Urban Supply to be a ‘platform,’ not just a development

Birmingham real estate development firm Orchestra Partners is moving forward with the construction of its newest project, one the company hopes will help further enliven the booming Parkside District and help contribute to the city’s walkability and connectivity

The project is called Urban Supply, harkening back to the district’s historic importance as the source of bulk goods for the industrial boomtown of Birmingham in the early to mid-20th century.

In 2020, Orchestra Partners purchased buildings between 14th Street South and 12th Street South and between First Avenue South and Second Avenue South, alongside or west of Good People Brewing Co.

The buildings are being turned into roughly 100,000 square feet of commercial space housing retailers, restaurants and fitness providers designed to serve the needs of UAB students and the growing number of people living in Parkside.

There will also be open areas and study spots in an eco-minded space defined by distinctive architecture and native plantings.

The goal is to make it a vibrant and walkable entertainment destination connecting surrounding neighborhoods.

Featuring an alleyway called The Aisle and integrated outdoor space throughout, Urban Supply will offer a safe environment for Birmingham residents to get outside and enjoy the city.

Orchestra Partners broke ground on the project in December 2020, said Phil Amthor, a development associate at Orchestra Partners.

The first portion of The Alley — between 13th Street South and 14th Street  South — was completed in May.

By the end of May, Urban Supply had already hosted about 15-20 outdoor events, most of them along The Alley, and more events were planned for the rest of the summer, Amthor said.

Construction is beginning on the second and final portion of The Alley — between 13th Street South and 12th Street South — in mid-summer.

Construction on the entire project should be complete this summer.

At press time, leasing was underway, though the company was unable to announce any of the tenants.

“Twenty percent is already leased, but that is growing every month,” Amthor said.

The total cost of the project is about $30 million, he said.

The other project partners in Birmingham are Shelby General Contractors; Poole and Co., an architecture and design firm; Dix.Hite + Partners, a landscape architecture firm; Retail Specialists, a retail leasing and management firm; and Kimley-Horn, a civil engineering firm.

“The Freshwater Land Trust has also been instrumental in helping us envision how the trail network, the Red Rock Trail System, can be connected and come through Urban Supply,” Amthor said.

Orchestra Partners worked with REV Birmingham to create a pop-up trail along First Avenue South in spring 2020 and would like to help create a permanent Parkside Trail, according to Amthor and Renfroe.

In addition to Freshwater Land Trust and REV, the developers are working on this effort with the city of Birmingham and the Rotary Club of Birmingham.

The developers seek to “help Parkside connect the whole city,” Amthor said.

Urban Supply is not just another garden-variety mixed-use project, he said.

The basic mix at the development will feature restaurants and retail and fitness providers.

“But what’s going to be unique about Urban Supply is that it will also have a jam-packed schedule of art, events and concerts,” Amthor said.

“Urban Supply is not just about retail space for existing businesses,” he said. “This is about new things that can happen in the city — new businesses that can pop up, new events. It is not a development. It is a platform. Everything unique and exciting about Birmingham can happen there.

“We are turning Urban Supply into a platform, not just for exciting local businesses but the local entrepreneurial community itself,” Amthor said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if there were 50 small businesses that call Urban Supply home. We can make a smaller space just for them.”

Amthor said that there is “an unmet need” for this type of space in Birmingham and that there’s a demand for smaller spaces “in a really active retail environment.”

Urban Supply will go beyond brick-and-mortar tenants, said Hunter Renfroe, a principal and co-founder at Orchestra Partners.

“There are food trucks, performers, artists and events,” Renfroe said. “There are all kinds of pop-up retailers.”

The project is not just a place to buy stuff but will be a social gathering spot, he said.

“It’s a place where you can spend the whole day and interact with a lot of different folks, and it will have a wide net it can cast as far as who feels home there,” Renfroe said.

Urban Supply will be timely as the city slowly comes out of the COVID-19 pandemic, Renfroe said.

“We want to double down on people being together,” he said.

“As a company, we see our role as using real estate as a tool to bring people together, to bring community,” Renfroe said.

As the developers expected, Urban Supply — even before completion of The Alley — has begin to draw students from nearby UAB.

“We started to see students who live in the surrounding buildings showing up to events and just using it because it’s a really nice space now,” Amthor said.

Orchestra Partners fully expects Parkside to continue to boom, he said.

“Parkside is going to be the very heart of the entire metro area,” Amthor said. “It will be the heart of it as an entertainment district. It will be the heart of active, healthy lifestyles.”

The district will be the “24/7 vibrant center of everything,” he said.

To view a full calendar of events this summer at Urban Supply, go to urbansupplybham.com.