BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs has selected a site on University Boulevard and the team led by Graham & Co. to build a new parking deck and medical clinic office building in downtown Birmingham valued at more than $50 million.
The General Services Administration has been weighing several proposals and sites for a new 2,800-space parking deck and 70,000-square-foot clinic and office building.
The GSA went with the block formed by 24th and 25th Streets and University Boulevard and Seventh Avenue South. The property is just five blocks east of the VA Medical Center in the heart of UAB, which the parking deck will serve along via a shuttle service for patients.
The VA currently uses a Birmingham Parking Authority deck 15 blocks away at Fourth Avenue North and 22nd Street.
The development team is led by Birmingham’s Graham & Co. as the developer and manager, Birmingham’s B.L. Harbert International as the general contractor and Austin-based PageSoutherlandPage as the architect.
Officials with Graham & Co. confirmed today they have the winning site and proposal but are awaiting a formal announcement before discussing details. The project is expected to carry a capital investment of more than $50 million with a long-term lease with the VA.
Graham & Co.’s plan has a three-story clinic and office building and an eight-story
parking deck. The deck will front University Boulevard and the clinic will front Seventh Avenue South.
David Fleming, chief executive of REV Birmingham, said keeping the project downtown was the main priority but the site also helps better connect UAB with the Lakeview District.
“This is a project we have been anticipating and looking forward to for some time,” Fleming said. “REV is always interested in retaining good jobs and good businesses downtown.”
The location is a win-win for the development, Fleming said.
“It takes a site that has been under-utilized and links UAB with Lakeview,” he said. “We’re always hoping to leverage developments to serve a purpose beyond what they are designed to do and this project will do that.”
The site should break ground early next year and take up to two years to complete.
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