By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
Jefferson County on Thursday voted unanimously to invest $3.5 million in KultureCity’s plan to create the National Accessibility Park at the former Powell Avenue Steam Plant building on Birmingham’s Southside.
KultureCity is a nonprofit organization headquartered in Vestavia Hills, and the world leader in sensory accessibility, creating sensory accessible and inclusive environments for individuals with sensory needs and invisible disabilities. It educates venue staff and grants certification to locations that implement sensory-inclusive modifications.
“This project would represent a $60 million investment here in downtown Birmingham,” said Jeff Traywick, the county’s economic development advisor. “Some of the key features of their proposal include the first U.S. technical college for individuals with disabilities. This is one of the things that really excites me from the economic development aspect because of the workforce part of this proposal.”
Construction and the phased build-out are scheduled between 2026-2028 with the grand opening in April 2028.
KultureCity bought the former Alabama Power Co. property, which borders Railroad Park in July and already has commitments that include $5.5 million from the State of Alabama; $7 million from the City of Birmingham and $25 million from private donors.
Key features of the National Accessibility Park include: the first U.S. Technical College for individuals with disabilities; National Disability Art Gallery & Museum: celebrating disability culture and history; Accessibility Amphitheater & Sensory Park and Retail & Culinary Training Spaces.
During a press conference Thursday outside the Jefferson County Commission chambers, Michele Kong, M.D. co-founder of KultureCity, said the organization began in Jefferson County 11 years ago with a “very simple mission: that everyone regardless of their ability is given the opportunities so they can all truly excel and be the very best versions of themselves … we are now in 40 different countries and five continents and in 2026 we are coming full circle to Birmingham to Jefferson County to build and to establish the world’s very first transformative national accessibility park.”
Julian Maha, M.D. co-founder of KultureCity with his wife Dr. Kong, board member, told a Jefferson County committee on Tuesday the Park bring a number of benefits including a model that can have global impact; boost local tourism and establish a National Disability Learning Center.
“It will help families navigating a disability diagnosis come to Birmingham and figure out a way that they can road map that disability diagnosis with contributions from UAB, from all the other great minds in the area, from Lakeshore Foundation and really kind of position Birmingham as the international location when it comes to accessibility and disability and empowerment.”
Jefferson County Commissioner Joe Knight said the commission was “celebrating KultureCity whose sole mission has been focused on autism and syndrome disorder (ASD) … KultureCity will give a person a chance to have some semblance of improvement in their quality of life as opposed to being isolated in the world and it will be a beacon of hope to those parents whose child is afflicted with [ASD] and will let them know they are not alone.”
KultureCity estimates there will be about 250,000 annual visitors to the development, with an annual economic impact on Jefferson County of about $378,108 through sales and property taxes.
KultureCity is currently working with FIFA and the Birmingham Legion on putting in a FIFA soccer field similar to a street soccer pitch in the parking lot of the steam plant to celebrate the World Cup, Maha said.
Dr. Kong said the plan was never for KultureCity to go international. It began with making sure their son, who is autistic, could go to the zoo and ballgames, she said, and the family started seeing 35-year-olds with PSTD who could not attend basketball games “and from there we started seeing first responders, how there’s a lot interactions with people with disabilities during moments of crisis [and] we provided research there, and [the program] went to the schools, how do we help our students with disabilities? … if we don’t teach those students and give them an opportunity, they will not be the adults they can because you never gave them the opportunity,” she said.
Those steps turned KultureCity into a global brand with partners that include organizations across the NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS and NHL as well as recognized brands such as LEGO, airports, museums and entertainment venues like Coca-Cola amphitheater in downtown Birmingham.
“It was more seeing the need across the age spectrum, across the diagnosis and across family. It didn’t matter if you were Asian, African American, white … it was just the human thing to do,” Dr. Kong said. “I think the byproduct is because the need was there and we were able to provide the resources and build a community. It became global as a result.”
