A mixed-use project with roughly 60 apartments and a national restaurant is coming to Southside Birmingham.
LAH Real Estate and the developers behind 20 Midtown are partnering on the five-story, 40,000-square-foot project.
The building that currently houses Pizza Hut, the Syndicate Lounge, Binta African Hair Braiding, Quality Shoe Repair and Classic 13 Tattoo will be demolished. The developers are working with the tenants to find them all new locations.
“The reason we believe in what we’re doing is the location, our proximity to the largest employer in the state, and that’s who we’re catering to,” said Maurice Humphries, President of LAH. “We’re going to build something exciting, attractive and convenient, and this project will be something UAB would be happy to have next door.”
The ground floor will have one tenant. Dick Schmalz of RGS Properties, one of the developers behind 20 Midtown, said they have a signed letter of intent from a nationwide restaurant chain. The ground floor will also have some parking, though there will be another floor of parking above the restaurant and below the 60 apartments.
Developers hope to start construction in about six months.
Cohen Carnaggio Reynolds is the architect on the project, but it’s too early in the project for renderings to be released. Schmalz said he expects the final budget to be around $15 million. Gonzalez-Strength and Associates is the project’s civil engineer and SRS Real Estate Partners is helping lease the project.
Syndicate Lounge Owner Aaron Greene said the venue is in the process of finding a new spot but that his regulars shouldn’t worry.
“We’re going to reopen in a new development,” Greene said. “It’s all going to be okay.”
The project doesn’t have a name yet. The apartments will all be either studio or one-bedroom units.
“We have a lot of demand for studios in our first two buildings, way more than we have available,” Schmalz said. “I personally wanted to come put with an alternative to your bed and your sofa in the same room, so [Architect] Tammy Cohen has come up with a different design – still a studio, but with a larger living area and kitchen.”