It will be the biggest construction project downtown Huntsville has seen this century and, though there have been delays, work is expected to begin by the end of the summer on the development on vacant land between Clinton and Holmes avenues across from the Von Braun Center.

The first phase of Front Row is a $325 million development that will consume the entirety of the 11-acre site where the Coca-Cola bottling plant once stood and will eventually eclipse $400 million in capital investment once the second and final phase is complete.

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“It has (been slow to start) from typical projects that we’ve seen,” said Shane Davis, the urban and economic development director for the city of Huntsville. “This is a big project. It’s big time. These will be the biggest buildings built downtown since the Regions Bank building. You’re talking $400 million in capital stack.

“For us, it’s big-time construction. You’re talking nine-story building, very intricate architecture.”

The Regions Bank building, at Church Street and Clinton Avenue, is one block east of the Front Row development and, built in the 1990s, is downtown’s second-tallest building at 11 floors.

First-phase plans call for Front Row to build two buildings fronting Clinton Avenue that will stretch from Pinhook Creek to Monroe Street with a park-like common area as a divider. The ground floor of both buildings will be retail and restaurants similar to The Avenue, another downtown development, with multi-family living and office space on the upper floors.

According to an amended development agreement last year between the developers and the city, there will be at least 500 apartment units between the two buildings, 36,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space, 35,000 square feet of office space and a parking structure and surface parking with at least 1,350 spaces, including a 245-space city-leased surface parking lot.

The second phase of the development includes plans for a hotel tower set back from the frontage on Clinton Avenue that will include a minimum of 100 rooms.

Construction of each phase is expected to take about 2½ years.

New York-based Rocket City Development Partners, a joint venture of Essex Capital and Ascend Property Group, are the developers.

The city is responsible for at least $18 million in infrastructure for the development, including dramatic improvements on Pinhook Creek on the development’s western border that have been compared to the River Walk in San Antonio.

Davis said site work will begin toward the end of June with construction crews mobilizing in late August or early September.

The project first received approval from the city council almost two years ago with initial projections on construction beginning in the fall of 2022.