At first glance, it’s nothing spectacular.

It's a subdivision, a new residential area with at least 45 new, market-rate homes. It's not unlike similar projects scattered about Huntsville and Madison County.

Except in north Huntsville.

This particular subdivision, however, will actually be built in north Huntsville. And that's exactly the point.

"It's everything," said Devyn Keith, the Huntsville city council president who represents north Huntsville. "It is the most important amphitheater, Providence, Campus 805 that has come to north Huntsville in the last 12 years."

Keith invokes those other developments to make a point. The success, or anticipated success, of those projects elsewhere in Huntsville has not been realized in north Huntsville.

And Keith said city leaders are now taking their best shot at realizing it.

The city council recently approved a development agreement with Stanley Developers LLC to build at least 45 new homes on city-owned property on the campus of the former Johnson High School off Winchester Road.

The subdivision comes on the heels of the 2020 opening of the Johnson Legacy Complex – an $8 million city investment to refurbish the mothballed gymnasium at Johnson High, which closed in 2016 – building momentum to revitalize north Huntsville.

"I would think that it's important that the City of Huntsville understands that this is important for the city of Huntsville," said Keith, calling on city leaders to appreciate the potential impact resonating throughout the sprawling city of almost 200,000 people. "You don’t want to be known to have four great districts (in a five-district city). You don’t want realtors to tell you they can't sell a house in north Huntsville. You don’t want the statement and the stigma to stick to the community in a way that is undeserved.

"And I say that in a way that we haven't tried anything like this. You only know what the success or un-success of something is until you try it. This is an ambitious step that was necessary. This is not an ambitious because we were bored."

City leaders are putting the full weight of city hall behind the Johnson project. It's moved at a slow, deliberate pace at times in order to best ensure success.

"This will be a tremendous boost for that whole area," said councilwoman Jennie Robinson, who represents south Huntsville. "It's an exciting project."

When Keith was elected to the city council in 2016, maximizing the 46-acre Johnson campus was foremost in his campaign. And it's been a focus of his tenure on the council ever since.

He has lobbied repeatedly for north Huntsville even as the city council was presented headline-grabbing projects in other parts of the city – from the $40 million amphitheater in the plans for MidCity in west Huntsville to a series of hotel projects in downtown Huntsville to the Hays Farm development in south Huntsville.

And there have been north Huntsville projects as well – such as the Facebook data center and the Toyota Motor Manufacturing expansion and the Aerojet Rocketdyne facility. But those projects are all located in North Huntsville Industrial Park north of Martin Luther King Highway and have not resonated in the neighborhoods of north Huntsville, Keith said.

Geographically, they are neighbors. In reality, Keith said, geography doesn't tell the full story.

If there is a blueprint for success for the Johnson campus, perhaps it is Campus 805 – an entertainment district that emerged from another mothballed school, Stone Middle School.

There are differences, of course. Campus 805 is on the edge of what’s considered to be downtown Huntsville and is built on high-traffic Governors Drive.

Johnson is tucked away amid the neighborhoods of north Huntsville and is not on a high-traffic road. And as such, the plans for Johnson are different from Campus 805 – a hub for local breweries and restaurants.

The Johnson Legacy Complex was the first phase – creating not just a recreational center but one with amenities not seen in any other rec center across the city, such as two indoor soccer courts, a rock-climbing wall, a larger fitness area and a sauna.

When it opens next year, Keith envisions it being an attraction for all of Huntsville and not just the people who live nearby.

The subdivision is the second phase, which includes the city upgrading and extending Cecil Fain Drive – the road that connects the Johnson campus with Winchester Road. Those upgrades would include accommodations for food trucks.

The city will enter into a purchase and sale agreement with Stanley Developers for the 15 acres where the subdivision will be built.

The final two phases call for more single-family homes, possibly senior living and maybe small retail store such as a dry cleaners or a coffee shop.

And eventually, the Johnson High School building will be razed.

"What we're talking about is neighborhood revitalization," Keith said. "This becomes a home where people stay. This cove, this 46 acres, will house people for the majority of their lives. What we will find is the success of the Johnson Legacy Complex will just add to the value of the community.

“You want people to feel like they can buy a home in any part of Huntsville. That should be the goal of the city of Huntsville. Every neighborhood should be as safe as possible, every school should be as successful as possible.”