The landscape of downtown Tuscaloosa is changing. Over the next few years, students and citizens can expect the arrival of a new apartment complex, an Embassy Suites Hotel and a Hilton Home 2 Suites extended-stay hotel.

“We’re just as happy as we can be to be a part of Tuscaloosa and the growth of Tuscaloosa,” said Stuart Cohen, of Cohen Investments, the real estate investment firm developing the extended-stay hotel. “We’re looking very much forward to being a good corporate citizen in town and doing our part.”

Cohen said the new hotel, which will service guests from business travelers to visiting parents, complemented downtown Tuscaloosa’s existing entertainment and food options while opening doors for new growth.

“We think downtown speaks to all that. Downtown’s as much an amenity for our guests as we are for downtown,” he said. “I think downtown Tuscaloosa is going to be a gateway to the University and that it is going to build on what it already is.”

The new skyline, however, comes at a cost. New construction means clearing old streets, and the demolition of historic houses in the name of development has become increasingly concerning to people like Tim Higgins, a 2011 UA alumnus and founding member of Preserve Tuscaloosa.

Higgins said Preserve Tuscaloosa is an advocacy group that works with preservation groups in the hopes of protecting neighborhoods from unfit development.

“I hope people understand preserving the historic nature of Tuscaloosa is not about being anti-development or anti-progress,” Higgins said. “Preservationists are calling for appropriate development and progress that celebrates and enhances our unique architectural identity.”

Higgins said Preserve Tuscaloosa succeeded in bringing back the implementation of the 2010 Greater Downtown Plan and saw victories in the Student Housing Task Force and the sale of the Kennedy-Foster house to a man who will now be restoring it for private residence.

While they were able to get the 2600 block placed on the Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage, the designation was ultimately unsuccessful in preventing what Higgins calls “big box development.”

In the nearby 2700 block, where the fight began, it was not houses that Preserve Tuscaloosa sought to save but the nature of the neighborhood. He said the development slated to go up there is attractive but too large and out of character for the neighborhood.

Higgins said he thinks the planned extended-stay suites could compromise the vitality of the apartments. A better alternative, he said, would have been allowing a competing developer to turn each of the existing homes into a separate business that served the community, such as bookstores, bed-and-breakfasts and coffee shops.

“[They should be] complete streets … built in the size and scale appropriate to existing historic structures and catering to people from different cultural and income backgrounds,” Higgins said. “It’s been proven time and time again that restoring an old building creates more jobs and puts more money back into the local economy than [a new big box] building does.”

Ashley Crites, special districts planner for the City of Tuscaloosa, said historic rehabilitation tax credits have been used to preserve 91 properties dating from the 1850s to mid-1930s.

“The Greater Downtown Plan encourages historically sensitive development while promoting preservation of our existing buildings,” Crites said.

The Greater Downtown Plan is an area plan approved in 2010 that emphasizes mixed-use planning, economic viability, preserved historic resources, enhanced cultural initiatives, a Main Street USA program, walkability and open spaces among other factors, Crites said. The city has also contracted Texas-based Code Studio to develop new zoning codes.

“The Greater Downtown Plan details a downtown that is vibrant, progressive, and sustainable … for living, working and playing,” she said.

Aaron Head, a 2013 UA alumnus who lived on the 2600 block and a founding member of Preserve Tuscaloosa, said he is concerned the city is not truly paying attention to what students want.

“I watched so many downtown citizens and students speak against the development of the 2700 block of University Boulevard – a development that was supposed to be designed for the very people speaking against it,” Head said. “Developers use students when they need a statistic to justify their plans for student housing, but when students go in front of the City Council or the Planning Commission to speak in opposition of development, they are quickly dismissed as merely renters and not tax-paying citizens. … I lived on the 2600 block of University Boulevard in a vibrant community of young people who were all interested in preservation and all put their own money into the block for the sake of the community and character of downtown. The inconsistency is painfully apparent.”

Head said students envisioned mixed-use development that goes beyond “loft-living,” the currently in-vogue placement of apartments above businesses.

“From the comments of members of Preserve Tuscaloosa, we quickly learned that most citizens disagree with this idea. There are so many people of all ages who would love to live downtown but would rather live in a nice, practically built townhouse or a historic home, but those options aren’t really being offered, despite public desire,” Head said. “The fact is each city is unique and deserves unique planning. [Cities like Asheville, N.C., Athens, Ga., or Huntsville] have had an intelligent mind toward preservation and reuse of historic structures and that is an aspect our city planners have conveniently overlooked.”

Head’s gravest concerns involve the concentration of decision making in the hands of a few companies, who he said he believes are abusing their power and violating policies in their treatment of downtown development.

“That is unacceptable, and the citizens of this town deserve better,” Head said. “The amount that the money of a few families controls development in this town is, frankly, ridiculous. Developers and city officials really have a duty to listen to the voices of their constituents. And those voices are posted everywhere. [It’s] not hard to find them.”

Crites said the city was not aware of any unethical conduct and that all developers and projects met city codes and ordinances.

“Students were part of the Student Rental Housing Task Force as well as representatives from the three area colleges/universities,” Crites said. “As part of the SRHTF, subcommittees were formed, and student opinions were gained through that process. We value the opinions of students and welcome their input in the public input process.”

Cohen said he sees extended-stay suites as the best use for the land and an added benefit for Tuscaloosa as a college town.

“It’s going to give downtown Tuscaloosa more nighttime traffic, which is what downtown Tuscaloosa needs to go to the next level of having more entertainment options and dining options to keep building on the success they already have,” Cohen said. “We just wanted to be a part of all the good things that are happening.”