Walk to Your Storage Unit
2211 2nd Ave N Birmingham, AL, 35203 United States
205.332.1624
Located in Birmingham, AL, 2nd Avenue Storage is the Loft District's source for all your storage and secure parking needs.
Please make an appointment to come see us next door to El Barrio.
Customer Testimonials
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"This has been incredibly convenient for us over these past 4 years."
- Marc G., 2nd Avenue Storage Customer
"Great storage area… We were very satisfied with the storage unit over the several years we rented it.”
-Roy R., 2nd Avenue Storage Customer
The floors of my residence have been sanded and look great. I can't wait to see how they look stained. To open up the retail space on the first floor we took out a dividing wall and raised platforms along the windows. Although I already posted some pictures of the retail space floors, they are complete now and I've added a few pictures of those as well. [gallery order="DESC"]
We've started to add framing, which will enclose the staircase with fire rated walls. I'm especially excited about this because now I don't have to climb the big ladder to get upstairs. This stairwell entrance will be accessed from a small front lobby on the eastern side of the building, seen in the lower right of the 1st floor plans. The staircase leads to a second floor landing with access to the residence and the self storage units, seen in the lower right of the 2nd floor plans.
The self-storage freight elevator will be behind the staircase, and can be accessed from the garage or by walking past the stairs.
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Mike changed the layout in order to accommodate a possible tenant looking for 3000 square feet of retail storefront space. The hallway that previously led to the freight elevator from both the front and back has been removed to add extra space to the storefront. Instead there are two non-connecting entrances and the elevator has doors opening from the front and back. The entryway to the self storage units and residence are now on the east wall. A third doorway from the street side has been added. It is perpendicular to the street along the recessed entryway so the original look of the facade remains unchanged, which pleased the National Park Service (and me). This third doorway keeps the residential entrance from interfering with the retail entrances.
A few other details have been added such as restrooms in the retail space and stairs in the parking area. The self-storage facility is more fleshed out, as well.
Mike also changed my living space to accommodate my whining. There is a storage space for scuba and camping equipment, complete with a deep utility sink for washing out the gear. He also moved the revolving TV so that it can be seen from the entertainment space, kitchen, dining room, or anywhere in the big open space.
Jeremy posted a comment on the floor fire which reminded me that I had failed to share a good story. Two Saturdays ago I got a voicemail message from Jerry LaSuer. Here's the transcription from Google Voice:
Hey Wade, it's your nosy neighbor, Jerry, from across the street. It is, oh, 8:15 or something like that and I was just going by your building over there and inside they're using flames to burn something off the floor and, I don't know, I'm just being nosy and just letting you know that. You probably know that and it's probably all fine, but just in case, it seemed like, oh I don't know, I just didn't want your building to burn. So that's all. Just telling you that. No need to call me back but I'll keep watching over there. Talk to you later. Bye.
I was interested in the building not burning down, myself, so I ran next door to check on it. Turns out there was just some red goo on the floor that was being stubborn and they had used a controlled burn to remove it. Wish I had a picture!
The main thing I love about living in the Loft District is the sense of community. Everybody knows everybody else and we all take care of each other. Thanks, Jerry!
Visited with Jeremy again last week to take a look at some of his progress on the Jimmy Hale building. I was amazed at how much he had accomplished since the last time I was over there. I took a few pictures of his future retail space. The large windows will provide a lot of light and a downtown view for a prospective lessee. The exposed brick walls and old tin ceiling tiles will be a great setting for a business looking for a space that stands out. [gallery order="DESC"]
A strange reddish vinyl goo, which I hesitate to call paint, covered the retail space floors when I bought the Counts Bros. building. Even worse, Bhate Environmental told me that the goo most likely contained asbestos, so I was thrilled to see the goo removed. Underneath were the original wood floors. Although the dust hasn't been cleaned out, you can already see how good the sanded floors are going to look. Some of the old wood had been patched with metal plates. We replaced these metal patches with wood recovered from rear of the 1st floor, which was taken up to build secured indoor parking.
Appleseed has also started digging the new elevator shaft. The freight elevator will allow self-storage customers to move their belongings from their storage space to the secured parking area. Customers will also be able to access the elevator from the street-front lobby.
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Believe it or not, I had never been on the Counts Bros. roof before this week. I knew the roof would have to be replaced, and would have a similar view to the Rhodes-Carroll building, so I never bothered looking at it during the due diligence process. Although the weather delayed some flashing and sealing, Appleseed has almost finished installing the new roof, so Tuesday I decided to climb up and look at it.
The original tar roof was heavy causing the ceiling joists around the skylights to bow. The guys replaced it with a lightweight energy efficient roof. There is a foam insulation layer covered by a membrane to shed water. The light color reflects light to save energy during hot Alabama summers.
Unfortunately budget constraints prevent me from building a rooftop deck. Hopefully there will be a phase 2, because I'd hate to miss out on all of these great 2nd Avenue views.
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We removed the newer drywall-like wall coverings to get to the original plaster. Interestingly enough, there is wallpaper on a small portion of the plaster at the front of the building in the display window. I set the wide picture as my computer desktop background. [gallery columns="2"]
I haven't been on the 2nd floor since Mike took out the stairs. I naturally assumed that since I hadn't been there, nothing of significance could have possibly happened. I discovered I was wrong last weekend when my friend Jonny was in Birmingham visiting his family for Thanksgiving. We stopped by Counts Bros. for a quick tour. I've never been able to resist a tall, unstable ladder and the construction crew just happened to have left one inside. It reached all the way to the 2nd floor, so Jonny and I spent the next 30 minutes laughing about old times while he filled out the legal waivers.
