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The article on the building that Bystander mentioned.

RSA will add new building

By David Irvin
Montgomery Advertiser


Downtown Montgomery will have another big green roof in the next couple of years, officials at the Retirement Systems of Alabama said Friday.

Site work on a new eight-story office building for the RSA will begin in the next couple of weeks, officials say.

The 280,000-square-foot structure is estimated to cost $80 million to construct, officials said, and construction is expected to last until late 2007.

"It will be in keeping with the other RSA buildings," said Ron Blount, project director for RSA. "It will be first-class office space."

A development plan presented at a recent planning commission meeting shows the building will be located in the block of Adams Avenue, Ripley Street, Union Street and Highland Avenue.

The primary purpose of the new building is to expand office space in the downtown area, thereby making it easier to recruit white-collar jobs to the city, said RSA CEO David Bronner.

"It's full. It's been full. We really have no more space in town," Bronner said.

He said recruiting white-collar jobs is a difficult task without adequate office space.

"Only after you build it will they come. You have to sort of anticipate, take a chance, and then fill it up," said Bronner. "Sometimes you fill it up quick. Sometimes it takes a few years."

The plans also include a 685-space, six-
level parking deck that will be 252,896 square feet. Three levels will be underground, and three will be above, Blount said.

Eight stories of the office building will be above ground, officials said, and there will be one basement level.

Initially, the RSA will attempt to lease the space to tenants, officials said, and eventually RSA will move many of its offices there.

For Mayor Bobby Bright, this project represents another boon to the development of downtown.

"I'm delighted. It's another project in the ongoing revitalization, stabilization and growth of our downtown," said Bright. "I welcome it. It's going to be another building added to our skyline."

The approved plan is titled "The RSA Headquarters, an Executive Office Building for the Retirement Systems of Alabama."

Conceptual drawings of the building were not available this week.