Huntsville, Alabama, is a prosperous city whose prosperity is not fully evident in its current urban form. As a national leader in aeronautics, the city experienced a great surge of growth in the second half of the twentieth century. However, that growth came in the form of suburban-style development, with housing subdivisions, office parks, and shopping centers—a model that time has shown to be increasingly unable to deliver the quality of life desired by residents. As the first traditional neighborhood development to be built in Huntsville in half a century, this new village seeks to reverse the trend of anonymous suburbia and bring back vibrant, pedestrian-friendly communities.

Providence is ideally located just north of a large employment center (Cummings Research Park) and within an easy drive of downtown Huntsville. The 275-acre site is crossed by two attractive waterways, Indian Creek and Dry Creek, whose floodplains form a natural greenway through the plan. The plan takes advantage of other features of the site’s natural beauty, highlighting the dramatic bluff overlooking Indian Creek and terminating streets on the greenways. A mixed-use town center will be built around a short stretch of Indian Creek Road, which forms the main street of the village. Included will be approximately 80,000 sf of retail, 180,000 sf of commercial/office space, a hotel with a wellness center, a mid-size cinema, and a waterfront restaurant. Many of the shops will be topped by one or two stories of apartments or offices. A full range of housing types is included in the plan, with the highest density types placed closest to the town center. Smaller, neighborhood-scaled centers are distributed throughout the plan so that all residents are within a 5-minute walk of a community gathering place and most are within a 5-minute walk of retail and entertainment opportunities. Special prominence in the site is given to a new K-8 public school and an expanded church.

website: www.villageofprovidence.com

project tearsheet: 197 Kb PDF file