Real Estate Update: March 2020

Miscellaneous

1. Will Mason, owner and CEO of Mason Music, has purchased and plans to renovate a commercial space at 5503 First Ave. N. in Woodlawn. The space will house Mason’s nonprofit, Mason Music Foundation, which provides music lessons for kids from low-income families. It will also contain the Woodlawn Theatre — a 250-person event and music venue. “We are hoping to finalize financing and construction plans in the coming weeks so we can start demolition in March or April,” Mason told Iron City Ink at press time.

2. REV Birmingham and its partners announced Jan. 28 that the Innovation District downtown would be rebranded as “The Switch.” REV Birmingham, UAB and Birmingham Business Alliance are leading The Switch initiative. About a dozen other entities were involved in the planning and launch of the new brand, including Alabama Power, Innovation Depot, Shipt, Tech Birmingham and Urban Impact. REV and Urban Impact are continuing to partner on the development of a Northwest Downtown Master Plan they announced in December. It covers the area between 18th Street North and I-65 to the east and west and I-20/59 and the railroad tracks to the north and south.

3. Birmingham tech firm Shipt unveiled a new corporate logo and branding in early February. The new logo will be placed on Shipt Tower — formerly the Wells Fargo building — later this year. In January 2019, Shipt announced that it would become the anchor tenant in the building, and renovations are underway. Julie Coop, a company spokesperson, told Iron City Ink that some Shipt employees moved into Shipt Tower at the end of last summer and that more will be moving over later in 2020. Phase 2 of construction — the renovation of 17,000 square feet of space on the eighth floor for use as offices, a training area, work stations and conference rooms — began in December and is scheduled for completion in mid-April, said a spokesperson for the general contractor, Wiggins Building Corporation. Phase 3, consisting of the renovations of 17,000 square feet on the ninth floor for Shipt, should begin soon and be completed by May. Demolition of existing offices on the floor has been completed. In Phase 4, the first floor in the former Wells Fargo Bank area will be renovated. Demolition has already begun in this area and construction is scheduled for completion this summer.

4. The Franklin Lofts project downtown won a gold medal from the National Association of Home Builders at the group’s National Sales and Marketing Awards gala in Las Vegas on Jan. 22, according to an announcement from Ingram and Associates. The event honors outstanding work in residential real estate sales, marketing and design. A historic building on First Avenue North, The Franklin was recently converted into 14 lofts by Farris Properties. The project won the gold award for best interior merchandising of a model priced $300,000 to $500,000. The award honored Ingram and Birmingham firm Set To Sell.

5. About 90% of the residential units at the Denham Building, a mixed-use redevelopment at 1143 First Ave. S. in Parkside, had been leased at press time, said a spokesperson for Atlanta-based Third & Urban. The developer, along with Colliers International, have also begun to announce some of their commercial tenants. Technology startups Rintro and TechStars Alabama EnergyTech Accelerator will open in March. In the building’s commercial space, the developer has created some tech suites that emulate the look and feel of an incubator. To meet rising demand, they are also building out more tech suites—measuring from 2,500 square feet to 6500 square feet— to be move-in ready within three months. In addition to tech suites, the 80,000 square feet of commercial space features larger office space, street-level retail or restaurant spaces and a rooftop restaurant and patio with a stellar view of downtown Birmingham.

City

6. The Birmingham City Council voted on Feb. 4 to approve the vacation of 21,756 square feet of Goldwire Place SW located parallel to and between Goldwire Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive and perpendicular to and between Goldwire Circle and 6th Avenue SW on behalf of JaAnne Dezenzio so that the owners — Rocky Heights Properties LLC — can renovate and improve the existing structures.

7. The Birmingham City Council voted recently to approve a request from America’s First Federal Credit Union to change the zoning for a property at 724 Crow Drive from QC-1, qualified neighborhood commercial district, to QC-1, qualified neighborhood commercial district and amend some Q conditions. The company will be allowed to modify the 30-foot planted or natural buffer on the south side of the site to a 10-foot buffer to allow for more parking.

New Construction

8. Legacy Arena will close April 2 for an 18-month expansion and renovation project, according to a news release from the BJCC. Interior renovations will include structural and non-structural work and, in some cases, the complete replacement of components. Exterior renovations will include modifications and alterations to the building envelope and loading docks as well as sitework, landscaping and hardscaping. Designs for the renovation were approved by the Birmingham Design Review Committee in December 2019. At press time, bids for contractors on the project were to be received on Feb. 20, according to the release. Built in 1976, Legacy Arena, formerly called the BJCC Coliseum and BJCC Arena, has hosted thousands of events but is badly in need of an upgrade, officials say.

