Plans are coming together for the downtown development that will be anchored by a 34,000-square-foot Publix supermarket, and the project is shaping up to be larger than originally planned.
The full-service grocer and pharmacy will anchor one of three buildings that will make up the development 20 Midtown, developers Dick Schmalz of RGS Properties and Scott Bryant of Scott Bryant & Co. revealed this week.
Publix announced in May that it had approved the location and would build and occupy space at the corner of 20th Street S. and Third Ave. S.
Starbucks also committed around the same time it will anchor one of the buildings that will also contain 36 apartment units. Construction on that phase of the project began during the summer.
The Publix building will have 86 apartments.
The mixed-use project will feature a potential combination of retail, restaurants, office and multifamily lofts.
Martin Smith and Adam Baxter of SRS Real Estate Group are handling the retail leasing for the development.
Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds is the architect of record.
The three buildings will sit on a total of 200,000 square feet of property, but vertical construction will put the total building square footage around 400,000 square feet, not counting the parking spaces that will be built into the development.
Schmalz said this week that he and Bryant decided to increase the size of the development due to Publix and Starbucks' commitment to the project and in recognition of everything else happening in the midtown area.
"Because of this, Scott and I recognized that there was going to be a higher level of demand," Schmalz said.
Schmalz said the early leases gave the project credibility.
"We wanted to take advantage of this anticipated demand," Schmalz said.
The developers' LLC, Firestone Flowers has been busy acquiring property around the old Firestone building site over the past several months in preparation for the roll out of 20 Midtown.
In November, the City of Birmingham approved more than $6 million in incentives for the project.
Plans for the third building, which will also have a mixed-use component, are still being finalized.