[Mayfd24]

From the June 17, 2005 print edition
SouthTrust Tower is getting $22M fix-up
Kaija Wilkinson
Staff
After buying the SouthTrust Tower last year for more than $50 million, Atlanta-based Barry Real Estate Cos. and VEF Advisors LLC are set to get started July 1 on a $22 million, five-year renovation designed to turn the building into one of downtown's most dazzling jewels.




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» Barry Real Estate Cos
» Birmingham's Brice Building Co.
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» SouthTrust Corp.
» VEF Advisors LLC
» Wachovia Corp.
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Barry is confident the makeover will take the building from 60 percent occupancy to 100 percent. Barry has hired Birmingham's Brice Building Co. for the first phase of the project.

The price tag alone speaks volumes about investors' confidence in the project, which they hope will mirror the success they enjoyed with Sloss Real Estate Group Inc. at One Federal Place, which the team built for $50 million three years ago.

"On One Federal, we had very good partnerships with Sloss, our firm, and Bradley Arant (the building's largest tenant) and I think the building hit the market at a good time," says Deming Fish, Barry's director of leasing and management. "It has an excellent floorplate, which gave some of the users in downtown Birmingham an opportunity to grow and expand."

Earlier this year, the building was sold to a New Mexico firm, but Barry's Fish remains the leasing agent. Of One Federal's 300,000 square feet, 20,000 are available, he says.

'Great bones'
Barry's success with One Federal didn't escape the notice of developer Tom Hinton and Robert Simon of Corporate Realty Associates Inc., who brought the property to the Atlanta team's attention about a year ago.

"As a result of One Federal, they thought we would be a group that would aggressively go after a building of that nature," Fish says. "It's a great location, and it's got great bones if you will."

Completed in 1986, the SouthTrust Tower was partially designed by Giattina Fisher Aycock Architects Inc. It features gleaming blue-green reflective windows and stunning views of the city.

Fish says the exterior, aside from Wachovia logos replacing the four giant SouthTrust S's, will not be touched. The building also will get a new name.

Harvey Rudy, Barry's vice president of development, says his firm got a "great price" on the 454-foot tower, currently the tallest building in the state. Rudy is confident in the future of Birmingham's downtown office community, and says it will continue to recover as buildings like the SouthTrust Tower are renovated and parking becomes available.