The Top Weight Loss Clinic in Riverchase, GA

Lids is launching a new retail concept dedicated to collegiate sports product and apparel.

Called Lids University (Lids U), the sports retailer will open 11 stores in 2022 in key college markets, with more to follow in 2023.

According to Lids, the concept was developed in response to consumers seeking more NCAA product from the retailer. The new concept will feature a “significant assortment” of NCAA product with a curated selection of men’s, women’s and children’s headwear, apparel and accessories from local, regional and national university and collegiate teams, Lids said.

The retailer added that Lids U stores will be opening in shopping malls and outlets in various states across the U.S. and will feature Custom Zones, which allow consumers the opportunity to custom-embroider a product of their choice. The stores will continue to carry apparel brands such as Nike, Adidas, Under Armour, Fanatics, Retro Brand, Champion, Mitchell & Ness, and more, as well as headwear brands New Era and Zephyr.

“We understand that our customers wanted to see more collegiate products in our stores, and we’re proud to now offer a space for consumers to shop the latest looks from their favorite collegiate teams,” said Lawrence Berger, co-founder and partner at Ames Watson, the owner of Lids, and chairman of FanzzLids Holdings, said in a statement.

One of the first Lids U stores opened at Gurnee Mills shopping mall in Gurnee, Ill. on July 22. The store will offer products representing popular schools within the region as well as nationally, including Illinois State Redbirds, Loyola Chicago Ramblers, DePaul Blue Demons, Northwestern Wildcats, Southern Illinois Salukis, University of Chicago Maroons and more.

This opening was in conjunction of two other Lids U stores on July 22 at the Mall of Georgia in Buford, Ga. and at the San Marcos Premium Outlets in San Marcos, Texas.

Other Lids U stores opening this year include Castleton Square in Indianapolis, Ind.; Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge, La.; Perimeter Mall in Atlanta, Ga.; Riverchase Galleria in Hoover, Ala.; and the Tanger Outlets in Gonzales, La., Savannah, Ga., Charleston, S.C., and Mebane, N.C.

Lids U is the newest store format from the retailer continuously expanding brick-and-mortar global retail footprint, including team-specific stores with Yankees Clubhouse and Dodgers Clubhouse locations throughout the country. Lids also counts the National Hockey League (NHL), National Basketball Association (NBA), and Paris Saint Germain (PSG) as partners as it runs each league and team’s respective U.S. and international flagship store locations. To date, Lids operates nearly 1,200 stores throughout North America and Europe.

Last year, Lids expanded further with a new partnership with Designer Brands Inc. to bring licensed sports product to its stores throughout the country. The result will be Lids shop-in-shops in DSW and The Shoe Company doors, bolstering its presence in key cities including Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.

Now Open

BenchMark Physical Therapy on May 9 opened a new clinic at 2659 Valleydale Road — the company’s 10th location in the Birmingham area. The clinic is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. BenchMark offers in-person and telehealth options for outpatient physical therapy, including manual therapy, injury prevention, return-to-performance therapy, total joint replacement, concussion management and vestibular rehabilitation programs. Clinic Director Vincent Stephens earned a doctor of physical therapy degree from Alabama State University and is certified in dry needling for the lower quarter. He specializes in treating general orthopedic conditions, sports injuries, injured workers and post-operative conditions and in the comprehensive management of the lumbopelvic region. BenchMark’s other Birmingham-area clinics are in Riverchase, Bluff Park, Morgan Road Plaza, Lakeshore Pavilion, Broadway Park, downtown Homewood, Chelsea, Crestline and Moody. 205-905-6922

The Copper Leaf Dental Co. opened a new office at 5190 Medford Drive, Suite 100, in a small shopping center attached to Jubilee Joe’s Cajun and Seafood Restaurant in May. The dentist is Dr. Jordan Hebert. 205-417-7778

The Juicy Crab restaurant chain, 2740 John Hawkins Parkway, which started in Duluth, Georgia, in 2015, in April opened a location in the former Logan’s Roadhouse at an outparcel in the Colonial Promenade Hoover shopping center at 2740 John Hawkins Parkway. 205-238-5130

Mark Spain Real Estate, 3000 Galleria Circle, Suite 1500, which has been named the No. 1 real estate team in the United States for closed transactions each of the last four years by Real Trends and The Wall Street Journal, has expanded into Alabama by opening an office in the Werkplas coworking space on the 15th floor of The Offices at 3000 Riverchase office tower attached to the Riverchase Galleria. The office was scheduled to open May 16. This will be the 10th major Southeastern metropolitan market and sixth state for Mark Spain Real Estate. It already has 14 offices in Atlanta, Orlando, Tampa, Jacksonville, Nashville, Chattanooga, Charlotte, Raleigh and Greenville. The company said it expects to add more than 50 jobs to the area once the office is fully staffed. Spain Park High School graduate Colby Burk will lead the office and sales team and serve as director of sales for the metro Birmingham market.

