The bank and the developer are sharing the $350 million in commercial development costs. Funds for the $120 million residential component will come from various developers participating in the project. About 5,000 persons will work at Gateway Village when completed and about 1,000 will live there as permanent residents.

The first phase of the two-phased project is expected to be completed in late summer. This phase includes the existing Doubletree Hotel and Gateway Center across West Trade Street. A hotel and 10-story Gateway Center had been completed in 1989, but the project began to lose momentum.

Third Ward has been in the throes of redevelopment since the early 1980s, when the village idea was first discussed by bank executives Dennis Rash, Hugh McColl and Joe Martin. The plan was to rehabilitate the area and develop Third Ward into a grand, mixed-use urban village that would become an integral part of uptown. At the time, West Trade was the quickest path to uptown from the airport. The bank became interested and bought some land, but further development was not in the cards at the time.