26 May Novare Group, Batson-Cook Development Company Start Birmingham Apartment Community
A joint venture between Novare Group and Batson-Cook Development Company has closed on the purchase of a 48-acre high profile site formerly owned by AT&T at the intersection of U.S. 280 and Interstate 459 in Birmingham. The property is adjacent to the 63-acre site Novare Group acquired last summer from the Held family and across U.S 280 from The Summit development.
The joint venture will develop a 286-unit luxury apartment community on the site as a first phase. The existing AT&T Operations Center in the 430,000 square foot building on the site will remain for the immediate future. Novare Group will develop a trail system throughout the entire 111-acre site as a recreational amenity and develop single family homes as well as additional rental residences in the future.
With studios, one, two and three-bedroom residences, the apartment community will feature a clubroom, co-working space, fitness center and yoga room, outdoor pool, outdoor grilling and lounge areas, fire pit, bocce ball court, dog wash and dog park and more than three miles of mountain trails. Covered parking will be provided in the existing parking deck that is adjacent to the AT&T building.
The area is referred to as a “second city center” with large employers such as Grandview Medical Center and Southern Co. Services. Birmingham is the largest metropolitan area in Alabama, with a population of 1.2 million. It has the largest employment base in the state, best retail/entertainment amenities and four of the state’s top 5 school districts.
“This intersection is one of the most prominent in all of Alabama, and the surrounding area has both retail amenities and a jobs story that drove our development decision,” Novare Group President and CEO Jim Borders said. “That was the pure analytical part of this development, which is sound. But to be on a 111-acre property in the middle of everything that feels like you are miles away in a mountainous setting is what captured our hearts. This will be a great place to live and work.”
Novare Group and BCDC are investors in the project, with Compass Bank and Cadence Bank providing debt financing for the multifamily community. Nelson is the architect, Schoel Engineering is the civil engineer and Flournoy Construction of Columbus, Ga., a subsidiary to Kajima USA and a sister company to BCDC, is the general contractor.
Bradley Arant, Beavers Law and King & Spalding are counsel, and GreenStreet Properties provided consulting services.
“Two great stories about this property are that Walter Schoel was on the survey team when the AT&T property was developed in the late 1970s when he was in high school, and Charlie Beavers remembers riding horses through the woods when he was a boy,” Borders said.
Construction will commence in June, and the community is expected to be complete in 2022.
About Novare Group
Novare Group is a real estate development and investment company headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. Since 1992, Novare Group has developed over 14,000 residential units across a variety of product types across the southern and western United States. Learn more by visiting www.novaregroup.com.
About BCDC
Founded in 1963, Batson-Cook Development Company, BCDC, is a fully integrated real estate organization providing development and capital solutions, primarily through partnerships on commercial real estate projects in the Southeastern United States. Based in Atlanta, Georgia, Batson- Cook Development Company offers a wide variety of real estate services from development and construction to equity and credit enhancements, to brokerage and property management. It is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kajima USA. Learn more by visiting www.batsoncookdev.com.