City of Huntsville celebrates historic opening of new downtown city hall

A ribbon-cutting and grand opening for the new Huntsville City Hall was held on the morning of May 21.  Huntsville residents were invited to celebrate this momentous occasion alongside Mayor Tommy Battle and other city leaders.  The grand opening of the new municipal building marked the culmination of a two-year construction project that formally began […]

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey visits Huntsville, discusses unionization question and education reform

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey addressed a crowd of over 1,000 at the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber’s Alabama Update on May 13. The sold-out event was held at the Von Braun Center. Members of the Huntsville/Madison business community gathered alongside regional elected officials to hear Gov. Ivey deliver updates on the legislative session, which concluded last week.  […]

City of Huntsville settles six-figure lawsuit, moves forward with two major roadway projects

During the most recent edition of Huntsville City Council’s regularly scheduled meeting, the docket was packed with approvals, plans, and budget discussions. The City of Huntsville amended the city’s budget to more comprehensively acknowledge African American history and approved settlements for $150K in city lawsuits, one resulting from an employee death in 2021. Budget Amendment […]

International diplomat explores business partnerships with local leaders during Huntsville visit

Ramesh Babu, the Consul General of India at Atlanta, visited Huntsville and North Alabama on May 5-6. He made a number of stops to meet with various local business and community leaders. Among other responsibilities, the Consul General acts as a liaison between business owners in the US and contacts, in both government and private […]

Huntsville Secures Federal Funding for Bus Rapid Transit Corridor Development

The City of Huntsville has secured a significant $850,000 grant from the Federal Transit Authority (FTA) to initiate a pioneering land-use study along a potential bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor. The study will focus on three key areas along University Drive: Northwoods, University of Alabama in Huntsville, and Mid-City. These areas have been identified as […]

City of Huntsville approves two projects to address homelessness and housing insecurity

In a response to the pressing issue of homelessness, the Huntsville City Council has approved two significant initiatives aimed at providing safe, affordable housing and critical support services to vulnerable populations within the community. The first initiative involves the approval of a project to construct a 42-unit multi-family development on Venona Avenue, utilizing funds partially […]

AI Talks: A peek into the Mayor Battle’s Task Force and the applicability of AI to local economy

“AI Talks” is a series from the Huntsville Business Journal on Artificial Intelligence and its applicability to the world of business. Each month, HBJ plans on bringing you interesting topics led by our contributing expert writer, Carl Holden. This has also introduced another “writer” to our journal: Artificial Intelligence itself. Using Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT), […]

City Council approves $4.5M Slaughter Road development agreement

During its March 28 session, the Huntsville City Council rendered decisions regarding millions in road improvement funding, crucial connections to improve traffic flow, and continued to prioritize the development of art and culture. $4.5M Slaughter Road improvements The Council empowered the mayor to enter a memorandum of understanding between Huntsville, the City of Madison, and […]

SBA Deputy Administrator highlights Alabama surge in small business creation

Small business creation is on the rise in Alabama. Nearly 220,000 new businesses have been created across the state in the last three years. “The combined 2020-2021 monthly averages of new business applications are up 51.12% compared to pre-2021 numbers in Alabama,” Megyn Rodriguez, Public Information Officer for Alabama’s Small Business Administration (SBA) District Office, […]

Huntsville’s DESE Research awarded $95 million SWIFT Contract

The U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center (DEVCOM AvMC) has awarded DESE Research, Inc. a 3-year, $95M contract titled Secure Weapon-system Integration Framework for Technology (SWIFT) for development of Science and Technology solutions to secure mission-critical Aviation and Missile systems. DESE Research, Inc. will support U.S. Army weapon systems with cyber survivability […]