REPORT: Downtown Birmingham is growing in population & economically

REV Birmingham released its semi-annual Downtown Birmingham Economic Vitality report today for the first two quarters of 2023. The big question—how is The Magic City doing? 

REV Birmingham boils it all down for us.

Defining downtown Birmingham

Before we dive into the stats, let’s make sure we show you how REV Birmingham defined “downtown.”

From North to South, the borders are the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex to the Five Points South. Meanwhile, I-65 and Red Mountain Expressway frame the east and west boundaries.

What’s inside this rectangle? UAB, Five Point South, Southtown, Mid-town, Parkside, Civil Rights District, Central Business District, the BJCC and much more.

Four Takeaways from the REV Birmingham study

In a news release accompanying the report, REV Birmingham provided four takeaways from the office, retail, residential and hospitality data they compiled for the first half of 2023. Here is what they discovered:

1. Downtown employee visits have reached 92.9% of pre-COVID levels (Q1-Q2 2019), but the data show significant difference on each side of the railroad tracks that bisect downtown. South of the tracks, where UAB and other industries largely require in-person employees, employee visits are at 101.9%. North of the tracks, where more traditional office towers have not filled after the shift to remote and hybrid work, employee visits are at 77.1%.
2. Downtown’s rapid residential population growth continues, with a base residential population of 11,000 that increases to more than 17,000 when UAB is in session, and developments are underway to create homes for aspiring residents. There are 6,622 existing multifamily units, 1,605 units under construction and 587 more units proposed, totaling 8,814 units projected for downtown once all those hit the market.
3. Retail demand downtown is growing. Downtown has 419 active retail locations—a total of 4.4 million square feet—and many business owners report feeling support and community downtown. The full report includes analysis of what downtown residents are leaving their home district to buy, indicating the retail categories that are in highest demand right now. Groceries, quick-service restaurants, superstores (like Target or Walmart) and community shopping centers (like The Summit or Riverchase) top the list.
4. Downtown has more than 1 million square feet of office space available, much of it move-in ready for growing local companies as well as companies looking to relocate. Office occupancy is at 86.3%, which is on par for U.S. downtowns, but economic development and real estate professionals must work together to recruit companies to fill available spaces so Birmingham does not fall behind its national peers.

Additional numbers from the REV Birmingham report

Want more numbers? Here are some handy stats.

• How many daily downtown employee visits? 61,064
• How many downtown employee visits happened in 2019 – 20.2 million
• How many downtown employee visits happened in 2021 (COVID yr.) – 12.3 million
• How many downtown employee visits happened in 2023 – 18.4 million
• Office Occupancy – 86.3%
• Residential Occupancy – 84.2%
• Number of retail businesses – 419
• Top 4 visited landmarks: 

1. Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex – 1.2 million visitors
2. City Walk Bham – 298.2K visitors
3. Regions Field – 216.4K visitors
4. Railroad Park – 141.2K visitors

“The data confirms the ongoing recovery of downtown since the pandemic, highlighting both successes and areas that need help. We are pleased to share this report with Birmingham to make data-driven decisions to continue strengthening downtown.” ~ David Fleming,President and CEO, REV Birmingham

Who is behind the study

REV’s data program is sponsored by Verizon. Contributing to the report were Retail Strategies, Dobbins Group, Shannon Waltchack, Graham & Co, J.H. Berry & Gilbert, Inc., Harbert Realty, EGS/Cushman Wakefield, Colliers International, CBRE. The Lyric Theater provided space for REV’s report release event for downtown stakeholders.To access the full report and contact REV’s downtown team to discuss its findings, visit downtownbhm.com/do-business.