HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – A new place to live, work and play is coming to downtown Huntsville. City Council unanimously approved the project at Thursday night’s meeting and now it’s time to get to work on the first step of the city’s four-year plan.

“This is the largest available site for redevelopment in our downtown corps,” Huntsville city Urban and Economic Development Director Shane Davis said.

He’s referring to the 13 acres sitting right across the street from the Von Braun Center’s North Hall.

“It sends kind of a wrong message to see a great piece of property in our downtown urban core just sit vacant, ‘is there an issue with the city?’ There isn’t an issue with the city, we just wanted the right project and the right investment, and we have that,” Davis said.

The land will soon be transformed from the former Coca-Cola bottling facility into a Mixed Use Development with the help of Rocket Development based in New York City.

That development will have retail, office space, a 400-loft apartment complex, a 100-room hotel and plenty of public parking.

Rocket Development will cover the $325 million investment. In a statement, development partners Mitchell Rutter and Dan Shields said in part:

“Our team is energized by Huntsville’s growth, and we are excited to support Mayor Tommy Battle’s master plan with a transformative downtown project that will meet the city’s rising needs and serve as an engine to the future of city building on a national scale.”

Davis said the city will put forth $18 million towards the project.

“Our cost will be improving sidewalks on Monroe, Holmes and Clinton, and then participating in the lease of 400 parking spaces,” Davis said.

Davis said it is well worth the cost.

“We will have got those funds back within the first 4 years…The next 6 years provides 25 Million dollars worth of revenue back into the city budget that we can spend on other things,” he said.