Exploring Montgomery

The storytelling continues… a collection of stories and photos from Exploring Montgomery!

Yearly Archives: 2016

Brown Paper Blowups — The process by which our seven era-tablets were to be conceived and produced was a fairly complex one. I was to give Larry, the artist and sculptor, a general description of each era together with a list of possible subjects which might be included. Larry was to supply additional historical […]

RSA Pavilion – The Panel Process

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged panel / panels / pavilion / rsa

Pavilion Concept Drawing — For weeks after our maintenance building project was canceled, we all speculated about the fate of the east end of the C-shaped parcel. Some of us suggested to Bronner that it be utilized as additional parking space to support the Tower, but he would have none of that. He wanted […]

RSA Pavilion – The Concept

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged concept / park / pavilion / rsa

RSA Plaza Sreet Lights — Midway through the Plaza construction, Dr. Bronner realized his new buildings would not be set off properly unless the surrounding ugly overhead wires and creosote wood utility poles were removed. New sidewalks, street curbs, and asphalt overlay were already in the works along all facing streets, but these wires and […]

RSA Plaza – Traffic Signals and Street Lights

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged lights / peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa / traffic

RSA Plaza Block Demolition Clipping — It seemed that each of the separate phases of design and construction brought its own bit of intrigue. 2WR’s demolition package, mentioned above, was to start around January 1, 1989, but two days before the preceding Christmas, the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association (ATLA) secured a restraining order against David Bronner […]

RSA Plaza – The Trial Lawyers

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged lawyers / peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa / trial

RSA Plaza Interior — The clash with Governor Hunt delayed the tenant process until we almost lost the the fantastic unit prices included in the contract with which to complete the office spaces. The contractor’s bid had included very favorable terms under which the tenant fitout work could be done, but there was a […]

RSA Plaza – The Tenants

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa / tenants

RSA Plaza Night — The Retirement Systems of Alabama’s (RSA) rather timid first step toward their $200 million office building/urban renewal venture into downtown Montgomery began early in 1988 when Dr. Bronner called us in to say that he had acquired two small residential size lots facing Adams Street and located immediately behind his […]

RSA Plaza – The OB Doctors

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged deck / parking / peril and intrigue / plaza doctors / rsa

Plaza Fiber Repaired — Most construction jobs cause some sort of utility disruption, but the Plaza work reached a high mark. The Plaza’s utility disaster happened during the excavation/pile foundation phase, when Upchurch was contractor. Upchurch had hired as clearing and earthwork subcontractor one Sonny Wadsworth, who is a proverbial loose cannon. Sonny liked […]

RSA Plaza – The Fiber Optic Cable

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged bell / cable / fiber / optic / peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa

Drop Off Curb — As might be expected, the RSA Plaza and the ACC grandeur made the original RSA office building appear rather drab by comparison. As a result, Dr. Bronner had us upgrading the original building even before the last hammer fell at the Plaza. We told Dr. Bronner that a significant problem […]

RSA Plaza – The Drop-Off Curb

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged curb / drop / off / peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa

Tavern on the Green — As it turned out, the RSA Plaza building was six stories plus a basement, and enclosed some l50,000 square feet of floor area. Bronner decreed a fast food restaurant on the main floor and a suave “greenhouse glass” banquet type facility on the penthouse level. The latter was to be […]

RSA Plaza – The Concept

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged concept / peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa / tavern on the green

Plaza Turf War — Early in l989 word had gotten out that the RSA was about to construct some 450,000 square feet of office space in the capitol complex. That space, added to the 700,000 square feet in the just completed “Missing Persons” Building, would impact the Aronov and Lowder real estate empires, which […]

RSA Plaza – The Aronov Attack

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged aronov / attack / peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa / turf / wsfa

RSA Plaza Color Rendering — The State Building Commission approved our preliminary scheme on January 26, 1989. Our relationship with that agency had gone surprisingly smooth considering the Building Commission’s prior relationship with the RSA. Two months earlier, acting on instructions from Bronner, I had called on newly appointed “BC” Director Bob Crumpton (whom I […]

RSA Plaza – The Building Commission

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged building / commission / peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa

Emory Folmar — Even before the Plaza work began, there was this feeling that Dr. Bronner and Mayor Emory Folmar did not get along very well. They were like two boy dogs in the same yard. Bronner continuously complained in print and in speeches that the city downtown appeared dirty, rundown and overgrown […]

RSA Plaza – Struggle With The City

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged city / peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa / struggle

RSA Plaza Drain Below — As noted previously, the Plaza design included an elaborate landscaped roof deck opening from the glass enclosed restaurant on the 6th floor. It offered a splendid view of the State Capitol and the remainder of the Capitol Complex. We designed the roof patio area with 2-foot square granite pavers […]

