As Bristol Development Group nears the six-month mark of on-site work on its Twickenham Square project in Huntsville, Ala., the company told the Post Monday it is pleased with the progress to date.

The mixed-use project, which involves the redevelopment of a former public housing site, will feature 200 apartments and more than 65,000 square feet of retail space anchored by a Publix grocery store. Rising on a 5.6-acre site located near Huntsville Hospital, Twickenham Square is noteworthy considering downtown Huntsville has seen a paltry number of infill projects since 2000, despite the city's suburbs having grown rapidly during the same time period.

“It’s great to be moving forward with a project like this in a city like Huntsville that has had a need for this type development but was previously unable to pull it together,” said David Hanchrow, chief investment officer for Franklin-based Bristol.

Bristol (which was unsuccessful in luring Publix to a project planned for a site near Nashville's Music Row Roundabout) is teaming with Brentwood-based PGM Properties and Northwestern Mutual Real Estate Investors, with the team expecting to pump more than $30 million into the project.

“Having [Bristol and PGM] with residential and retail expertise and having Northwestern Mutual’s financial strength gives a project like this legs,” Hanchrow said.

The City of Huntsville is financing the construction of a parking garage that will accommodate users of what will essentially become a mixed-used district (a hotel and office space are expected to follow). Hanchrow said the project would have been very difficult to do without public financing of the garage.

Brasfield & Gorrie is serving as general contractor.

Since 2000 and in Nashville, Bristol has been involved in seven urban infill projects, with the latest being Vista Germantown.

A three-year-old brewery out of Huntsville has pushed its distribution network into a number of Nashville-area bars, including the 12South Taproom.

The U.S. Army has awarded Turner Universal Construction a $51 million contract to build the next phase of its Missile Defense Agency complex at the Redstone Arsenal base in Huntsville. The 225,000-square-foot building will house administrative offices, IT facilities and meeting spaces and is expected to open its doors in two years.

SEE ALSO: Turner Universal scores major Marine contract from a year ago