Finest Realization of Historic Building Potential

BIRMINGHAM, AL – We continue to take a deeper look at GlobeSt.com's ADAPT award winners. In our pre-events coverage, we highlight The Pizitz in Birmingham, AL for its excellence in recognizing a historic building's potential. We will be honoring the project at our awards ceremony in Baltimore on September 16^th. A downtown Birmingham, AL icon for nearly a century, The Pizitz sat vacant and abandoned for nearly 30 years upon the closing of a 1920s department store in 1998. The 251,210-square-foot building was bought by Bayer Properties in 2000 before commencing a $72 million transformation in 2015. After a decade of owning the vacant site, developers partnered with top construction and design firms throughout the Southeast to restore the building and create a thriving, mixed-use destination. Utilizing its outstanding potential and prime location, the developers set out to create a community hub, showcasing a food hall, a full-service restaurant, two retailers, a multi-use flex space, the area's first co-working space, a rooftop pool, a fitness center, 143 multifamily residences, and a 10,000-square-foot independent screening venue, featuring two 100-seat, state-of-the-art theaters with a lounge, bar and concessions. Additionally, the project would provide the city's largest public space area, as an open-air courtyard with café seating and art collections to host markets, movies, events and outreach programs. With significant dilapidated interiors from decades of neglect posing a variety of challenges, the teams worked to meet National Park Service requirements and State Historic Preservation standards. Matching and replacing more than 300 cracked windows, repairing a leaking roof, installing alternative HVAC units specific to the building, restoring the seven-level parking deck and raising concrete floors two feet for new piping and ductwork all went into the major renovations. Able to recover the structure's original beams, stairs, columns, hardwood floors and terracotta exterior façade, the development team also uncovered numerous, useful aspects throughout the project, including discovering an original department store clock that is now a prominent feature to the center's food hall. Setting a new standard for neighborhood development, The Pizitz food hall opened in February 2017, following collaboration with two local food bloggers to curate the cuisine offerings. The hall serves more than 3,000 businesses, 80,000 employees and 11,300 residents within a one mile radius. The developers were able to achieve water savings, energy efficient goals and sustainable site developments to meet LEED certification requirements in 2018. The residential facet of the project continues to demand the highest rents in the market since opening in 2016, while each development component has obtained success through full or nearly-full occupancy upon completion. The Sidewalk Film Festival alone is expected to generate more than $1 million in sales each August, enriching Birmingham's cultural scene and increasing the overall impact of the development. The Pizitz successfully leads investment activity, enhancing the surrounding, historic district through a communal space and ample activities. Blending modern designs with original features, Bayer Properties' reimagination created an award-winning project, recognized by numerous organizations.