RSA Plaza – Roof Drains Below

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged below / drains / peril and intrigue / plaza / roof / rsa

RSA Plaza Deck — The Plaza parking deck was a 2WR project, but it did impact the PH&J Plaza work. Besides the terrible complexity of the junctures of the floor levels on every floor, there was the matter of the green roof. We had cautioned 2WR to spec a custom green color for their […]

RSA Plaza – Parking Deck

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged deck / parking / peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa

RSA Parking Deck — Planning proceeded with all haste. The Plaza parking deck (a 415 car deck, the one that started all this) would bid first, and the other three structures were to be bid slightly later in a single $50 million package. Ever the financial wizard, Bronner demanded that all this work be […]

RSA Plaza – Chronology

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged chronology / peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa

RSA Plaza — Completed in 1990. The smallest and the first of the Retirement Systems rental office endeavors, but the one over which most of the wars were fought. Given how much RSA investments have improved our downtown, it’s hard to believe that this one was vigorously opposed by the Mayor, the Governor, […]

RSA Plaza

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged peril and intrigue / plaza / rsa

Elevator Clip Art — As the prospect of $100 Million in office building construction pervaded the elevator industry, all the major manufacturers began to scramble to be sure their product would be considered. Certainly the RSA Union and Tower together would be the most significant elevator work in Alabama for 1993. I had been […]

RSA Union – The Elevator Ride

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged elevator / ride / rsa / union

Brice — The low bidder on the RSA Union contract was Brice Construction Company of Birmingham, and I reiterate that they did an outstanding job. The workmanship was excellent, the work was well coordinated, and no serious accident occurred. Ron Blount, the owner’s representative, tended to disagree, and I spent a good […]

RSA Union – The Contractor Stands Tall

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged brice / contractor / rsa / union

RSA Union and Deck — By almost any standard, the RSA Union was a huge building. It was to be nine stories high (plus basement), with floor plates of 40,000 square feet. That produces a building of 400,000 square feet of floor area. It was 25-percent larger than the ACC, which previously was the largest […]

RSA Union – The Concept

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged concept / rsa / union

Steve Timms — As noted in the outset of this section, 1992-93 was a depression era in the construction industry, and bids on The RSA Union office building and parking deck were taken on January 21, 1993, slap-dab in the middle of the economic recession that Bronner had predicted. We received nine proposals, […]

RSA Union – Remarkable Bids

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged bids / remarkable / rsa / union

Union Clipping — By 1991 the success and acceptance of Dr. Bronner’s initial round of buildings, the RSA Plaza and the Alabama Center for Commerce, had completely changed the political chemistry of the city. Governor Guy Hunt, who had previously fought with Bronner, now offered him the full support of the State. Mayor […]

RSA Union – Political Deals

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged deals / political / rsa / union

WSJ Clipping — Folsom and White David Bronner secured the support and commitment of Governor Hunt before he ever embarked on the RSA Monroe Street development. Early on, every arrangement with the State ran smoothly. The land for The Union Office Building was made available, and desirable state agencies were lined up as […]

RSA Union – Opposition Politics

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged opposition / political / rsa / union

Union Street Washers — Right up front I admit that our dealings with the City on this round ran much smoother than before, especially with our supposed champion and liaison, Roy Boudreaux, in the equation. However, that does not say that things ran perfectly. Because the Union project was in the initial thrust of […]

RSA Union – Encounters With The City

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged city / rsa / union

PSC Commissioners — The array of state agency tenants in the Union was much more impressive than those in the RSA Plaza. With the green light from the Governor’s Office, Bronner had little difficulty in lining up a stellar group. Among the anticipated occupants were the State Purchasing Department, the State Comptroller, the […]

RSA Union – Impressive Tenants

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged rsa / tenants / union

Union Sign — Once David Bronner had made up his mind on something, he allowed nothing to get in the way. He drove us relentlessly. PH&J was never known for speed–care and thoroughness was our forte. And this time we were facing $100 Million in the construction of two office buildings, both of […]

RSA Union – Beating The Schedule

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged bidding / rsa / schedule / union

Union Framed — With over $100 Million in construction in the offing for the Union and Tower, and with the Tower twice as high as anything ever built in Montgomery, Ron Blount and I decided that we needed to devise and implement a qualification procedure for general contractors, and it was necessarily going […]

RSA Union – A Prequalification Procedure

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged prequalification / rsa / union

water works — In September of 1991, six months before the Tower epic began, my residence on Jasmine Road suffered a terrible sewage backup. For two days the formidable Bradley Plumbing Company chased the problem and finally found it in the sewer lateral on the opposite side of Jasmine. The stoppage occurred in […]

RSA Tower – What Goes Around Comes Around

February 21, 2016 in RSA tagged peril and intrigue / rsa / tower / water works