BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Birmingham sought proposals for redeveloping an historic downtown building before going with the $350,000 high bid from a company formed by Shannon Waltchack.
Tom Barnett, finance director for the city, said the city sent out requests for proposals in March and only received three proposals for redeveloping the Department of Revenue Building at 2024 Third Ave. North.
Barnett said the proposal from SWBP Colonnade LLC, a Shannon Waltchack entity, was the highest at $350,000 with plans to convert the 23,665-square-foot building into a mix of commercial and residential space.
Barnett said another proposal offered $250,000 while the third offered $50,000.
The property appraised for $338,000, Barnett said.
A legal notice in The Birmingham News on Sunday announced plans for the Birmingham City Council to vote on selling the building at its July 22 meeting.
The building has three stories and a mezzanine and is entirely vacant. Formerly an office for the Alabama Department of Revenue, the state vacated the building and later donated it to the city.
"It was given to us by the state and we didn't have a specific use for it," Barnett said. "The decision was made to explore if the private sector would have an interest in redeveloping the building."
Robert Crook with Shannon Waltchack is heading up the project for the commercial real estate firm. He said plans for the building are still being worked out, but if successful in purchasing the property the company will likely make it a mixed-use redevelopment.
"It has been vacant for years," he said in an AL.com story Monday. "Our plan is to bring it back to life."
David Schneider, executive director of the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, said the building has plenty of history.
Citing the "Downtown Birmingham Architectural and Walking Tour Guide," Schneider noted it was built starting in 1904 and was best known as the Massey Business College.
According to the guide, R.W. Massey came to Birmingham in 1887 like many other young men seeking opportunity in the growing city.
He rented a typewriter and started the Massey Business College in 1889 with six students and an aim "to train intellects for commercial service" and instruct farmers in the ways of business.
The building at 2024 Third Ave. North was built sometime between 1904 and 1920 (there are conflicting dates).
Seven more Massey Business Colleges were built across the South with each of them patterned after the building at 2024 Third Ave. North, according to the guide. The college closed in 1960.
Schneider said the building is listed as a "contributing resource" within the Downtown Birmingham Historic District.
"The district was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 and was expanded in 1985 and 1998," Schneider said.