The Parkside Connection: Master plan to fuel Parkside growth, connect it with neighborhoods to east and west
The Parkside District downtown has been growing rapidly for a decade, since the opening of Railroad Park in 2010 and Regions Field in 2013. That growth continues, with more than a dozen projects announced or in progress, including more multifamily residential developments and a $25 million campus for Red Mountain Theatre Company.
In fact, since Railroad Park opened, Parkside has seen more than $200 million in investment, with another $200 million in projects currently underway, according to REV Birmingham President and CEO David Fleming.
Now a major new project promises to add to that investment while ramping up the significance of Parkside as a destination for cultural and entertainment activities and a gathering point for Birmingham.
Orchestra Partners, a local community development and real estate management firm, is collaborating with acclaimed landscape architect Tom Leader to create a Parkside master plan that includes a mixed-use redevelopment of Alabama Power’s historic Powell Avenue Steam Plant, in what will be called Parkside East, and several vintage warehouse buildings west of Railroad Park near Good People Brewing Company, in the area to be called Parkside West.
Orchestra Partners announced the plan at the Steam Plant on Nov. 7, accompanied by Leader, as well as representatives from project partners Alabama Power, the city of Birmingham, Freshwater Land Trust, REV Birmingham and Urban Impact.
The goal is to connect the Parkside District to surrounding neighborhoods.
“Connectivity and walkability are core principles of our mission to build a better Birmingham,” said Hunter Renfroe, founder and principal of Orchestra Partners, in a news release.
The developers hope to “rebuild connections between Birmingham’s Central Business District and its surrounding neighborhoods by leveraging Railroad Park and the Red Rock Trail System as pathways of connection,” Renfroe said in the release.
The master plan is about “physical and economic connections to our neighborhoods to bring our city together,” Renfroe told event attendees.
PARKSIDE AS A CROSSROADS
Leader — founder and principal of Berkeley, California-based TLS Landscape Architecture — was the lead planner and designer of Railroad Park and helped create the new One Pratt Park in Pratt City.
His plan for Parkside features pedestrian pathways and public spaces enhanced with retail and entertainment amenities anchoring both Parkside East and Parkside West.
The plan also helps him fulfill a longheld desire to turn the Steam Plant into a complement to Railroad Park, which he calls “Birmingham’s living room.”
Leader said he and his firm always “try to think of spaces where everyone can come together and collect, a crossroads where everybody is welcome.”
Parkside is central to the future of the city, the developers and project partners said.
With about 400,000 annual visitors to Regions Field and an estimated 500,000 annual visitors to Railroad Park, the district is integral to “the new Birmingham,” according to a brochure distributed at the event.
Fleming told attendees that when the Parkside District was named following the completion of Railroad Park, the intent was for the district to be the “starting point to experience all of the city, all of the region.”
Parkside is also becoming a popular residential destination. According to figures supplied by the developers, the area has just over 1,200 existing multifamily residential units and there are nearly 1,200 more planned.
The developers also said a pedestrian can walk from Parkside to any of about 20 major amenities within 10 minutes. These destinations include McWane Science Center, the Alabama Theatre, the Lyric Theatre, the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute, the Carver Theatre and Jazz Hall of Fame and the Pizitz Food Hall.
PARKSIDE EAST
The renovated Steam Plant — it measures about 85,000 square feet — will anchor Parkside East and become an entertainment venue with movies, music, events, retail and restaurants, the developers said.
“This will be a great adaptive reuse project that will be distinctly Birmingham,” Fleming said at the event.
On the adjacent lot, the plan calls for a distinctive structure with hotel rooms and apartments.
Powell Avenue will be closed to cars except for service vehicles, and this will provide a place for food trucks, performances, art shows and other gatherings.
Built in 1895, Steam Plant is seen by the developers as a prominent symbol of growth and energy from the city’s history. Among other roles, the plant connected the city by powering its streetcar system — a system that was later dismantled — and developers see it as continuing to form a connection point for the city in its new incarnation.
“This building was the center of connections throughout the city that brought our city to life,” Renfroe told attendees Nov. 7.
