ROBBIE^
CAPONETTO^ (3 )FEBRUARY 2019 / SOUTHERNLIVING.COM84to educate their kids, he explains, but
Montgomery hasn’t reaped the benefits
because students who leave for college
don’t return. “What a lot of us are trying
to do is create a magnet to attract back
our kids,” he says.
Most agree that what sparked
Montgomery’s downtown renaissance
was the Minor League Baseball team,
the Biscuits, and its new stadium on
the Alabama River. The ballpark opened
in 2004, giving locals a family-friendly
reason to go downtown. And then the
opening of a Hyundai manufacturing
plant provided a big economic boost.
About the same time that the
Biscuits were stepping up to bat on
the riverfront, the Foshees got involved
with historic properties downtown,
first managing them and then buying
and renovating. “There is a lot of
intrinsic value and beauty in these
old buildings that we tried really hard
to preserve,” Foshee says.
When Mayor Strange took office in
2009, he and the city government also
focused on downtown—Montgomery’s
core—and worked to engage the private
sector and encourage investment.
Among those who responded were
entrepreneurs Sarah Beatty Buller
and her husband, Mark, of New York.While scouting Montgomery locations,
Mark discovered Dexter Avenue
and was impressed by its historical
significance. The first major project he
and Sarah took on was the old Kress
department store, which bridges
Dexter Avenue (predominately white“I just think there’s something
redemptive and reparatory
and restorative waiting forus if we commit ourselves to
truth and reconciliation.”BRYAN STEVENSONin the 1960s) and Monroe
Street (once home to many
thriving black businesses).
The Bullers have bought a
number of other buildings
downtown, working to
preserve and renovate
them to meet the needs
of the community.
“I’m from Boston, so I
grew up on history,” Sarah
says. “And that is what
attracted me to Montgom-
ery. It happened here, and
the stories don’t get more
dramatic or more thought-
provoking. In leaning into
those stories, I think that
we as a country and as a people,
regardless of party or religious
affiliation, can find a human connec-
tion in one another and a way forward.
I feel it strongly.”
A leap in tourism has both accom-
panied and fueled the growth down-
town. The streetscape along Dexter
Avenue got a $6.8 million face-lift.
Renovated sports facilities are attracting
championships and bowl games. The
Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa
at the Convention Center opened in
2008; two new properties are under
construction, with
two more being
planned, Mayor
Strange says.
Downtown
Montgomery also
has good food,
from the farm-to-
table fare served at
Central restaurant
to Latin and Carib-
bean flavors at
D’Road Cafe ́and
Island Delight to classic Southern
cooking at Cahawba House. Locals
will tell you not to bypass landmarks
like Chris’ Hotdogs (it’s over 100 years
old) or Capitol Oyster Bar on the river.
Determined to help Montgomery
become “the food mecca of the South,”San Francisco transplant Ashley
Jernigan founded JDB Hospitality,
a marketing, brand-management,
and public relations firm. She works
with the city’s tourism and food-and-
beverage communities.
Jernigan moved south to attend
Alabama State University and decided
to stay. “Everything I do on behalf of
JDB Hospitality is wrapped around
advocating for the entire area,” she
says. “It allows me to build relation-
ships and get more people to come
here. I could buy a house here at 23
years old. My mortgage was the same
as what it would have cost me to rent
a parking space in San Francisco.”
Mayor Strange sees the city’s future
in technology. It is home not only to
Maxwell Air Force Base but also to the
Air Force Cyber College and to Air
University. Montgomery has one of
only a few 100-gig Internet exchanges
in the Southeast, the mayor explains.
You can hear the wry humor as he
talks about it: “When tech magazines
mention us in the same breath with
Silicon Valley, Huntsville, and Austin,
we get very prideful—and we have to
ask for forgiveness.”
As forward-thinking as Montgom-
ery has become, it’s the rich history of
this place that has attracted attention.
Even the older civil rights sites thatASHLEY JERNIGAN
JDB Hospitality