Construction underway on historic Thomas Jefferson Tower
Bryan Davis
February 12, 2015
Birmingham Business Journal LINK
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Developers have started construction on the historic Thomas Jefferson Tower (Leer Tower) in downtown Birmingham.
The $22 million project will convert the building into 96 apartments, with 7,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space.
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"Downtown Birmingham's occupancy rates are consistently near 100 percent," Beshara said in a statement. "We think market demand for well-finished units with high-rise views of downtown will be strong. We hope that bringing such a uniquely significant historic building back to life will be one of those projects that can help create a vibrant center of gravity for the immediate area and even more demand for City Center living in Birmingham."
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Built in 1929 as the Thomas Jefferson Hotel, the building has been the subject of redevelopment for a number of years. In a release by REV Birmingham this week, Mayor William Bell said the project will provide significant benefits for the public and private sectors.
"The Thomas Jefferson Tower will raise the bar for public and private improvement in the district and expand the downtown neighborhood," Bell said.
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The renovation of the Pizitz building and the Powell School project should get underway in 2015 as well.
"Thomas Jefferson Tower is one of those projects that proves this tax credit returns many times over for the cities that can use it, and for the state," said REV Birmingham CEO David Fleming.
"The new Florentine Building, historic Powell School, Pizitz Building and others represent tens of millions of dollars worth of reinvestment in our City Center enabled by the State Historic Tax Credit. That's a great return on investment for taxpayers."
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One of the things I really love about Birmingham is that there are so many large historic properties that can be, and are being, restored. Shiny buildings are nice, but I'd rather is towers like this reinvent the skyline.
What architectural style is the Florentine building? I saw some night photos of it and the way the top is lit up is gorgeous.
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The suburbs are second-rate. Cookie-cutter houses, treeless yards, mediocre schools, and more crime than you think. Do your family a favor and move closer to the city.
I'm just glad we won't have these hulking dark buildings dotting the skyline anymore. hope they light it well.
now that this has started, we need to get moving on the heaviest corner!
john hand is filling up nicely, we've heard rumors that the empire building will become a Marriott... now just need the brown marx building to move forward. I tweeted H2 Real Estate, and they said plans are coming along...
With the Jefferson Tower being renovated, it be possible for condo towers to pop up around it within the next couple years? It's pretty much by itself.
I did some driving in downtown yesterday and construction is indeed underway at the Thomas Jefferson Tower. At the moment it looks like they're just doing some prep work on the lower floors. I saw some heavier equipment and workers moving in and out of a side door, but didn't see anything major going on.
the developers says starting this month they are ripping the entire inside of the building out first, then i guess afterward doing the outside. he also mention that he wanted to install LED lights on the dock of the tower. so maybe this time next year we can see some bright lights on at the tj towers apartments adding another scraper to the skyline...... i.e. either the building lights or construction lights i know by this time next year they won't be available for living just yet
A good read for those among us to have continued to be pessimistic about Birmingham's future...
Don't believe Birmingham has changed? See what's happening now
John Archibald
Birmingham News
AL.com
February 15, 2015 LINK
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Birmingham is changing.
Not like they used to say changing. Not in that code that too often dripped with racial innuendo, that hinted that if you were still in this town you should bundle up your kids and get out now.
Birmingham is changing. From that.
If you can't see it now, if parks and museums and New York press clipping aren't enough to make you a believer, that's OK. Wait 'til next year.
Projects going on now, and those about to start, by then will take doubters by the lapels and shake them until the scales fall from their eyes.
Work on the Lyric Theatre will be finished - finished -- around the end of the year, adding another century-old jewel to a glittering Theater District.
Restoration of the historic Redmont Hotel will be completed this summer, with 115 refurbished rooms and a fresh lobby and bar.
Demolition will begin this month inside the Thomas Jefferson Hotel, that 20-story building that fell into disrepair under the Leer Tower name. I know we've heard it before, but builders now have permits and will begin ripping out the guts this month. They plan to build "edgy" apartments aimed at Millennials, with exposed concrete and steel and washer/driers you can dump clothes in before work, and have them washed and dried in the same contraption when you come home. I'd call that cool. Millennials, the target audience, might think it on fleek.
And there is the Publix, underway at Third Avenue South and 20th Street. By next year it will bring a long-awaited supermarket downtown, plus parking and shops and luxury apartments aimed at professionals.
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After all the doubt. After all the starts and stops and the false hopes, Birmingham is building a future that doesn't give two spits about holding on to past disappointments.
