Walgreens May Restore Birmingham Fire Station
By Gwendolyn Purdom | Online Only | July 16, 2010
Birmingham's Fire Station No. 22
Credit: Jeremy C. Erdreich
When Birmingham, Ala. resident Joseph Baker drove by Fire Station No. 22 in early May, the vacant 1928 building was set for demolition, and a new Walgreens drugstore was slated to rise above the Clairmont Ave. site.
"On my way home one evening I was looking at the [fire station] and I was like, 'No, I won't allow it; it won't happen," Baker says. "Not again, we won't have another bad development in Birmingham."
So Baker did something about it.
Thanks to a grassroots group led by Baker, an eight-year-old agreement with the National Trust for Historic Preservation, and a re-configured site design, plans are now moving forward (pending Walgreens' approval), to preserve and restore the Spanish Revival structure on a prominent corner of 32nd Street just north of historic Highland Park.
The Birmingham City Council approved the $200,000 sale of the city-owned property to the Atlanta-based development firm Connolly Net Lease on Tuesday, after the re-imagined deal had been approved by both the economic development and budget and finance committees. Connolly's original proposal to raze the station, along with two local businesses on the site, had sparked vocal opposition from community members who said the sale of the city-owned property was never adequately advertised.
When Baker, his Facebook-based protest group "I Believe in Birmingham," and the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation learned about a 2002 understanding among the National Trust for Historic Preservation and national drugstore chains Walgreens, CVS/pharmacy, Rite Aid, and Eckerd that the chains would avoid demolishing buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Connolly Net Lease changed its development strategy. The company's amended proposal would move the new drugstore to the middle of the block where Clairmont Auto Repair and Bogue's restaurant now stand. Residents hope that Bogue's will relocate to the fire station building.
"It's not a done deal; we're working on that," says Kathy Okrongley, president of Connolly Net Lease. "But I've got a local architect hired, and we're working on how we need to go about preserving the fire station and what steps we need to take in the design inside and out."
Okrongley emphasizes that the development is in the early stages and Walgreens still needs to approve the project, but that the public response since the company changed its plans has been overwhelmingly positive.
"City council members and the neighbors I've met with, they're thrilled that we are working with them to save the structure," she says.
Station No. 22 was one of several historic fire stations in Birmingham placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. It closed about a year ago, when fire fighters moved to new, larger facility. Located at the gateway to several historic neighborhoods, their old firehouse went up for sale in January, but no "For Sale" sign was ever erected.
"I think that was half the frustration in the community—just the lack of information about the pending sale," says Birmingham resident and architect Jeremy Erdreich, who spread word of the sale after attending a design review committee meeting.
"The only advertisement that's required [by law] is one of those tiny legal advertisements buried in the daily newspaper, and a notice on the economic development page of the City of Birmingham website," Erdreich says. "So I think the pending sale was a shock to many."
Baker started his Facebook group after learning of the sale, and within days, hundreds of concerned citizens had joined. The group's membership is now more than 2,300. Their first meeting, held at a nearby coffee shop in mid-May, drew more than 30 people. In a situation with striking similarities, the fast food chain Chick-Fil-A had already announced plans to build a stand-alone restaurant with a drive-thru window just blocks from the fire station. That plan had residents of adjacent historic neighborhoods on edge; the Walgreens proposal only added fuel to the fire.
"People have been furious about this for a few weeks," Erdreich says, "and then when [Walgreens] came up ... it really made a lot of people boil over and take action."
Baker says that residents he's spoken with are impressed by Connolly Net Lease's new proposal. The developer has been "very open to trying to work with the community," Baker says. "Connolly is intent on trying to come into this community, but they understand someone coming into the community has the responsibility of working with that community."
David Schneider, executive director of the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation, says he's encouraged by the project's progress so far. "I've been in this game long enough to know until they start renovating the building, or better yet, until the keys are turned over to the tenant, it's certainly not a done deal," Schneider says. "The good news is, assuming the contract they negotiated is signed, it basically prevents them from tearing the station down. Certainly, in any kind of real estate deal, there are a lot of things that have to happen between point A and point B."
Okrongley says if the project gets the necessary approval, which she hopes will be determined within the next 60 days, construction would be completed in about 18 months.
"A lot of people pass through here every day and a lot of people see this, and they've seen it for years," says Alison Glascock, "I Believe in Birmingham" board member and Highland Park Neighborhood Association president. "The feeling that it's endangered—that we might lose this—is really quite remarkable. You would never really know. … What this has shown is that you only had to scratch the below the surface."
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