However, beginning in the 1940s, Americans became “obsessed with the car,” which created all sorts of disconnections between neighborhoods in U.S. cities, Renfroe said.
Such disconnections became Birmingham’s story for the latter half of the 1900s, he said.
“The story of Birmingham became a story of neighborhoods that felt disparate and far apart from each other, and now it seems like economic growth downtown isn’t connected to where all of our people live,” Renfroe said.
However, the Steam Plant can once again be “a hub of connectivity for our city,” he said.
The Steam Plant redevelopment is “a joint project and private venture between Orchestra Partners and Alabama Power that will not involve any ratepayer dollars,” Renfroe told Iron City Ink.
There will be an urban trailhead at Parkside East to allow visitors to begin their exploration of the city on foot or bike via the Jones Valley Trail and the Rotary Trail. This link to the larger Red Rock Trail System is designed to help create a connection to the city’s neighborhoods to the east, such as Avondale.
The goal of such projects should be “to connect the city physically but also culturally,” he said.
PARKSIDE WEST
Developers are planning for Parkside West to become an anchor point for links to Titusville and surrounding western neighborhoods.
Orchestra Partners and Leader plan an urban commons with a pedestrian alley mid-block. Their goal, according to their brochure, is to create “an exciting gathering spot and gateway for neighborhoods to the west.”
Orchestra Partners has purchased six commercial spaces 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. and Tortugas Pizza.
The properties purchased include 112 14th St. S.; 1227 First Ave. S.; 113 13th St. S.; and 230 Second Ave. S.
The buildings are to be turned into retail, restaurant and mixed-use spaces designed to serve the needs of area residents, UAB students and shoppers.
The developers envision fitness providers, healthy restaurants and fashion retailers. There will also be open areas and study spots in a space defined by distinctive architecture.
The developers said the space will be designed to bring people together. There will be about 100,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and commercial space involved.
“This project gives us the opportunity to preserve a group of classic mid-century warehouse buildings in this underutilized historic district on the west end of Railroad Park,” Renfroe said in a news release.
CONTINUED GROWTH IN THE WEST
This project by Orchestra Partners will be a continuation of rapid growth in the portion of Parkside that lies between 14th Street South near Regions Field and Interstate 65.
The western area of Parkside — long dominated by warehouses and light industry — is “the most dramatically changing area” in the district, Fleming told Iron City Ink in June.
The area got a big jolt this summer with the opening of the Denham Building. The $30 million mixed-use development at 1143 First Ave. S. — built by Atlanta developer Third & Urban — includes 81,000 square feet of office, retail, restaurants and loft apartments.
“We need to get more people to think of Parkside District as a place to hang out during the day, as a place to go get dinner,” said Hank Farmer, the Third & Urban company principle.
The Novare Group — another Atlanta developer — is currently building 268 apartments and a parking deck on First Avenue South between 13th and 14th streets south.
Among other projects in western Parkside, Corporate Realty recently announced a mixed-use development on 14th Street dubbed “Baker’s Row II.” The project will include 228 apartments to be marketed primarily to UAB students.
‘A PIVOTAL MOMENT’
Commenting on the Parkside master plan, Birmingham City Councilor Darrell O’Quinn — he represented the city at the announcement along with Councilor John Hilliard — called the master plan “the start of something special.”
“Ten years on, we will look back on this as a pivotal moment in the city of Birmingham,” O’Quinn said.
Ivan Holloway, Urban Impact executive director, said the master plan is more than just another real estate development.
“This is an opportunity to nurture equitable development,” Holloway said.
Urban Impact is a nonprofit focused on helping revitalize the Historic 4th Avenue Business District downtown, as well as the entire Civil Rights District.
He expressed the hope that development can “truly benefit the adjacent downtown neighborhoods that have been traditionally left out of the economic benefits of real estate development projects.”
At press time, Orchestra Partners had no announcements regarding tenants or when construction will begin.
“Redevelopment plans are still being finalized, but our vision is transforming Powell Steam Plant and Parkside West into vibrant entertainment destinations that could include a mix of restaurant, retail and/or experiential tenants,” Renfroe said. “We are currently in discussion with a few high-profile tenants that we hope to announce sometime in 2020.”