Scents, Sights, & Sounds: Town Madison is Coming to Life

MADISON — There is still a lot of roiling red dirt and tractors grinding at the firmament. Not all the landscape has been planted and you will see a spattering of bare spots here and there like missing jigsaw puzzle pieces waiting to be filled in.

But over the next few days and weeks – no longer months and years – and, provided all goes as planned and the COVID vaccine continues to be widely available and dispersed quickly, you should soon be hearing the real thwack of a bat on cowhide and the roar of cheers under glistening lights.

In just a few more weeks, you will be able to lift your head, take a deep breath, and catch the aroma of wood-fired steaks, shrimp on the barbee, pickled ginger alongside a Futomaki sushi roll, a mint green monster, and something else … can’t quite make it out yet but we are pretty sure it is a whiff of garlic and maybe … meatballs?

It is the sights and sounds, the live energy, and delicious smell of Town Madison, finally coming to life – for real – for the first time since the Breland Cos. first stabbed a shovel in the red soil in 2014.

There have been some fits and starts.

A global pandemic, a lot of uncertainty, a great deal of dirt being moved around, some sporadic nightlights, a few moving trucks, holiday fireworks, and a limited number of small, socially distanced events at Town Madison and Toyota Field over the last year.

But now you can see real parking lots, roads, and I-565 interchanges and overpasses coming into and out of the development. Phase I of the new interchange is in place and it will be opening in late February, which will lead to the groundbreaking on Phase II by the spring.

Phase I is what is called a Right In/Right Out (RIRO) three-way road intersection that permits only right turns.

“If you’re coming from Decatur or western Madison County on I-565, you’ll be able to get on the exit ramp and go right into Town Madison,” said Joey Ceci, president of the Breland Cos., which developed Town Madison. “If you’re leaving Toyota Field from Town Madison heading back to Huntsville, it is the same thing. You will get on that exit ramp and it will drop you into the eastbound lanes of I-565.”

Phase II and the opening of Phase I have been the subject of discussion and dispute among the city, state, Breland and the Rocket City Trash Pandas baseball team. However, the plans are still in progress, Ceci said.

“Phase II will tie in the other side of the interstate,” he said. “For people coming from Huntsville, they will have an opportunity to exit and then like any other interchange, come over a bridge into Town Madison by crossing over I-565, and the interchange will take you into those westbound lanes on I–565.

“There will be a bridge where you leave the stadium and hop on the exit going to Decatur. It takes you over the interstate and deposits you into the westbound lanes going to Decatur and points west.

“Phase II will take longer to build, and it is more expensive to build because it requires very large bridge sections.”

With easier access in and out of Town Madison more easily, life is beginning to stir among the steadily rising hotels, occupied apartment complexes, retail centers itching to open, and even some model homes with doors swung wide.

All of it is about to happen with one cautiously optimistic caveat – hope that if the COVID vaccine continues to be widely available and dispersed quickly!

The Rocket City Trash Pandas had their inaugural season canceled last year due to the pandemic. But they released a modified 120-game schedule this year with Opening Day at Toyota Field on May 11.

“Since we broke ground on Toyota Field in June 2018, through the naming of our team, ballpark construction, almost $4 million in merchandise sales, and an entire season lost to the pandemic, our fans have steadfastly stood behind this team like no other,” said Trash Pandas President and CEO Ralph Nelson. “In turn, we have worked extremely hard to create a fan experience deserving of the unprecedented support our fans have given us. The 2021 season will be very special, and we can’t wait.”

The overall schedule as part of the new, eight-team Double-A South League begins May 4 with the Trash Pandas on the road against the Chattanooga Lookouts. Each series during the season will be played Tuesday through Sunday, with Monday always set as an off day. The complete schedule consists of 120 total games – 60 home and 60 away.

There is an optimism with restaurant, retail and hotel construction and openings over the next 90 days.

According to Ceci, J. Alexanders and Outback did a redesign on their restaurants due to COVID, and that step is finished, and they have submitted plans to the City of Madison.