Coming Soon

Blue Pearl, a national chain of 24-hour emergency and specialty veterinary clinics, plans to open a clinic in the former Guadalajara Grill outparcel at 3470 Galleria Circle. Construction has already started. Rives Construction Co. is adding nearly 5,000 square feet of space to the existing building to accommodate a surgery center, construction superintendent Chris Chancellor said. Exterior construction is expected to be complete by July, Chancellor said.

Progress Bank is adding a third Birmingham area office in Meadowbrook slated to open in fall 2022. The new location will be at 2000 Meadow Lake Drive. It will be located in a previous PNC Bank building. According to President and CEO David Nast, “Opening a location on Highway 280 to better serve clients is a perfect fit. We’ve hired some excellent bankers to run the new office and lead our expansion in Jefferson and Shelby counties. 888 403-4783

Smoothie King plans to open a location in the Hoover Crossings shopping center at 1539 Montgomery Highway, next to ATI Physical Therapy.

Hamburger chain Fuddruckers plans to open a location in the Riverchase Galleria food court in an 1,100-square-foot space next to Popeye’s that formerly housed a pizza restaurant, Galleria General Manager Mike White said. Fuddruckers should be open by this summer, White said.

Lids, an athletic headwear retailer, plans to open a Lids U location on the second floor of the Riverchase Galleria in a 3,500-square-foot spot overlooking the food court, Galleria General Manager Mike White said. The new store, which at one point was home to Henig Furs, will focus on college apparel and hats and should be open this summer, White said. The existing Lids store in the Galleria also will remain open, he said. 877-833-7397

News and Accomplishments

Capstone Building Corp., 1200 Corporate Drive, Suite 350, and partner Dobbins Group have completed construction of the 204-unit Easterwood Apartments complex in Gardendale. 205-803-5226

The Chick-fil-A at 1609 Montgomery Highway in the Hoover Commons shopping center has been torn down, and the owner of the franchise plans to rebuild at the same spot with a new design. 205-979-9990

The Hoover City Council on May 2 gave the Popshelf store in The Grove shopping center at 5537 Grove Blvd. permission to sell alcoholic beverages.

Deo Gloria Wood Works, a Bluff Park-based home business owned and run by Matthew Allen, has opened a booth at the Shades Mountain Mercantile store at 770 Shades Mountain Plaza. 205-617-9609

New Ownership

The IberiaBank at 2765 John Hawkins Parkway has completed its conversion to First Horizon Bank following a merger. However, First Horizon Bank, based in Memphis, since has been acquired by the Toronto-Dominion Bank Group in Toronto, Ontario. 205-803-5940

Personnel Moves

John Collier has joined Progress Bank, 2121 Highland Avenue South, Birmingham, as senior lender | market leader for Shelby County at the Meadow Brook office, which is scheduled to open in June. “We are thrilled to have John take on this new role to lead our expansion into Shelby County with our new Meadow Brook office, slated to open this fall,” said Birmingham Market President Sean Johnson. “With his strong background in business lending from major financial institutions and involvement in the local community, we are excited about our ability to provide a superior banking experience to this market. 205-822-5500

Regions Bank, with an operations center at 2090 Parkway Office Circle and multiple branches in Hoover, has hired Dan Massey as chief enterprise operations and technology officer, effective May 9.

Directly reporting to Regions Financial Corp. President and CEO John Turner, Massey will lead teams that oversee several critical functions of the company, including enterprise operations, application development, information technology, information security, data and analytics, and corporate computing. Massey joins Regions following nearly 30 years with Truist Bank and predecessor companies, including SunTrust Bank. He has deep experience in leading teams focused on modernizing banking technologies while working closely with business groups to provide differentiated products and services to clients. Massey began his financial services career with Crestar Mortgage Corp., another predecessor of Truist Bank, before joining SunTrust in 2001. At Truist,

Massey served as head of enterprise technology strategic services and most recently as head of digital and contact center banking. Massey, a 1992 graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University, will serve as a member of Regions’ executive leadership team.800-734-4667

Angela Priola has joined the real estate team at Keller Williams at 1021 Brock’s Gap Parkway, Suite 125. 205-601-7072

Relocations & Renovation

Dale’s Southern Grill has completed a renovation of its restaurant in The Plaza at Riverchase shopping center at 1843 Montgomery Highway, Suite 107. The renovation includes a new bar, new booths with stainless steel tabletops, flat-screen TVs and a new epoxy floor. 205-987-4757

