Former steel plant to become top stop on Birmingham’s Rotary Trail
The Birmingham, Ala., Rotary Club built the quarter-mile Rotary Trail in the center of town to connect urban hikers to the Red Rock Trail that leads to Red Mountain Park. In time, it’s likely to lead more Birminghamites to Bayer Properties’ latest project.
The Birmingham-based developer of mixed-use properties is currently converting the old Hardwick Co. steel processing plant on the trail into The Hardwick on The Rotary Trail, which will put restaurants and retail on the ground floor and office space on upper floors. The lower floors will be getting the most attention, however.
“Retail is the heart of the project. It’s got to feed it and nourish it and give it oxygen,” said Bayer co-president Libby Lassiter. “Others want to be there because of the retail.”
Renovation and construction begins this summer on the project that’s expected to open in 2022. Because it served as a warehouse, it had already been gutted, and Lassiter is confident that new construction - such as the addition of two floors for office space - will be completed on schedule.
“We want to keep the retro, industrial feel in the building,” she said. “And being on the Rotary Trail is important. There’s a lot of walkability in the area.
The Hardwick is Bayer’s second adaptive re-use of an historic structure in downtown Birmingham. It earlier converted the former Pizitz Department Store on the corner of 2nd Avenue an 19th Street into The Pizitz, where multifamily apartments sit atop a food hall with 14 vendors and the Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema.