Photo by Ingrid Schnader
Shades Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church could soon develp an office building on its property. The rezoining request will go to City Council.
A Lutheran church in Homewood could soon add an approximately 25,000-square-feet boutique office building to its property.
The Homewood Planning Commission approved a request from Shades Valley Evangelical Lutheran Church at its monthly meeting May 5 to subdivide the church’s property from one parcel to two parcels and rezone the second parcel from I-2 (institutional district) to C-1 (office Building district). The request must now go to the City Council for approval.
The church is located at 720 Shades Creek Parkway, which is across the street from Brookwood Village on AL-149.
“The congregation isn’t growing by leaps and bounds, but the church certainly loves its presence in Homewood and would like to see if there’s a way they could create a little revenue for the church,” said David Silverstein of FiveStone Group, who represented the applicant at the meeting.
In February, Silverstein and Councilwoman Jennifer Andress invited the church’s residential neighbors to a meeting to discuss the idea. Seven to 10 residents attended the meeting, Silverstein said.
“I certainly think those residents who were in attendance were very much in favor of what they saw,” he said.
There are a limited number of uses that would be suitable for the future development, he said.
“You’re not going to put a drive-thru restaurant there, and you’re not going to put a high-density type of development,” he said.
The building has not been designed yet, but Silverstein said he feels confident that the architectural design will fit in with the surrounding area. The building can be constructed without needing any variances to the required setbacks and property lines, he added.
There will be some cross-parking with the church, Silverstein said.
“During the week while the office building is operating, there’s not that much activity at the church,” he said. “There would be sufficient parking to cover the need of the boutique building.”
There will also be covered parking under the building, adding at least 50 new parking spots to the property, according to current plans.
The types of tenants would likely be investment bankers and investment companies, similar to the neighboring Luckie and Fairway buildings.
Some trees will need to be cut down for the development, but Silverstein said landscaping has been a “critical element” in all of his previous projects.
“We’ve made a commitment to the church as part of our agreement to utilize plants native to north-central Alabama or very much in keeping with the area,” he said.
Every tree that can be saved will be saved, said Walter Schoel. Schoel will be designing the stormwater plan for the project.
“As far as drainage goes, that’s obviously a big concern for all of the communities in Homewood,” Schoel said. “In the plan, here’s actually an underground stormwater detention system that’s under the parking area. … The underground detention is primarily to control flow rate, and it also has a water quality benefit.”
The next Planning Commission meeting will be June 2. It has not yet been announced whether the next meeting will be held online or in person.