Krch Realty has purchased and moved into a 4,800-square-foot building formerly known as the Trowbridge Building at 2108 Rocky Ridge Road. Krch Realty, based in Reno, Nevada, has about 25 people in about 3,600 square feet of the building, including offices for acquisitions, property management and real estate sales, managing broker Tom Jackson said. Krch Realty previously had been renting space in a building next door at 2112 Rocky Ridge Road, Jackson said. Trowbridge Wealth Management now is renting about 1,200 square feet of office space from Krch Realty, he said. 205-543-5303

Skin Wellness Center of Alabama on May 5 held a ribbon cutting after relocating its office in Chelsea to 5406 U.S. 280, Suite A-100 in the Greystone area of Hoover. The office offers medical and cosmetic dermatology services. 205-871-7332

Van Gogh Window Fashions has relocated its showroom from 4500 Valleydale Road, Suite 500, to 2402 Valleydale Road. The store offer a wide variety of shades, shutters and blinds, professionally measured and installed. 205-987-3711

Anniversaries

The Lee Branch location of Express MRI, 250 Doug Baker Blvd, Suite 100, is celebrating its two-year anniversary. They offer $399 all inclusive MRIs with no doctor referral required and exam results within 24 hours. 205-736-0764

Abundance Yoga, the yoga studio located in Bazaar 280 shopping center, 5631 U.S. 280, Suite 106-A, is celebrating its second anniversary. 205-540-5842

Diamond Golf Cars, the golf car store is celebrating its two-year anniversary at its Inverness Plaza location at 160 Inverness Plaza. Diamond Golf Cars offers one of the largest golf car selections in the state. 206-769-6335

Published 10:23 am Friday, May 6, 2022

By MICHELLE LOVE | Staff Writer

PELHAM – Riverchase Community Church in Pelham announced that it is happy to welcome its new pastor Rob Mohr to the church’s family.

Mohr has been a pastor for 26 years. He began as a youth pastor for 12 years then moved on to become a senior pastor, which he has been ever since. He has served in churches all over the country including Georgia, Michigan and Illinois. You could even say it runs in the family as his father was also a pastor as is his father-in-law. Mohr has been married for 20 years and they have three little girls.

Before coming to RCC, Mohr was working in a town in northern Kansas that he says was roughly a population of 2,500 people. When the opportunity first arose, Mohr said at first he was skeptical to make the move to Alabama, but then when the opportunity kept arising, his wife convinced him to look into it further. Mohr said it’s been a good process of transitioning down to Birmingham, and he and his family are excited to be back in the city.

He’s only been there for three days, but Mohr is already optimistic about the changes he and the church have discussed for its future.

“They told me one of the reasons they brought me here was to make some changes,” he said. “We just to bring it down to one point, we just want to help people. We want to see what God wants us to do and where he wants us to go.”

Mohr is only the fourth pastor in the history of the church, and he jokes that he has a more casual demeanor than some pastors. He said he thinks it’s one of the reasons RCC felt he could make a difference.

When approached with the significantly lower numbers of individuals ages 18-35 who don’t attend church, Mohr said it’s something that churches “have not done a good job across the board of paying attention to that age group.”

“It’s across the board, it’s not a particular church or denomination,” he said. “It’s just how it is. You know, after about 27 or 28, people settle down and start having kids and life changes, and then they start to think, ‘Well, maybe I should start going back to church.’ It’s like we wait for them to become a family, but we don’t do anything for them before that time comes. One of the things we’ve already talked about here is establishing things so that when they leave high school and go off to college, they feel comfortable to come back.”

Mohr said he wants people to feel welcome and find a part of the church they click with so they always feel they have a place of support and comfort.

“I don’t want anyone sitting in the back thinking, ‘I don’t belong here,’” he said.

To people who may have had a poor experience with the church, Mohr has as a straight forward message.

“Don’t give up,” he said. “If this isn’t for you, you will find something that works for you. I never want myself or the church to be a hindrance for how people are trying to grow in their faith. The people who left disgruntled, Christ said to love them, too.”

While RCC is a predominantly smaller church compared to others in the area, Mohr said he has big ideas to grow its base in the future. He wants to eventually build an actual worship center and help the daycare center grow. Most importantly, Mohr said he wants RCC to become a force in the community, a place where everyone can find fellowship and guidance to what they’re looking for.

