The downtown Birmingham Publix has pushed back its opening date due to some unexpected delays.
The Publix at the intersection of 3rd Avenue South and 20th Street South was scheduled to open Wednesday, but the store is still tweaking some finishing touches and won’t be quite ready to open then, according to developer Dick Schmalz.
“Publix is making every effort to make their store perfect, and small changes on the interior have and are being made,” Schmalz said. “We hope to know the exact opening date by the middle of December. I expect their opening to be before the middle of January.”
The Publix anchors the massive three-building development in downtown Birmingham. The 36,000-square-foot store will have a full-service pharmacy, and it will have 75 apartments on top of it, which have begun pre-leasing.
RGS Properties’ Schmalz and Scott Bryant of Scott M. Bryant & Co. are developing 20 Midtown, the $100 million-plus development spanning three buildings, the first phase featuring a Starbucks, the development’s leasing office, AT&T retail space and a Chipotle Mexican Grill.
RGS Properties’ Dick Schmalz and Scott Bryant of Scott M. Bryant & Co. are developing 20 Midtown, known to many as the downtown Publix development.
Demolition is nearing completion on the third building and the developers are finalizing their construction schedule, Schmalz said.
“As soon as we finalize our construction schedule we’ll be able to finalize the agreements with our retail tenants,” Schmalz said.
The third building, which is across the street from the Publix building, is by far the largest building in the project. It will have 41,000 square feet of retail and office space on the first floor and 242 units above it, including some two story lofts, though the apartment composition could change. It will include a courtyard and landscaped pool on the fourth floor.
Tammy Cohen of Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds is the architect. Martin Smith of SRS Real Estate Partners is managing leasing the retail space.