Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
Carlos Alemán chats with Walter Jones after Monday's council committee meetings
Carlos Alemán moved into his Homewood neighborhood in 2016. By then, the Waffle House that had operated on Oxmoor Road was closed and boarded up, covered in black paint.
As developments have come to what is now a trendy stretch of West Homewood, the remnants of the former breakfast shop are still there. It sits in the shadow of Village Creek Development’s roughly $32 million mixed-use development where the old Econo Lodge once stood.
That could soon change after the Special Issues Committee set things in motion on Monday, moving toward possible condemnation of the property.
“It’s a shame that we haven’t been able to develop something that really benefits the community,” Alemán said after the meeting. “We have a desperate need for parking so we’re going to take action to see if we can provide that for our residents.”
Passing motorists might miss the former Waffle House. GPS would guide you to the current Waffle House on Valley Avenue. What’s left of the old one is just west of Nexis gym and across the street from Seeds Coffee Co.
Photo by Solomon Crenshaw Jr.
The former Waffle House on Oxmoor Road has sat unused for several years.
“I moved into the neighborhood in 2016 and the Waffle House was already gone," Alemán said. "It’s been a long time. We’ve waited years for the developer to do something with the property."
Attempts have been made over the years to address the space, but no action has been taken.
“There have been conversations with the owner to potentially come to some sort of agreement to use that lot for parking but those haven’t been fruitful,” he said. “Considering that we have this real need for parking, we decided to proceed with a condemnation that would allow us to make an offer and if not then potentially use other mechanisms that would allow us to use the property for parking, including imminent domain.”
This story has been updated to correct the previous version that said the Waffle House had been burned down. This information was incorrect, and Councilman Alemán informed us on Friday that his previous statements declaring the building burned were misinformed.