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Because all those who told us we could not do better are dead. Or gone. Or dying.
An update for the City Compilation... the Booker T. Washington building renovation has been cancelled. While this is a pretty big hit to momentum in the theater district we should take notice of the fact that the Thomas Jefferson Tower is actually seeing construction. Also, the BTW Insurance building is seeing interest from another group of investors. So, all is not lost!
pizitz building construction getting started this week. 2016 is going to be a phenomenal year to celebrate in Birmingham. just imagine this project, the lyric theatre, Thomas Jefferson tower, intermodal facility, pedestrian bridge, the two 6 story apartment complexes in parkside, the 20 midtown project with publix, rotary trail, powell steam plant project, 3 partment complexes in Lakeview, the new va hospital. and just think it all started with a dream for railroad park?
Damn, TimCity, you are a much better steward of this thread than I am. Thank you for keeping red meat flowing through this thing.
We were looking at such a lull for a while, but now things are happening!
The Pizitz Building and the Thomas Jefferson Tower are FINALLY being restored!!!! An immediate influx of millions of dollars, but their legacy will provide so much more!!
Lastly, I think the renovation of the Jemison parking deck will help tremendously. I've taken Amtrak from Birmingham before, but I think the idea put forward for the Jemison deck will make many more people open to taking the train. That block is so ugly and run-down from the view of the train station.
There seems to be some demolition activity going on in the old 5points music hall/piggly wiggly building, site of the proposed Homewood Suites hotel. Large piece of equipment and some dumpsters out back and the front windows are completely covered, and a sign saying "warning asbestos removal". I hope this is just the beginning.
post # 405--- excuse my interjection, but i was a former mountain brook, hoover, and vestavia hills, and several years, through school, living on the mountain in homewood. i have always loved metro birmingham, particularly mt.
brook. ihave many grat and very close friends there to this day. many of them have visited memphis and seen the unbelievable changes going on throughout the entire metro. memphis has a 0 surplus of rental property in the business district, also, none available in the pinch district nor in the crosstown district. s.
main district is putting up single dwelling as fast as possible, and approximately 175 new apts, in the form of 5 and 6 story buildings. 25 apts for one, two, and 3 bedroms were put up first, but they were filled before they could be finished. several ofther large housing projects are on line to be finished by the summer. a 46 skyscraper is being completely refurbished inside and out, in order to convert half of the building to living quarters and the other half will be designated for a well-kown hotel. memphis had been told over several years ago that it was short 1200 hotel rooms in the business district, and more than that number in unavailable rental and purchase housing. i think it is likely that b'ham is a bit like memphis, perhaps some of the naysayers hoping the ham was down, and she wouldn't get up. uab medical center has helped downtown tremendously. i hope that the green colored building will become a reality. it is beautiful in both color and style. best of luck to a beautiful town.
There seems to be some demolition activity going on in the old 5points music hall/piggly wiggly building, site of the proposed Homewood Suites hotel. Large piece of equipment and some dumpsters out back and the front windows are completely covered, and a sign saying "warning asbestos removal". I hope this is just the beginning.
Also, a Dart bus driver says that there is construction activity going on at the Empire building on 1st Avenue and 20th Street N. It was mentioned by a developer about a year ago that it was going to be converted into an Autograph Hotel by Marriott.
Its official, construction has started on the 5 Points South Homewood Suites, 7 stories tall and 105 rooms.
I have not heard anything official on the Autograph Hotel by Marriott downtown on 1st Avenue and 20th Street North. I will make my way down there on Saturday in the A.M.
Its official, construction has started on the 5 Points South Homewood Suites, 7 stories tall and 105 rooms.
I have not heard anything official on the Autograph Hotel by Marriott downtown on 1st Avenue and 20th Street North. I will make my way down there on Saturday in the A.M.
I took a stroll downtown to 1st Avenue and 20th Street North, and there is demolition going on in the Empire Building. There are 2 large dumpsters out on 1st Avenue in front of the Building, large sheets of brown paper on the windows and windows open on several of the upper floors.
Hooray for infill and density, but this is pretty uninspiring... not to mention Rocky's and Stillwater will have to relocate! At least they're incorporating some of the original façade and adding a few stories.
I'll just repost what I posted in the Birmingham thread in the Southeast forum...
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Odd location. In the articles, the developers say "...the new Publix several blocks away...". SEVERAL?! Do they really expect Alabamians to take a bus, or walk, to the grocery store from THAT location?
I dunno, yay for development, but a bad location. That land would be better used for expansion of the UAB medical campus.