By Scott Buttram
TRUSSVILLE –There has been a lot of talk about attracting new businesses to downtown Trussville as the city continues to focus on redevelopment, but there may also be some good news for existing businesses downtown.
Jef Freeman, chairman of the Downtown Redevelpment Authority, recently asked Dave Reese of TurnerBatson Architects to create artist renderings of how some existing buildings might look if property owners chose to spruce up their facades. Reese returned to the committee with some impressive concepts.
City leaders have indicated that they would consider a tax abatement or other incentives to assist the owners of the buildings on a case by case basis.
The final decision on whether to upgrade the structures, of course, will be up to the property owners.
One of those property owners is Mike Gunter of Gunter Oil.
Gunter said that he liked the conceptual drawings and thought the improvements would increase the property value of his downtown buildings.
“It really depends on cost, without a doubt,” Gunter said. “It has to always be cost efficient for us to make that kind of investment. However, I think doing these kinds of improvements would just improve our investment.”
Gunter also said he would meet with city officials to explore the possibility of incentives to help with the improvements.
There is no specific timeline for any of the buildings to be redone, though the Downtown Redevelopment authority has asked TurnerBatson to provide cost estimates to property owners.
Members of the committee plan to meet individually with those owners to gauge their interest and assist them with the process should they choose to pursue remodeling their buildings.