Mayor Steven L. Reed said on the Mayor’s Take podcast that Montgomery City is in conversations to expand its convention center and build a downtown arena on the riverfront and expects to ask the Montgomery City Council to review plans within about a month to six weeks. "We're gonna be asking the the city council to take a look at all of that in the next month or so, maybe 6 weeks," Reed said.

Reed framed the project as an economic-development tool that would attract larger concerts and conventions, bringing visitors who spend on hotels, restaurants and small businesses. He asserted that such events could generate significant revenue for the city, saying, "Hundreds of millions of dollars, I said hundreds of millions of dollars." He described early drawings as "beautiful" and said the project would allow the city to host different concert and convention spaces.

Separately, Reed said the city has already added more cameras downtown and "two more drones to the fleet" to surveil downtown and monitor events through the Christmas and New Year's period. He presented the surveillance additions as part of a broader safety investment to support larger events and downtown visitation.

Why this matters: An arena and convention-center expansion would affect city planning, public spending, downtown traffic and local small businesses. Surveillance upgrades carry implications for public-safety operations and civil-liberty concerns. Reed did not provide a project budget, financing plan or a specific timeline for construction.

Next steps: Reed said he expects to present conceptual plans to the City Council soon; council review, budget approval and any procurement process would be necessary before construction or acquisition.