovailoa), in a way," a Arkin, who graduated last year and now lives in Atlanta. "We didn't watch for a while. It would be a couple of minutes, but we saw Tua. We saw Terrell Lewis coming back from injury last year -- how he was looking in his black, non-contact jersey. It was simple things like that but we didn't want to watch too long or anything like that."
Three to five minutes is about the max Arkin spent watching after the Cochran warning.
"Oh yeah," he said, "we didn't want to mess with Scott."
This paranoia, apparently, isn't a new thing along Hackberry Lane.
Tuscaloosa resident Stuart Hartley remembers his grandfather telling a story about his time with a dental practice in a one-story building where the new Champions Place condos now stand.
Dr. George Hartley, who retired in 1993, was working late on patient files next to the window one day in his office. A knock at the door produced a young man with a whistle around his neck and a tired look on his face.
"Coach Bryant saw you writing notes," the coach told Hartley, "and just wanted to check on what you were writing down."
That property, assessed in 1998 with a land value of $33,600, is now home to the multi-million-dollar Champions Place condo building. Units sold for as much as $1.89 million with only two of 27 still available.
The 10-year old Chimes building has units that sold for as much as the upper six-figures. It doesn't have quite the view as Champions Place or Central Park.
A unit there also comes with rules the developer said are not negotiable.
"We respect the team," Short said, "They don't need any distraction and we're certainly not going to be a distraction and we're certainly not going to be a distraction around here at any of our properties."
The real story behind hush agreements for residents with Alabama practice views
Moving into their new apartment near Alabama's campus two years ago, Michael Arkin and his roommates were eager to use its biggest perk.
They grabbed a few chairs and set up a viewing stand from the balcony near the elevators of the now three-year old Central Park complex. Of course they wanted a look at Crimson Tide football practice.
And Central Park has the prime view over the fenced in complex of manicured fields where the work of Nick Saban's program is done in secret. The building is one of three built since 2008 in the exploding real estate market on the edge of the Alabama campus with a view over the covered fence line. In the past, single-story structures lined Hackberry Lane opposite the practice fields, so these views were relatively new.
With these residential structures ranging from four to six floors came talk of hush agreements tenants must sign. This is, after all, the era of heightened paranoia among college football coaches afraid any inside info could help an opponent.
A 2016 ESPN.com story stated Alabama had an agreement with one of the buildings that resident leases spell out rules preventing tenants from watching practice from their balconies. Lane Kiffin, a former resident of one of the buildings, tweeted Saturday it was "actually true."
The developer of the 10-year old The Chimes where Kiffin lived and the newly-built Champions Place confirmed that's partially true for his buildings. They won't sell any condo to someone unless they sign an agreement that states they won't stand on balconies during practices but it didn't come under pressure from the school.
"We're all big supporters of Alabama," developer Kenny Short said. "This is not kids that are renting this out. These are people who like to come home to Alabama and support the program. So, we're not going to do anything -- anything -- to take away or cause any kind of confusion from our standpoint at any of our condominium projects. That's the reason everybody signs that and abides it from Day 1."
Down the street at Central Park, it's a different story.
Neither Arkin, nor Marshall Williams, another former Central Park resident, had to sign any kind of lease provision that stated anything of that nature.
J. Case McNeill, property manager of the company that owns the building, confirmed there are no rules for residents about watching football practice. He's also not aware of the university or football program making any official requests about it.
Short didn't need any direction to set this policy for the buildings he developed.
"No, it was just something that we put in there because that could be an issue and a problem," Short said. "We're all about Alabama around here and we're not going to do anything that would upset anyone over there. That's the reason we have our rules in place and we've never had an issue."
Over at Central Park, residents are free from binding leasing language but not from Scott Cochran. Not long after Arkin and his roommate set up chairs to watch their first practice in their new building, Alabama's boisterous strength and conditioning coach voiced his disapproval of their presence.
"Y'all better get the hell away from here' from the field," Arkin remembered hearing Cochran's famous vocal cords shout across the street.
After that, they left the chairs in the unit but would occasionally "hide behind a little corner" to watch a few minutes here and there.
While Arkin's unit was on the other side of the building, Marshall Williams' had a perfect balcony view of the fields.
He had binoculars and preferred to watch from inside where it was more comfortable.
On occasion, he'd go outside and watch from the balcony. Nobody ever yelled, even the day he put a gas-station cardboard cutout of Nick Saban on the porch.
"Nobody ever said anything about it," said Williams, a senior from Kansas City majoring in mechanical engineering. "I thought it would be on Twitter for sure."
Most of the time, he'd just catch a quick glimpse coming back from class.
"You never really sit and watch a full practice because, I mean, football practice isn't the most glorious thing ever," Williams said. "But like when they're doing team later -- when they're actually running plays and stuff -- is when it's cool to watch to see who is performing better."
Both Arkin and Williams said they felt privileged to know the status of injured players before anyone. Williams noticed linebacker Mack Wilson was back wearing a crimson non-contact jersey last November before the Iron Bowl when it was unclear if he'd be back from the broken foot he suffered a few weeks earlier.
Wilson was wearing a black jersey for injured players during media viewing periods.
"We kinda saw the development of Tua (Tagovailoa), in a way," a Arkin, who graduated last year and now lives in Atlanta. "We didn't watch for a while. It would be a couple of minutes, but we saw Tua. We saw Terrell Lewis coming back from injury last year -- how he was looking in his black, non-contact jersey. It was simple things like that but we didn't want to watch too long or anything like that."
Three to five minutes is about the max Arkin spent watching after the Cochran warning.
"Oh yeah," he said, "we didn't want to mess with Scott."
This paranoia, apparently, isn't a new thing along Hackberry Lane.
Tuscaloosa resident Stuart Hartley remembers his grandfather telling a story about his time with a dental practice in a one-story building where the new Champions Place condos now stand.
Dr. George Hartley, who retired in 1993, was working late on patient files next to the window one day in his office. A knock at the door produced a young man with a whistle around his neck and a tired look on his face.
"Coach Bryant saw you writing notes," the coach told Hartley, "and just wanted to check on what you were writing down."
That property, assessed in 1998 with a land value of $33,600, is now home to the multi-million-dollar Champions Place condo building. Units sold for as much as $1.89 million with only two of 27 still available.
The 10-year old Chimes building has units that sold for as much as the upper six-figures. It doesn't have quite the view as Champions Place or Central Park.
A unit there also comes with rules the developer said are not negotiable.
"We respect the team," Short said, "They don't need any distraction and we're certainly not going to be a distraction and we're certainly not going to be a distraction around here at any of our properties."
The real story behind hush agreements for residents with Alabama practice views
