Reviewed by: Grace Howard
Historic Southside building sells for $2.2 million
Reading time: 2 minutes
The Liberty Motors building, a nearly 70-year-old former automotive showroom in Birmingham’s Southside, was recently purchased by a local investment group for $2.2 million. Since 2012, the building has been used as art studios by faculty in the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s (UAB) Department of Art and Art History.
Historic Liberty Motors building in Southside changes hands
Built in 1957, the Liberty Motors building at 2300 7th Avenue S. was originally a showroom for the Liberty Motor Company, a major Dodge-Plymouth dealer in Birmingham. After Liberty Motors, the showroom was used by Vulcan Lincoln-Mercury and Bart Starr Lincoln-Mercury and later remodeled into offices for engineering and medical offices.
Birmingham-based commercial real estate operator Shannon Waltchack purchased the 19,000-square-foot property in 2011 and re-envisioned the building for UAB Studio Arts, updating the interior while retaining the building’s mid-century exterior. UAB Studio Arts has occupied the building since 2012, maintaining studio space for faculty in the university’s Department of Art and Art History.
Earlier this month, Shannon Waltchack sold the Liberty Motors building to BP Capital Group LLC for $2.2 million. According to a report from the Birmingham Business Journal, the new owners plan to invest $30,000 in repainting the building’s exterior and replacing rotting windows and doors.
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