“The parking lots, utilities, and all the sitework we needed to do for them is almost finished, so they are both expected to go vertical in March and should be open by late summer or early fall,” he said. “The Town Madison Outback will be the first of their new concept they call the ‘joey’ model, named after the Australian baby kangaroo.

“They have retooled their stores to have more outdoor seating and to have a whole area dedicated to easy pick-up of to-go orders, and for Uber drivers and restaurant delivery services like GrubSouth and DoorDash to have quick access.”

Ceci said restaurants are just now getting the green light to go ahead and they have all been forced to look at redesigns, which is part of why some of them have not yet begun construction.

“Restaurants interested in coming into Town Madison and other locations as well are asking whether they can reserve two or three on-street parking places for pickups,” said Ceci. “They are doing a huge business in that area and believe people are getting used to it, while the restaurants themselves are preparing more family style meals that are more amenable to pick-up services. Furthermore, they expect the trend to continue after coronavirus is behind us.”

I Love Sushi, at the east entrance to Town Madison facing Zierdt Road, is 75 percent complete and will be the first restaurant to open there in just a few weeks, featuring a nice outdoor patio.

Nashville-based Jonathan’s Grille will have two locations in Madison. One is at Clift Farm, another Breland development off U.S. 72. The other is next door to the new Hilton Garden Inn on the west end of the Town Madison development.

“That location near Wall-Triana will make them one of the first restaurants to open on the west end of the development,” said Ceci. “We are working on a few other restaurants interested in that exit coming from the west. It is a great location for Jonathan’s.”

Madison Town Center, across Town Madison Boulevard from Toyota Field, will be home to First National Bank, The Yard Milkshake Bar and a restaurant yet to be announced.

“It will only take about 90 to 120 days to build out those venues, and both will be open this summer,” said Ceci.

There will be several hotel choices at the Wall Triana exit including the Home2 Suites, which opened in 2019, and the avid hotel that opened in December.

A new Hilton Garden Inn is only a few weeks from opening next door to the Home2 Suites. It will have its own restaurant that will open in early April.

A six-story, double-branded Marriott Courtyard and Marriott Residence Inn are about to go vertical, as well. It is a new Marriott concept having two separate hotels in the same building. The hotel will be across the lake from Toyota Field, adjacent to The Station at Town Madison apartments. Plans include a rooftop bar and restaurant concept to take advantage of the views of the ballgames at the stadium.

“Hotels have been more affected even than restaurants by coronavirus,” said Ceci. “With hotel occupancy around the country at only about 20 percent occupancy, the corporate-owned flag hotels have put a pause on new projects this past year as they monitor coronavirus.

“We are in contact with them every week and feel very confident that as soon as we get into spring and there’s more vaccine out there, they will be given the green light and you will see the construction begin – hopefully in the first half of this year, but it’s one of those things we can’t control until we see the scope of the vaccine.”

Two other projects at Town Madison are still very much alive but on hold.

The $12 million Pro Player Park project targets the traveling baseball and softball circuits.

“Athletic facilities and travel are the two things most impacted by coronavirus,” said Ceci. “Pro Player Park is all about travel and an athletic facility.

“It isn’t that travel baseball has gone away, but it is way down because as over the past year, fewer people are putting their kids on the road. They are just waiting to get on the other side it.”

The project will consist of twelve synthetic championship and convertible baseball/softball fields and a 65,000 square-foot sports facility with batting cages; a pro shop; a small café and vending area; and an indoor soccer field.

The other is Pro Prep Performance, an elite sports performance training facility, owned by three former Alabama and Auburn football players: Jerraud Powers, Juwan Simpson and Rashad Johnson.

“They own the land and have gone through the zoning process, and I know they have plans, but almost every athletic facility has been put on pause because of coronavirus and I know they want to get on the other side of it before they move forward,” Ceci said.

Make no mistake about it – seven years has crept by for many people looking forward to the Town Madison experience, but with fingers crossed and the coronavirus under control – Town Madison is coming alive very soon.