City purchases old Oporto National Guard Armory

The city has purchased the long-vacant Oporto National Guard Armory site on Oporto-Madrid Boulevard, a landmark in local military and music history.

The Birmingham City Council approved the $10,000 purchase from the Armory Commission of Alabama on May 29. 

The 4.9-acre site, built in 1964, will be used “for future economic development or for municipal use,” the resolution states.

The purchase is part of an economic development project, according to City Councilor Darrell O’Quinn, a member of the budget & finance committee, who said the city’s ownership will be of “short duration.”

The facility was last used in 2009, according to Maj. Andrew J. Richardson, a public affairs officer with the Alabama Army National Guard. The Commission wanted to sell the property and, following state law, contacted the municipality for acquisitions, according to Rick Journey, the city’s communications director.

The three-building, 44,000-square-foot facility is run-down and overgrown. “The area needs to be cleaned up and secured,” Journey said.

The armory earned its place in local music history when it hosted concerts in the 1960s and 1970s. Beginning in 1964, WSGN DJ Dave Roddy booked the South Carolina band Swingin’ Medallions on “Medallion Mondays” at the facility, according to bhamwiki.com. The venue also hosted The Tams on “Tams Tuesday.”