Posted Jan 29, 2010, 1:06 PM
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Join Date: Dec 2006
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Woohoohoo!  It's beginning to sound promising.
Quote:
Baker Donelson to move 140 employees to Pizitz building
Birmingham Business Journal - by Lauren B. Cooper Staff
Law firm Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC said it intends to make the redeveloped Pizitz Building in downtown Birmingham its new home.
The firm has signed a letter of intent to move approximately 140 employees from its local office at the Wachovia Tower on 20th Street North to 55,000 square feet in the Pizitz Building at Second Avenue North, or the top two floors, said Tim Lupinacci, Baker Donelson’s managing partner. The firm has until May to make a full commitment, he said, while an option to sign another 10-year lease is still on the table at Wachovia Tower.
Baker Donelson’s announcement, though, is a major step in getting the long-talked-about $60 million renovation of the cornerstone Pizitz Building off the ground, said David Silverstein, principal of developer Bayer Properties.
Silverstein said Bayer Properties, too, will move its headquarters from Southside to 15,000 square feet in the downtown building, relocating about 50 employees. And the development team currently is in talks with a local gourmet grocery store and café to locate on the ground floor.
Baker Donelson’s Lupinacci said the law firm is excited to be part of a major renovation that will expand the city center, and it allows the firm to show its commitment to Birmingham.
Redevelopment plans for the former department store include transforming nine floors into 169,000 square feet of office space, 23,000 square feet of retail and improvements to an adjoining 375-space parking deck.
Construction is set to begin this summer and the state-of-the-art – and sustainably designed and constructed – building will reopen its doors in 2012.
Until the summer, Silverstein said Bayer Properties will continue to prelease the building and work with various lenders to finalize financing for the project. He did not disclose rental rates for the property, but said they were competitive with the area.
“We believe the redevelopment of this project is a transformational milestone for downtown Birmingham,” Silverstein said. “The Pizitz Building historically stood at the center of Birmingham’s commercial and theater district and we plan on cementing a new history for the building as an epicenter for work and play in the city.”
Momentum in the surrounding neighborhood already has started to build from the Pizitz redevelopment project, said Joseph McClure, head of Joseph McClure Commercial Real Estate and lead marketing firm for a proposed theater district in that area of downtown. McClure said he knows of two other buildings in the vicinity that have revitalization plans in the works because of the Pizitz project.
Pointing out the presence of law firms Bradley Arant Boult Cummings nearby in One Federal Place and Wiggins Childs Quin & Pantazis across the street from Pizitz, McClure said “with that many people right there and the two other (proposed) projects, you’ll have...1,000 people doing business down there. When you put that many people in a concentrated area it’s going to blossom and you can’t hold it back.”
The Pizitz project should also boost confidence in the downtown area, said Jeremy Erdreich, of Erdreich Architecture PC and developer of the Phoenix loft building, also on Second Avenue North.
“The timing of this project, coming as it does in a very weak real estate market, will hopefully give both investors and tenants confidence about continuing to grow downtown,” he said.
Erdreich also owns the New Ideal building and the Jefferson Building nearby. He said a project the size of Pizitz could only spur further interest in proposed plans he has for the buildings, which are similar to his Phoenix loft project.
Bayer bought the former department store property in 2000 from the Pizitz family, with plans to rehab the vacant building.
Since then, the building has obtained Historic Preservation Certification status from the U.S. National Park Service and the project has received historical tax credits, New Market Tax Credits and a $1 million loan from the city’s Economic Stimulus Loan Program for the project’s design, said Silverstein.
The Pizitz Building was constructed in 1923 and was home to the major department store Pizitz until it closed its doors in 1988, when the family-owned chain was bought by McRae’s.
In addition to the building’s rich history in downtown retail commerce, its surrounding sidewalks were the scene of demonstrations during the Civil Rights Movement in the city.
Silverstein said the building will be added to the new Civil Rights Trail that winds its way through the city.
Bayer estimates the $60 million redevelopment project will create 800 jobs during construction and house 600 once it opens, representing about $350,000 in occupational taxes to the city for the permanent jobs.
Annual real estate taxes are estimated at more than $280,000 and annual sales tax revenue is expected to be more than $270,000.
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closed last month and the parcel of land did not sit idle for long before being snapped up.
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