West Birmingham is bracing for the loss of a neighborhood pillar – as nearly 200 acres of land and buildings could soon sit empty if leaders can’t find a buyer for the Birmingham-Southern campus.
“I don’t think legislators or state leaders understand or appreciate what will happen when the college closes,” said Rep. Juandalynn Givan, D-Birmingham, in a news release Wednesday. “Businesses in Bush Hills, Fairview, College Hills, and other nearby neighborhoods are going to be hurt financially because the Legislature wouldn’t pass the loan bill.”
Givan will hold a town hall meeting Monday evening, April 1, to discuss next steps for nearby neighborhoods after the closure of Birmingham-Southern College, a 168-year old private school scheduled to shut down at the end of May. The meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the auditorium of A.H. Parker High School in Birmingham.
Surrounding neighborhoods are already reeling from closures of a local hospital and another local college, Givan previously told AL.com, and can’t stand to let more buildings stay vacant.
“As we’ve seen with other institutions that have shuttered their doors, we will be entering a difficult chapter following this unfortunate development,” Birmingham City Council President Darrell O’Quinn said Tuesday.
The small liberal arts college announced Tuesday afternoon that it would close on May 31, citing a lack of support for a new loan bill that would give the school a lifeline to stay open.
Birmingham City Council member Carole Clarke, who represents the Bush Hills area, said on Wednesday that she was “profoundly disappointed but not entirely surprised,” by the closure.
“The current use is by far the best one for the site and the closure ends a long tradition of excellence in higher education for Alabama and community leadership for Birmingham that will be sorely missed,” she said.
BSC officials said that until a buyer is found, the campus will be monitored by security officers. Residents will still be able to access nearby streets, and the United Methodist Center on campus will remain open for public use.
“Birmingham-Southern College has been an important part of our neighborhood for many years, and this is a major loss to our neighborhood, socially and economically,” Walladean Streeter, president of the Bush Hills Neighborhood Association, said on Wednesday. “Our hearts go out to everyone negatively impacted, and we will remain hopeful and positive about the future of our neighborhood.”
Givan told AL.com Tuesday that “several institutions” were interested in buying the 192-acre property after it closes, but its fate remains unclear. The property includes dozens of administrative and classroom buildings, residence halls, an apartment complex with a pool, a lake, and playing fields.
“As the anchor tenant of this part of the city, BSC has provided stability, security, and service to our neighbors in Bush Hills, College Hills, and Smithfield, and vice versa for more than a century,” read a statement on the school’s website. “With millions of federal dollars on the way to create affordable housing and a more visible and attractive pathway between downtown and the west, such a large property being left vacant for any length of time is a huge setback to the neighborhoods that surround it.”
Streeter said in a recent editorial that more and more Bush Hills students have enrolled at the college in recent years, and that the school has expanded access to financial aid for Bush Hills families.
Birmingham-Southern students also have regularly volunteered their help with neighborhood beautification projects and tutoring in local elementary schools, she said.
City officials said the area near the college is prime for transformative growth and development. A grant from the Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to bring 1,000 new homes and new and improved services and amenities in Graymont, Smithfield and College Hills neighborhoods.
“When we think about all those neighborhoods, which would include College Hills, which sits right outside of that Choice Neighborhood footprint, it stands to gain a ton of investment and interest as this award unfolds and as these investments come online. This is not theoretical. This is in fact, happening,” Cornell Wesley, the city’s director of innovation of economic opportunity, told AL.com.
Clarke, the council member, is also a former director of economic development for the city and brings experience from a career in commercial development. She said it remains in the city’s best interest that the institution maintains control of its campus while plans are developed, she said, rather than the property changing hands to financial institutions.
“I’m sure that some suitors are going to come out who are interested, but I think it will be a very limited list of folks who could use that property as it sits and is developed, because it is very purpose built,” she said. “We just have to stay close to the college right now so that we can be at the table in the conversations about redevelopment, so we hopefully end up with something very compatible and positive for the area.”
Clarke also expressed concern about the residents who live behind the college. Specifically, she noted Greensboro Road, a street that is behind the BSC gate, that residents take daily to access their homes.
Residents will be able to continue to use the gate to access the street, according to a notice from the school, but Clarke said leaders need to start considering other options.
“Roads don’t get built overnight,” she said. “As a city, those are things we should be thinking about.”