USS teams with Hoover, others for huge project

Ross Bridge


The new Ross Bridge Parkway will open up much of the 1,600 acres in the Ross Bridge project for development. Plans include the golf course, hotel, resort and conference center, 1,770 homes, 600 apartments and more than 100 acres of commercial space, including the village center as depicted in the artist's rendering.



Ross bridge development to include homes, shops, resort, golf course




With the help of a $10.5 million road project, developers are ready to build Ross Bridge, a massive 1,600-acre development in Hoover that includes homes, shops, a resort, a conference center and a Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail course.


A groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled for Monday to officially kick off construction of Ross Bridge parkway off Alabama 150. Its connection with Shannon-Oxmoor Road will open up much of the USS Real Estate Land for development by Daniel Corporation.



The City of Hoover, Daniel Corporation and USS are paying for the new road, scheduled to be completed in one year. The Retirement Systems of Alabama ("RSA") is investing $55 million to develop the golf course and the Ross Bridge Golf Resort and Conference Center, complete with a 262-room hotel.



Even as the roadwork begins, grass and landscaping at the completed Robert Trent Jones course is going in. The hotel, resort and conference center are under construction and scheduled to open in April 2005.



By that time, a half-dozen neighborhoods with as many as 500 combined homes will be in various phases of development. The project calls for garden homes in the $200,000 range all the way up to estate homes starting at $700,000. Houses along the golf course are expected to start at $600,000 and go as high as homeowner's desire.



Over several years of development, Ross Bridge is slated to have 1,770 homes, making it one of the largest residential construction projects in Jefferson County history.



Also, under way early next year will be the development of an 80-acre village center, which will include shops, restaurants, offices and other commercial space. Residential projects such as apartments, condos and a combination of live-work units with business space on the ground floor and a loft upstairs will border the development. About 600 apartments are set to be part of the development.



Tom Howard, general manager of the Southeast for USS Real Estate said Ross Bridge is such a massive effort, it required the help of Daniel Corporation, the City of Hoover, RSA, Jefferson County and others to pull it off.



David Bronner, RSA's chief executive, said he was attracted to the Ross Bridge project because he had worked with USS before on the nearby Oxmoor Valley Robert Trent Jones courses and with Daniel Corporation on the Somerby retirement communities in Homewood and Huntsville. Adding hotels is something RSA has done around the Trails. RSA operates the Grand Hotel with a resort and conference center and golf course in Baldwin County. Bronner said adding a hotel, resort and conference center will serve to boost tourism and economic development for the area.



Hoover Mayor Barbara McCollum agreed that the potential economic impact on her city, particularly as it relates to tourism, is the primary reason for backing the project.



Bronner said being located halfway between the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance and the Honda plant in Lincoln made Hoover the right spot for the Ross Bridge project, particularly when it comes to attracting new industry.



"You want to have classy spots," Bronner said. "If you're trying to make an impression to sell Alabama, you have to have places like this already there that show you're not just waiting for something to happen.