Former high-end store to convert to lofts, retail

Burger-Phillips building to retain historic features
Thursday, February 07, 2008
DAWN KENT
News staff writer, Birmingham News

Downtown Birmingham's Burger-Phillips building, once a must-shop place for the city's well-heeled, is getting a makeover.

The six-story structure at 1914 Third Avenue North is being transformed into 35 loft apartments by developer Carruthers Real Estate Co.

Retail or office space is planned for the first floor of the building, which has been both in a storied history that dates to the 1920s.

Burger-Phillips, along with Third Avenue neighbors Loveman's, Kress, Kessler and Blach's, was part of downtown's retail heyday.

In the 1980s, the building was renovated as office space, and in the latest project, there is an effort to uncover its historic character.

"I like the way you can take contemporary architecture and meld it into a historic building," said Tom Carruthers, president of Carruthers Real Estate.

The $6.8 million project, designed by architect Emory Kirkwood and built by Golden & Associates Construction LLC, is expected to be complete in October.

Crews are building out the upper floors for one- and two-bedroom rental units. Monthly rates are expected to range from $750 to $1,750.

"We really like the rental market right now," Carruthers said, adding that most downtown residential development has been for-purchase condos.

The project will restore the Burger-Phillips building to a single entity, after the 1980s renovation connected it to an adjacent building. Meanwhile, an atrium that was added to the building in the 1980s will be transformed into a private patio for residents.

Inside each unit, plans call for a European contemporary design, including kitchen cabinets by German cabinetmaker Alno.

But along with adding the new, the project aims to embrace the old.

"In each unit, there will be some element of the historic building," said architect Kirkwood, who remembers tagging along with his mother when she shopped at the Burger-Phillips store.

Its front entrance featured sidewalks that wound around display windows and automatic doors thought to be the first in the South.

"The automatic doors ... that was a real feature," he said. "It was one of the finer places to shop in Birmingham at the time."

On the first floor, terrazzo floors will be preserved. Inside the units, features will include polished concrete floors that are an original fixture of building and columns with decorative details that were covered during the 1980s renovation.

The building was built as a furniture store, and Burger-Phillips moved there in 1933 following renovations, according to the Birmingham Historical Society. The work included the addition of the elegant first-story entrance.

Burger-Phillips was established in the 1890s as a dry good business and grew into one of the city's finest family-owned retail stores until the early 1970s, according to the historical society.

Operation New Birmingham and the City of Birmingham assisted with the project through a low-interest float loan program. Federal tax credits available for historic projects also are being used, Carruthers said.

Golden & Associates has done historical renovation work at Jemison Flats, St. Paul's Catholic School and Southside Baptist, among others. The firm has developed a niche for such projects, particularly those involving tax credits and their complex requirements, said the firm's president, Geoff Golden.

The Burger-Phillips building's exterior will retain its authentic look. A cleaning, as well as a refurbishment of the awnings, is planned.

"I don't think we can improve on it," Kirkwood said.