We climbed to the 2nd floor and discovered Appleseed had already taken out the center wall at the front of the future loft! So now, for the first time you can see all 8 windows together, despite my photographic ineptitude.
The front 2000 square feet of the 2nd Floor will be my new loft. There will be 8 huge windows across the front. I'm keeping most of the beadboard wall in the middle. The brick will remain exposed and the heart pine floors will be sanded and sealed. The main room will be 50 feet wide with 8 windows facing 2nd Avenue. [gallery]
Got some good news from Mike this morning: "We have completed 95% of the demolition and trash removal. We have restructured the skylights and the roofing material is being delivered tomorrow [11/24/2010] to begin roofing, which should be complete by Friday."
Update: The roofing material is on the roof:
My friend Jeremy Wood is renovating a building a block away from me. His place was formerly part of the Jimmie Hale Mission, before they moved out of the area. He's doing a concept similar to my project, living on the top floor and leasing the bottom for a retail business (I'm rooting for the comic book shop, Jeremy). I mentioned last week that the Birmingham Business Journal did a great article on him and the 2nd Avenue momentum, in general. I'm incredibly impressed that he's doing a lot of the work himself, as in "with his own two hands." We've been catching up every once in a while to compare notes and look at each others' progress, and he was nice enough to let me swipe some of his Facebook pictures to post. I love the picture of the original storefront; I keep meaning to stop by the library to grab some old Counts Bros. photos. If he could find or somehow reproduce that sign that reads "Chicks" I think it would be a great addition to the neighborhood.
The building front is almost finished and looks great. I like how the modern storefront window pattern contrasts with the original brick. The steel beams above the windows are a nice nod to the original look (and probably structurally important but I don't know anything about that).
The 2nd floor had been opened up in a previous effort to renovate the building. That tenant was going to have a restaurant/bar and the openings were intended to be balconies. Jeremy is keeping the balcony concept and has reinforced the rest of the 2nd floor.
He's got a great view out of the residence windows. That Moorish looking building across the way is newly renovated. I don't know the people who did it, but I like the facade. His front windows have a beautiful panorama of the downtown skyscrapers, although you can only see the City Federal in these pictures.
Last time I was over there he had started framing his living space, and seeing the layout fleshing out has helped me visualize what it's going to look like at the end.
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I got so lathered up over the construction starting that I completely forgot to post pictures of how it looked before we took out the rear platform. So travel back in time with me a couple of weeks. The National Park Service folks wanted us to keep this rear platform and stairs as existing structure. However, the freight elevator was practically destroyed, the platform was not very usable, and the stairs were not safe. To provide indoor parking through the alley for the residence and mini-storage customers, we had to take this stuff out. We did keep as much of the original wood as possible, to repurpose in the buildout.
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My neighbor Jeremy Wood is renovating a historic building down the street from me. We've had a good time keeping up with each others' progress and comparing notes. I'll post a few pictures of Jeremy's building next week, but in the meantime, he gave me some great news. We were both featured in a article in the Birmingham Business Journal by Lauren Cooper. How cool is that? See the article here.
This sign is about 4 feet high and 20 feet wide. I tried to donate it to the Birmingham History Center, but they said it was too big. I was going to give it to Steve, but he said it wouldn't fit in his store. I hate to throw it away, but I don't know what to do with it. I'm thinking maybe I'll put it up in the parking deck on the concrete block wall.
We're building parking inside the building to accommodate tenants and mini-storage customers. There are also seven extra spaces to lease to loft residents or local businesses looking for secured parking. The lower floor will be split into two levels each with 6 spaces. There will be a concrete safety wall dividing the parking from the retail space. Cars will enter from the alley with doors secured by codes or wireless ID devices. Unfortunately some of the original windows will have to be removed, but they were mostly gone anyway so it's not much of a loss; on the other hand we'll be able to keep and incorporate the brick arches over the garage doors.
You don't think about Birmingham being so hilly when you're downtown, but the alley is about 6 feet higher than street level. The green door below is at alley level. This door originally entered into a small platform for loading and unloading. We took out that structure in order to put two ramps from the alley, one to the bottom floor and one to the second floor of the parking garage. Both parking floors are actually contained within the 1st floor of the building; the ceiling is 17 feet high, and we will have to lower the bottom floor slightly to make two complete floors within a floor.
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This was taped to my building sometime this afternoon. I'm not sure who Weird Kid is but I thought it was a nice sentiment. I wish I had a friend like you, too, Weird Kid!
We took the newer sheet rock walls off to expose the original plaster from the 1910s. I love the distressed look. It will be polished and sealed to preserve it. If you've ever been in Pat's office, I'm hoping it will look similar to his walls. There was water damage in the plaster on the western wall. A lot of the plaster simply crumbled off to expose the brick underneath. However, Once the plaster is cleaned up, I think the brick peaking through will add a lot of character.
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Construction on the Counts Bros. Building started last week. First we removed the awnings. These windows that had been covered by the awnings are made from a beautiful textured glass, and will restore the look of the front to the original condition. The windows had been painted over from the inside, but we are removing that paint. When we're finished the windows will add a lot of light to the retail space. [gallery]
Operation New Birmingham continues to help me out. I'm hoping to attract a fun cool retail business or restaurant, and they listed the Counts Bros. Building on their site. Check out the plug and support ONB. They are doing great things for the city center.