By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

The Pelham City Council is set to hold a public hearing on a proposal to redevelop the former Moore Handley property on U.S. 31, and likely will vote on the matter during its May 21 meeting.

The meeting, which was rescheduled from May 20 to allow city officials to attend the Alabama League of Municipalities Annual Conference, is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. at Pelham City Hall.

During the meeting, the council will hold a public hearing to lay out the proposed development plan for the property and gather feedback from interested parties and residents.

“The way the law reads, we are supposed to vote on it the same night we have the public hearing,” Council President Rick Hayes said on May 15. “There is a lot of need for all parties involved to move forward with this very quickly.”

Hayes said the property, which has been vacant since the Moore Handley tool distribution company went out of business several years ago, is “an area of town that is definitely in need of redevelopment.”

“Nothing is finalized yet. I don’t want anybody to make assumptions on it until everything is finalized,” Hayes said. “But I am cautiously optimistic that we are making good progress.”

The May 21 meeting will come about a month-and-a-half after the city received an architectural rendering of the proposed development.

The renderings called for the Summer Classics furniture company to occupy the entire former Moore Handley building and warehouse, and construct a 10,000-square-foot showroom on the front of the building. The proposed plan also calls for a 9,000-square-foot possible retail outparcel to be constructed between U.S. 31 and the former Moore Handley building and an 18,000-square-foot strip mall-type development to be constructed slightly southeast of the former Moore Handley building.

According to a legal notice published on May 12, the city is considering purchasing the 30-acre property from the HHH Acquisition company and leasing 17 acres to Summer Classics.

If the agreement is approved, Pelham will loan Summer Classics $3.275 million to purchase the 17 acres. Summer Classics would then make mortgage payments to the city to pay the amount back. A portion of the $3.275 million loan will also be provided by Shelby County and the county’s Industrial Development Authority.