“I want us to be the church in the community where people are like, ‘If you need something, Riverchase Community Church is where you need to go,’ and that’s not to take away from other churches, because every church has its part to play,” he said. “Everybody is looking for something different, whether it’s traditional or contemporary or down the middle of the road. I want us to be the church God wants us to be and also be the church where people will be able to find what they need. Even if they can’t find it with us, we can help them find it with another church.”

“The whole idea with everything here is, I don’t like to be in the box,” Mohr continued. “There’s only two constants in life: God and change…to me that’s the beauty of it. The sky is the limit with what we can do.”

Inverness sewer plant 6

Sewage makes it way through the city of Hoover's wastewater treatment plant in Inverness on Thursday, March 1, 2018.

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The Hoover City Council on Monday night voted 5-1 to raise sewer rates for people who use the city’s sewer system, despite objections from some residents.

Hoover’s sewer system serves about 4,500 residential and 200 commercial customers in the Riverchase, Inverness and Southlake communities.

The action taken by the council Monday night over the next three years will raise sewer rates by 71% for the average residential customer and 15% for the average commercial customer to make up revenue shortfalls, according to information provided by city officials.

City officials decided to implement the rate increase over three years so sewer customers won’t be hit with the full increase at one time.

The result is that the monthly sewer bill for the average residential customer will rise from $36.64 to $45.39 in the first year, $54.07 in the second year and $62.82 for the third year, according to numbers provided by the city.

The monthly bill for the average commercial customer will rise from $904.23 to $949.24 the first year, $995.93 the second year and $1,040,94 the third year.

The problem is that the sewer system is not taking in enough revenue to cover its costs, which include regular operation and maintenance costs, debt service and capital projects needed to keep the system operational and meet newer water quality regulations set by the Environmental Protection Agency and the Alabama Department of Environmental Management, Hoover City Administrator Allan Rice said.

The city hasn’t raised its sewer rates since 2004 — 17 years ago, but the cost of running the system has increased, especially with significantly more stringent environmental regulations being enacted, said Jim Marshall, a consultant with the Jackson Thornton consulting firm.

As a result, the city is only taking in enough money to cover 60% of the costs for serving residential customers, who make up 96% of the customer base and account for at least half the volume of the sewer system, and 86% of the cost for serving commercial customers, Marshall said.

That results in a $1.8 million shortfall, of which $1.45 million comes from the residential side of the service and $355,000 of which comes from the commercial side, he said.

As of right now, the shortfall for fiscal 2021 is $2.2 million, Chief Financial and Information Officer Tina Bolt said.

The total increase needed to make up a $1.8 million annual shortfall is $26.12 a month for the average residential customer and $137.54 a month for the average commercial customer, Marshall said. He recommended spreading that increase over three years to ease the burden on customers.

Marshall also recommended the city change its rate structure to start charging a base fee to cover fixed costs and a usage fee that varies depending on the customer’s usage. Most sewer systems charge a base fee, he said.

Rice said the city doesn’t relish the idea of increasing sewer fees and this is not intended to make a profit or support any other part of city government. Not everything in government pays for itself, but certainly things like utility services should charge enough in fees to cover their costs, he said.

“We’re no longer bringing in the money on our rates that it costs to operate the system, and thus we have zero retained earnings to repair and maintain the system,” he said.

The Hoover sewer system has a looming list of capital projects that are expected to cost $9.6 million, and “at this point in time, we don’t have any way to pay for that,” Rice said.

Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said residents and businesses that use the Hoover sewer system expect it to be maintained in a first-class way. If rates aren’t raised, that money would have to come out of the general fund, taking money away from the city’s ability to provide fire, police and other municipal services, Brocato said.

Councilman Casey Middlebrooks said he doesn’t think anyone wants to raise rates, but if the system is to remain sustainable, rates must be raised.

Brocato brought the matter to the public’s attention in community meetings in 2018, but no action to raise rates or approve an alternate means to fund the system has taken place until now.

Several residents on Monday night asked the council to delay action on this matter a little longer to give residents more time to consider the rate increases and provide input. Most residents didn’t hear anything about the proposal until this past weekend, and some of them didn’t find out until mid-day Monday, they said.

Lynn Phillips, a retired environmental engineer who is president of the Southlake Residential Association, said there are a lot of professionals who live in these communities who would like more time to review the information further and provide input.

Jackie Dillard, another Southlake resident, said the mayor promised residents in 2018 they would have an opportunity to see any proposed rate increases before the council took action, and she said this wasn’t enough time.

Lydia White, who moved to Riverchase nine months ago from Atlanta, said she’s already paying three times what she paid in Georgia and said this new increase is ridiculous.

Riverchase resident David Bradley, a former Hoover councilman, said the sewer system was never intended to be self-supporting. The city of Hoover is the one that wanted to expand the two sewer plants in Riverchase and Inverness, with the understanding that increased sales tax revenues would help pay for the system, he said.

