By NEAL WAGNER / Managing Editor

ALABASTER – Alabaster leaders said they are looking to make the area around Shelby Baptist Medical Center more pedestrian-friendly while encouraging future development, and have applied for a grant to update a portion of Second Street Northeast.

During its Feb. 22 meeting, the City Council voted unanimously to authorize the Goodwyn, Mills and Cawood engineering firm to apply for a transportation alternatives program grant from the Alabama Department of Transportation.

If the grant is awarded, it will help fund the addition of sidewalks and landscaping along Second Street Northeast from Fifth Avenue Northeast to Seventh Avenue Northeast.

Second Street Northeast runs south of the main Shelby Baptist campus off U.S. 31, and soon will tie in to a new restaurant and office development slated to open off U.S. 31 this summer.

Alabaster City Manager George Henry said the city likely will know this spring if it has received the TAP grant. If the grant is awarded, the city will be responsible for a 20 percent match. Henry said the city does not yet not know the grant or match total.

Harbert Realty Services Inc. recently began clearing land to house its new office and restaurant development south of Shelby Baptist. Harbert Realty Services Vice President of Retail Development James Proctor, who is working to develop the Alabaster site, said the company soon will announce the tenant lineup for the new development.

Harbert development plans call for the retail and restaurant space to front U.S. 31, while the medical office space will be close to Second Street Northeast.

Second Street Northeast runs on the east side of the Harbert development, and Henry said the sidewalk and landscaping project will promote pedestrian traffic from the hospital to the Harbert development while also encouraging future development south of the hospital.