Birmingham to consider demolition of 5 historic Highland Park buildings
ByPat Byington
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The Birmingham Design Review Committee has on its upcoming Wednesday, Dec. 17 agenda proposals to approve the demolition of five buildings in the Historic Highland Park neighborhood.
Two of the buildings are at 2310 and 2312 Highland Ave. South and are across the street from Freddy’s Wine Bar, on the Caldwell Park side of Highland Avenue before the US-280 overpass. The other three buildings are behind Highland Avenue on 24th Street.
The applicant is Robert Brown from Stone River Company, an investment firm that acquires, develops and manages multifamily real estate in the Southeast.
Below are the addresses of the five buildings:
- 2310 Highland Ave. South
- 2312 Highland Ave. South
- 1024 24th St. South
- 1051 24th St. South
- 1054 24th St. South
According to Bham Wiki, the 2310 Highland Ave. apartments were built in the 1920s and named the Phares Apartments. The apartments at 2312 Highland Ave. were called the Gordon Court Apartments, former location of the Emilar Apartments from 1929 to 1953.
Neighborhood surprised
Highland Park Neighborhood President Elizabeth Sanfelippo told Bham Now she and the neighborhood historic advisory committee are concerned about the project but look forward to working with the owners.
“[We] were surprised to learn of the desired plan to demolish. We always do what we can to encourage preservation over demolition. We are hoping these can be saved, but if not we are committed to working with the developers to come up with a plan that is appropriate for Highland Park.”
In addition to demolishing the buildings, the applicant is also seeking approval of a conceptual plan for the property. As of the afternoon of Friday, Dec. 12, the Design Review Committee had not received the plan.
What’s next
The upcoming Wednesday, Dec. 17 committee meeting is open to the public. The meeting begins in the morning at 7:30AM in the Birmingham City Council Chambers on the third floor in City Hall.
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