Larry Densmore, another Riverchase resident, said the city’s general fund should help support the system.

Councilman Derrick Murphy was the only councilman who voted against the sewer rate increases. He asked the council to consider tabling the matter to give residents more time to review the information and provide input, but the rest of the council members present voted to move ahead with the increases.

Council President John Lyda said people have known long before 2018 that the Hoover sewer system was not taking in enough revenue to be self-sufficient.

“It’s really no surprise to the city that we’ve come to the point where we have to make some changes to keep it self-sufficient,” Lyda said. “We had a public hearing tonight where people expressed their opinions, and the council listened to those and made a decision that was best for the city.”

Phillips said he was surprised the council would ignore the request of residents for more time to review the matter.

These council members have no interest in the eastern part of Hoover,” Phillips said. “We’re expendable.”

Councilman Steve McClinton said about 90% of Hoover residents are not on the Hoover sewer system and don’t think the city’s general fund should subsidize a sewer system that hasn’t raised its rates in 17 years.

“We got elected for a reason — to be good stewards of the city,” McClinton said. “We’re trying to fix the problem. … Someone has to make a tough decision, and we just made it. It may not be popular, but it’s right.”

Richard Hunter, the new lead pastor at Riverchase United Methodist Church in Hoover, greets Joel Roberts as he leaves a traditional worship service.

Riverchase United Methodist Church had the same pastor for about 20 years, but now a new leader has arrived with the retirement of Jim Savage.

Richard Hunter took over the lead pastor job at Riverchase on July 1. He is a Birmingham native who spent most of his ministry years in the Atlanta area and the past three years as director of new church development for the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Hunter said Savage had a vibrant ministry and grew the Hoover church to about 3,000 members and an average Sunday morning attendance of about 1,600 people.

It’s unusual for a United Methodist pastor to stay at the same church for 20 years, but conference leaders felt the thriving Riverchase congregation needed continuity and decided to leave Savage in place until he was ready to retire, Hunter said.

In the past three years, Hunter helped start 148 new faith communities, from new churches to new worship services and satellite faith communities affiliated with existing churches.

But, at age 60, Hunter said he was ready to return to being part of a local church, like he did in his first three decades or so of ministry.

“This is my calling — to present God’s Word and to pastor people,” he said.

When you’re in a local church and get to spend time with people every week, you get to see spiritual growth and get close to people, helping them with their hurts and their hopes and watching them grow in their faith, Hunter said.

He’s excited to get to do that at Riverchase, he said.

Background

Hunter grew up in Woodlawn United Methodist Church in Birmingham, where his father was on the board of stewards and Sunday school superintendent and his mother was the church organist for 36 years. He was called into the ministry at age 16 and got his bachelor’s degree in religion and sociology at Birmingham-Southern College and a master’s degree from Emory University.

While at Birmingham-Southern, Hunter served two years as a youth minister at Hueytown First United Methodist. He later served as an associate pastor at Briarcliff United Methodist in Atlanta.

His first lead pastor role was at Allen Memorial Methodist Church, which was the campus church for Emory University’s Oxford College in Oxford, Georgia. Hunter stayed there six years, then spent five years at Due West United Methodist in Marietta, 10 years at Hillside United Methodist in Woodstock, five years at Snellville United Methodist and four years at Sugar Hill United Methodist. All of those were in the Atlanta metro area.

Now that he’s back at a local church, he wants to focus on taking the church to where the people are, he said. Thirty years ago, when people moved to a new community, they would look for a church, but that’s not necessarily the case anymore, he said.

“Now, when people move to a community, they may believe in God. They may not,” he said.

Instead of waiting for people to come to the church, he wants to go into the community more and minister to people where they already are.

Hunter said he also wants to find ways to reach the growing multicultural community in the Hoover area. “I see a lot of beauty and value in that,” he said.

Riverchase United Methodist already has one of the largest Spanish-speaking United Methodist congregations in the country, with about 400 people attending two Spanish-speaking worship services each Sunday, he said. He wants to find ways for the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking parts of the congregation to do more together, he said.

He also wants to continue the work of the church’s tornado and hurricane relief teams and expand its overseas mission work to five or six countries.

The church also just launched a $6.2 million building campaign that includes expansion of the worship and music building, construction of covered walkways to connect all the church buildings, and a conversion of the original fellowship hall into ministry space for children and adults and the church’s day school, which serves more than 200 preschoolers and kindergartners.

Hunter and his wife, Meri, recently moved into the McGill Crossings community in Hoover and have two adult children and two grandchildren.