Five Point South’s Building Trades Tower is going to receive a $40M makeover

Birmingham’s Five Points South neighborhood received some good news this week. The 12-story historic Birmingham Building Trades Tower, which has been vacant since a 2015 fire, is receiving a $40 million makeover.

According to the Birmingham Business Journal (BBJ), Restoration Capital Partners LLC plans to spend $40 million to restore the building, which is located next to the new Ascend Tower at 2021 10th Ave. South.

Details About the Redevelopment

As someone who does his banking at the Regions Bank across from the Building Trades Tower, I’ve been anxiously waiting to see what was in store for the 51 year old building.

Here are some of the details the BBJ revealed in their story.

• The new residential workforce housing development will have 242 units
• A  mix of studio and one-bedroom apartments will be available. The spaces  average 500 square feet
• The building will come with 15,000 square feet of amenity space on the ground floor along with a park in the rear courtyard
• About 160 studios and 60 one-bedroom units will be reserved for tenants making 80% to 120% of the area median income, according to public records 
• About 10 studios and seven one-bedroom units will be available for market-rate housing

The building was originally funded by Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and built to provide senior affordable housing for local ironworkers and others in the building trades. Restoration Capital Partners worked with HUD to amend an agreement that restricted the building to affordable housing. 

Federal historic tax credits were also approved by the National Park Service last year for the redevelopment.

Five Points Continues to Grow

The Five Points Neighborhood continues to grow commercially and residentially. In addition to the Building Trades Tower, new developments such as Ascend Five Points and Courtland Vesta are adding hundreds of new apartments and condominiums to the community.

In December 2019, the area was designated as an Entertainment District by the city of Birmingham.

Stay Tuned

A big win for Birmingham and the Five Points South neighborhood. We can’t wait to see the Building Trades Tower renovated and restored.

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