Long overshadowed by Atlanta, New Orleans and Nashville, Birmingham is finally getting its chance to shine. As planners respond to market pressures in more prominent Southern meeting destinations, the “Magic City” is receiving notice and getting standing ovations.
“We’re getting more planners looking at our destination because of rates they’re seeing at first-tier cities,” says Barry G. Hoehn, director of convention sales and marketing at the Greater Birmingham CVB. “People overlook us. But once we get them here for site inspection, they love it. They’re sold. It’s just getting them here.”
Birmingham evidently wowed the International World Game Executive Committee. In January, the city was announced as the host of the 2021 World Games. The event will bring thousands of athletes and an estimated $257 million into Birmingham. The games, which are held every four years, have not been held in the U.S. since 1981.
Apart from Birmingham’s affordability and central location in the South, the city also offers an accessible downtown, just seven minutes from Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport. All downtown hotels offer free shuttles, making transfers a no-brainer. The airport itself completed a $22 million renovation project in early 2015 that improved all aspects of the travel experience, including new restaurants and more efficient baggage claims.
Groups are arriving to a find a livelier downtown.
“The biggest dynamic is the revitalization of downtown Birmingham,” Hoehn says. “It’s just become more vibrant. People are moving back to downtown lofts, the shops are coming back, there’s a supermarket.”
Apart from more shopping and residential amenities, Birmingham is adding several downtown meetings properties. A historic tax credit program introduced by the state in 2013 has been driving a trend toward maintaining the city’s architectural heritage while growing the hospitality portfolio. The historic Redmont Hotel will reopen in mid-2015 as a Hilton Curio Collection property. Two adjacent Marriott properties in early 1900s buildings are set to open in 2016.
A few blocks to the north, Uptown is Birmingham’s hippest new entertainment district. Anchored by Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, Uptown features a Sheraton, a Westin, seven restaurants and numerous nightlife options. The district reached full occupancy in November 2014 with the opening of Bottle & Bone, a specialty butcher shop and deli that offers wine and beer. The eatery focuses on locally sourced meats of the highest quality. Bottle & Bone can host private events as large as 150. Other Uptown restaurants with private dining space include the Southern Kitchen and Bar, Cantina Laredo and Texas de Brazil Churrascaria.
Birmingham’s attractions have also been consistently underrated.
“It’s been a tough town to sell,” Hoehn says. “People ask, ‘What’s in Birmingham?’ We’ve got the Civil Rights Institute, the motorsports park and museum with the largest motorcycle collection in the world, the art museum. These are attractions that it’s hard to get people out of once they visit.”
The Birmingham Civil Rights Institute works to preserve and communicate the history of the American civil rights movement. Its rotunda can welcome receptions as large as 300. There are also several smaller meeting spaces. The institute is located across the street from the 16th Street Baptist Church, site of the infamous 1963 bombing and now a National Historic Landmark. Nearby, Kelly Ingram Park witnessed historic civil rights demonstrations where peaceful protestors were met with violence.
Groups can also celebrate African-American culture with a visit to the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame, just a block away from the institute. The Art Deco building houses exhibits detailing the contributions of jazz greats such as Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole and Sun Ra. The 504-seat Carver Theatre, built in 1935, presents live performances and is available for event rentals.
Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum boasts one of the largest collections of vintage automobiles in the world, including 1,200 vintage and modern motorcycles and 43 Lotus cars. Named the world’s largest motorcycle museum by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2014, the museum is currently planning an expansion. Located in the eastern outskirts of Birmingham, the museum offers a 59-seat theater, several meeting rooms and a spacious atrium for receptions. The facility can welcome groups as large as 900. Barber Motorsports Park offers corporate ticket packages and private, 40-person skyboxes during racing events. Tents are available for larger groups.
Birmingham Museum of Art offers one of the largest and finest collections in the Southeast. Its permanent exhibitions include 24,000 objets d’art created over more than 4,000 years. The museum is currently in the planning stages of a large-scale expansion and renovation project. Spaces for rental include an elegant, garden-view cafe, which can host receptions of 500; the 340-seat Steiner Auditorium; and a multilevel sculpture garden large enough for gatherings of 150.
Active groups will get a kick (and a climb, and a glide) out of Red Mountain Park. South of downtown, the former iron mining site offers 1,500 acres of urban green space with a variety of teambuilding options. Zipline tours, an 80-foot climbing tower and a challenging ropes course await the adventurous. Those who like to stay closer to the ground can search out geocaches or hike or bike 11 miles of trails to explore historic mining sites and scenic treehouse overlooks.
Hospitality is one aspect of Birmingham that can’t be overrated. Recently, murals reading “It’s nice to have you in Birmingham” began appearing in neighborhoods all over the city. Part of an effort by the Magic City Mural Collective, the large-scale, painted messages are simply another way the city lays out the red carpet for the planners and groups who give it a chance.
