Shipt to anchor Birmingham’s tallest building
Shipt is expanding its presence on the Birmingham skyline after the Magic City-based grocery delivery company announced Monday that it plans to become the anchor tenant of the city’s tallest building. The Wells Fargo Tower will be known as the Shipt Tower after renovations to the building are completed. Shipt will continue to house its headquarters at the John Hand Building, where the company announced in July that it would remain in Birmingham while adding 881 jobs. – AL.com
Airbus incentives to include $8M from city, county
Details have begun to emerge on the incentives that will be offered to Airbus as it builds a new jet assembly line in Mobile, including $4 million in cash from the city and an equal amount from Mobile County. That $8 million, plus an unknown value in tax abatements and fee waivers, is spelled out in a project agreement on Tuesday’s Mobile City Council agenda. – AL.com
Western Supermarkets closing marks end of era
The Birmingham-area grocery chain Western Supermarket, which has operated for 70 years, announced last week it will sell its Lane Parke location in Mountain Brook, and its Rocky Ridge store in Vestavia Hills, to Publix, as it liquidates the company. The Highland Avenue Western Market will close “in weeks to come” as it is slated for redevelopment. The Western Supermarket-owned East Lake Village Market is for sale. – AL.com
HudsonAlpha Institute welcomes Windham as COO
The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology announced Monday that Danny Windham will join the Institute as Chief Operating Officer (COO). Windham brings more than 20 years of leadership experience to HudsonAlpha, serving as President and COO at Adtran (2005 – 2007) as well as CEO at Digium (2007 – 2018). – News release
Angela Davis ‘stunned’ by BCRI un-invite
Activist, poet, academic and writer Angela Davis says she was “stunned” to learn last Saturday that the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute had rescinded its invitation to honor her next month, in her hometown, with the Fred L. Shuttlesworth Award for Human Rights. However, in a statement released Monday, Davis revealed she is still coming to Birmingham. – AL.com
Study says Alabama’s net moves are inbound
According to one of the nation’s leading movers, the 2018 Atlas® Van Lines Migration Patterns study found that 23 states registered as balanced—meaning that moves in and out of the states were roughly equal—14 as outbound, and 13 as inbound, in addition to Washington, D.C. Alabama had one of highest percentage of inbound moves in the entire U.S., at 57 percent. – News release
Riverkeeper lawsuit to stay in Alabama
Tennessee Riverkeeper’s pollution lawsuit addressing PFOS and PFOA will remain in the northern district of Alabama despite 3M’s attempts to consolidate the many lawsuits against them. “Consolidation of our lawsuit with the other cases would have deterred Riverkeeper’s efforts to clean up this toxic mess for every citizen in north Alabama.” said David Whiteside, Founder of Tennessee Riverkeeper. – CJ
Hyundai production numbers down, but SUV surging
Hyundai’s big bet on its Santa Fe SUV is paying off, judging by the newly released 2018 production numbers from the automaker’s Montgomery factory, as well as December sales figures. The plant produced more than 322,000 vehicles, including 88,000 SUVs, up 51 percent from the previous year, according to the Alabama Department of Commerce. – AL.com
Before electric cars take over, batteries must be reinvented
To deliver an electric vehicle that’s cheaper, safer and capable of traveling 500 miles on a single charge, the auto industry needs a breakthrough in battery technology. Easier said than done. Scientists in Japan, China and the U.S. are among those struggling to crack the code of how to significantly boost the amount of energy a battery cell can store and bring an EV’s driving range into line with a full tank of gas. – Bloomberg
