Pizitz Building tenants plan openings for winter 2016, early 2017

With the recent release of a list of restaurants and food hall tenants at the Pizitz Building, buzz is growing as the project at 1821 2nd Ave. N. enters its final stages.

Bayer Properties President and CEO Jeffrey Bayer said, to his surprise, he's seen the most excitement so far for Ghion Cultural Hall, an Ethiopian restaurant that started in Atlanta.

“People seem to be very excited about that category of food,” Bayer said, adding that the Alabama Biscuit Co. and an as-yet-unnamed burger restaurant were also drawing attention.

Bayer Properties has turned over the leased spaces in the Pizitz ground floor food hall to its tenants. The food hall is scheduled to open in the first week of December, and Bayer said he expects “the bulk if not all” vendors will be open at that time. The rest of the announced vendors are:

• Busy Corner Cheese and Provisions, which will serve artisanal cheeses, grilled-cheese style sandwiches and other items.
• Choza Taqueria, serving tacos, burritos, bowls and salads.
• Dosa, a dish made with rice and lentils and served with various spices, stews and toppings.
• Eli's Jerusalem Grill, opening its second Birmingham location and serving homemade Israeli dishes.
• Ichicoro Ramen, a noodle shop serving meals influenced with Latin flavor.
• Lichita's, an ice cream and paletas shop currently located on West Valley Avenue in Homewood.
• MO:MO, serving dumplings and banh mi.
• Ono Poke. The Hawaiian dish poke consists of raw fish, seaweed, rice and greens.
• Reveal Kitchen, which will incubate Birmingham restaurant concepts and feature a new business every quarter. Vendors will come from REV Birmingham's Co-Starters program.
• Revelator Coffee, opening another Birmingham location.
• Waffle Works, serving soul food and waffles.

These vendors will inhabit food stalls, while Ghion will be a full service restaurant. The other restaurant opening in December will be Fero, serving modern Italian food, and the Pizitz will also have a bar called The Louis, serving milkshakes, craft sodas, cocktails and beers.

However, Bayer said at least one more restaurant announcement will be coming. Bayer Properties has chosen to leave one restaurant space intentionally open until the food hall opens. He said the chance to see the Pizitz food hall up and running will likely bring in potential tenants who would not have committed prior to opening.

“Sometimes you need to hold some space back and then you’ll be surprised once it’s successful, what might come along,” Bayer said, noting that the restaurant space fronts the southwest corner of 19th Street and 2nd Avenue North.

The food hall is not the only element of the Pizitz that is progressing. Bayer Properties and Sidewalk Film Festival are working together to create a permanent arthouse cinema. Bayer said that a study showed enough support in the city for Sidewalk to fundraise and build the cinema, which he estimated in the $3-4 million range.

“It just made sense for us to come together,” Bayer said of their work with Sidewalk.

Bayer said he expects to see the cinema opening in the Pizitz in early 2017, but that could change depending on fundraising progress and other factors.

The Pizitz has six floors of 143 residential apartments which will be opening this November. Finally, Bayer said the last piece of the puzzle is the office space. A single corporate tenant will likely be taking up the majority of the 11,000 square feet of office space, which will also open in early 2017.

Bayer could not release the name of the tenant since negotiations were not complete, but said they were a large company already located in Birmingham that was looking to move downtown.

About 4,000 square feet of office space will be given to a "shared office" concept, where small businesses or start-ups can rent customizable segments of office space for short or long term leases. As part of the lease, those clients have access to joint conference rooms available to all office tenants. Bayer said many local businesses have already expressed interest in leasing shared office space.

To learn more about the Pizitz, visit the Bayer Properties website.