Nine Signature Projects

The "multiplex" might be better thought of as a new municipal center for the City of Selma. Anchored by a new, city hall, the site will include the city's waterworks, other government offices, and meeting spaces for classes and conferences.

The Selma Municipal Justice Center will reflect and reinforce the city's efforts reconcile the historically confrontational relationship between Selma's residents and its police force. In addition to renovating the existing city police headquarters and courthouse, the new complex will incorporate a large community-facing gathering space, educating the public about social justice, creating spaces of reconciliation, and celebrating the legacy of those who spoke truth to power.

The Selma Downtown Market Hall recalls the 19th century structure that once occupied the median of Washington Street. The historic hall was a popular venue for local farmers and merchants to exchange goods and was frequented predominantly by Selma's Black residents. The new hall will be an anchor for Selma's food service industry. With new residential density coming to downtown, along with new businesses, conferences, and conventions, the Market Hall will provide much needed groceries, produce, and prepared foods.

The Selma Convention Center brings all the life and activity of Selma's hospitality industry to the heart of downtown. Where the annual Jubilee celebration brings over 200,000 visitors per year to the city, conventions, galas, banquets, and rally events will find space at the Convention Center year-round. The new center will attract groups hosting events connected to social justice, civil rights, voting rights, and African American studies. A new hotel connected to the center will accommodate guests typically staying in Montgomery or Birmingham.

The Waterfront Park and Riverwalk will provide Selma's visitors and residents easy access to one of the city's prime assets––its Alabama River riverbank. Whether going for an evening stroll or taking unique photos of the infamous Edmund Pettus Bridge, pedestrians and cyclists can move from city streets to the riverbank that will now connect to the redeveloped Waterfront Park, and potentially, to a new creek walk along Valley Creek.

A new memorial park and Bloody Sunday Monument will complement the memorials and monuments that exist throughout Alabama's Civil Rights Trail. (One particularly noteworthy point on this trail is the National Memorial to Peace and Justice in Montgomery, AL.) The suggested site across the Edmund Pettus bridge marks the location of the most volatile confrontation between footsoldiers and police. It will also provide tranquil views of the bridge from below. A permanent marking of the 1965 march route on the roadways will connect Footsoldiers' Park and the new Memorial Park

As part of the larger effort to densify housing in and around downtown Selma, new townhomes (a key component of "missing middle" housing) will occupy the city owned lots facing Riverfront Park. This scale of housing will promote more pedestrian-friendly occupancy downtown and give a "soft edge" transition between the park and the city center.

With the development of new conference facilities in the Municipal Center, a new hotel and Convention Center, and a new food service hub at the Market Hall, there exists a new opportunity to invest in educating a new generation of hospitality workers. Strategic partnerships with local hospitality education programs will help catalyze Selma's nascent hospitality industry.

One essential key to the revitalization of Selma's downtown is the development of mixed-use (combining commercial and residential uses) properties. The region along Broad Street leading toward the Edmund Pettus Bridge is the main corridor suitable for this type of development. With new residential density and businesses incubated in storefronts along this corridor, Selma's downtown can reclaim the vibrancy that once existed behind its historical façades.