Brasfield & Gorrie in early April completed the residential and retail portion of its extensive renovation to The Pizitz, a historic building that will now find new life in downtown Birmingham as a mixed-use center for living, retail and office use.
Built in 1923, the Pizitz department store was a popular retail destination of the mid-20th century, managing to serve customers through the Great Depression, post-war booms and into the Civil Rights Era. The store closed in 1987 and sat dormant until 2015, when Brasfield & Gorrie began its major renovation of the abandoned structure.
The building’s original facade, with its 90-year-old terra-cotta veneer and concrete structure, has now been restored. The interior has been modernized while keeping most of the original floors and many interior walls.
The Pizitz now offers 11 stories of mixed-use space with 143 apartments, 13, 000 square feet of co-working office space and a ground floor with Birmingham’s first open-concept food destination, The Pizitz Food Hall, designed to give selected food entrepreneurs a place to showcase their culinary art.
The office space is expected to be available by late summer. Brasfield & Gorrie teamed with Wisznia Architecture+Development, KPS Architecture, LBYD, Appleseed Golden and Masonry Arts. The Pizitz is owned by Bayer Properties, Wisznia Architecture+Development and Stonehenge Capital.
Text by Dave Helms
