Downtown entertainment district's opening pushed to 2010

Posted by Roy Williams -- Birmingham News October 17, 2008 9:30 AM


The opening date of The Forge, a proposed downtown Birmingham entertainment district, is being pushed back until early 2010, a Memphis developer said.



John Elkington, CEO of Performa Entertainment Real Estate, said a the nation's credit crunch has delayed financing for the project, so will not be able to meet his self-imposed opening deadline of August 2009.
He vowed to Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex board members earlier this year that he the district would open by then.

"I'm very optimistic we'll be able to do this, we're just changing our strategy to target smaller banks," Elkington told board members of the BJCC this week. "We are having good talks with our lenders and I am confident we will get things worked out."

Performa is best known for the Beale Street entertainment district in Memphis. On Wednesday, Elkington said Atlanta comedian Jeff Foxworthy will open a restaurant in the $42 million district, joining previously announced tenants that include nightclubs by "American Idol" winners Taylor Hicks and Ruben Studdard.

The 136,000-square-foot BJCC entertainment district will include more than two dozen nightclubs, restaurants and retail shops, and will be book-ended by two $20 million hotels on Richard Arrington Boulevard between 22nd and 24th streets North.

Elkington, who earlier this year said he had secured $10 million in equity from an investment firm, said he has brought in another partner putting in an additional $10 million in financing.


http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2008/10...nt_distric.html