Construction Update

9. Site preparation and construction is underway on the new program services campus for United Way of Central Alabama, which is located at 3600 Eighth Ave. S. in Avondale. The renovation of the former Overlook Building at 3620 Eighth Ave. S. adjacent to the UWCA headquarters is expected to take about nine months, said a spokesperson for the nonprofit. The UWCA purchased the 35,000-square-foot building, formerly the offices of Ram Tool, in 2018. The organization has selected Stewart/Perry as its general contractor.

10. Demolition work is underway at press time at the site of a new $25 million arts campus for Red Mountain Theatre Company, said a spokesperson for the nonprofit. Excavation for the parking lot is also underway. The campus is located at 1600 Third Ave. S. adjacent to Regions Field. LIVE Design Group are the architects. Brasfield & Gorrie is the general contractor. Harbert Realty Services will manage the project. Construction should be complete in summer 2021.

11. Orchestra Partners is in the final stages of construction in its renovation of the Demarais Automotive building at 205 41st St. S. in Avondale, according to a spokesperson for the company. Avondale Brewing Company will use the facility as a place to expand its operation. No other tenants have been signed, but that should happen soon, said the spokesperson.

12. In a project for Dunn Real Estate, bDot Architecture created plans for the renovation of a building at 2205 Seventh Ave. S. as office space. At press time, architect Brian Roberson told Iron City Ink that construction on the project was complete, and that Yoga Lab has moved into the space. The firm has completed its exterior designs for a renovation of the old Berthon’s Cleaners space at 2201 Seventh Ave. S. That project, to be called the 2201 Building. is currently undergoing design review, Roberson said.

13. Construction is 20 percent complete on a renovation of the former Business Engineering Complex at UAB, according to UAB Media Relations. At press time, demolition was nearly completed. Interior framing and the rough-in are to follow demolition. Projected completion is August 2020. The facility will house the School of Education.

14. UAB expects to complete construction of the new $60 million Residence Hall 2020 on 10th Avenue South between 16th and 17th Streets by June or July, according to UAB Media Relations. The dorm will accommodate 720 undergraduates. At press time, construction was about 60 percent complete, and work was in progress on the concrete structure; exterior framing, sheathing and brick; and interior partitions.

15. Construction is underway for the new $19.2 million UAB Technology Innovation Center, to be located at 17th Street South and Ninth Avenue South, according to UAB Media Relations. At press time, steel installation was underway. Set to open in early 2021, the center, measuring 40,000 square feet, will house campus internet connectivity and technology infrastructure.

16. A renovation of the old Snoozy’s Bookstore on campus to house the UAB Honors College should be completed by May 2020, according to UAB Media Relations. The cost to renovate the two-story, 11,000-square-foot building is about $2.7 million. The exterior grounds will be landscaped as a courtyard. At press time, construction was about 50 percent complete.

17. Construction continues on Town House Park, a new park with trees, tables and benches at the former location of Town House Hotel at the corner of 20th Street South and University Blvd., according to UAB Media Relations. Completion is expected in early March.

Opening/Closing

18. The UPS Store reopened in late January on the first floor of The Frank office building located at 205 20th St. N. downtown. The Frank, a historic structure formerly called The Frank Nelson Building, is being renovated by Orchestra Partners. The UPS Store measures 3,125 square feet.

19. Seasick Records, an independent record store, announced on social media on Feb. 7 that it is moving soon from Crestwood to a new location in Avondale. “While we have loved our 5 years in Crestwood, Seasick has outgrown our current space and we’re moving,” the owners said in a post on Facebook. The new store is located in a retail strip on Fourth Avenue South adjacent to Continental Gin that also contains such local businesses as Ore Mercantile, Sheppard’s Pet Supply, Mom’s Basement, Sanctum Tattoos and Comics and the restaurant Tropicaleo.

20. Firehouse Ministries held a ribbon cutting and grand opening on Feb. 13 for its new homeless shelter at 626 Second Ave. N. downtown. The facility will accommodate 112 people, as opposed to only about 50 at the current facility on Third Avenue North, The organization is also raising money by selling bricks to donors for $100 each. The bricks will be part of a path leading into the new facility. For information, go to firehouseshelter.com.

Coming Soon

21. Monday Night Brewing, based in Atlanta, is on schedule to open in March in the outparcel located adjacent to the Denham Building in Parkside, said a spokesperson for Third & Urban, the Denham Building developer. MNB will offer its most extensive tap selection to date with a selection of brews exclusive to the Magic City, the spokesperson told Iron City Ink.