Lofty downtown living is on the rise, it's our Fact Finder report | Alabama's 13
Lofty downtown living is on the rise, it's our Fact Finder report | Alabama's 13. This segment shows a lot of the great lofts, but what I really like is that it prominently features the crime statistics. Crime is down 67% since CAPS started, and downtown now has one of the lowest crime rates in the metro area, second only to Vestavia (I heard a rumor that we recently took first place, but haven't seen any statistics on it yet).
Doors, Garage and Otherwise
Appleseed finished pouring the concrete on the first floor of the garage and started building the forms for the second floor. They also installed the garage doors. Until they get that second floor completed, the door leading to the second floor looks like it is hanging in space, which I think is a lot of fun for some reason. Work has started on the freight elevator, too. The components have arrived and scaffolding has been erected to install them.
Work on my loft continues. Interior doors have been hung. All tiling is complete. HVAC is installed. New Heart Pine boards have been installed in some of the damaged areas.
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Restaurant at Counts Bros!
The worst kept secret in Birmingham (mainly because I have trouble keeping my mouth shut) is that Brian and Geoff from Trattoria Centrale have been eying the Counts Bros. building for a new restaurant. We finished up the lease last week, and they announced their plans this morning in the Birmingham News. I'm a big fan of Trattoria Centrale; I got a sneak peak at the plans for El Barrio, and I think its going to be even better!
Embarrassing Geekiness and Its Application to Color Selection
I was pretty torn over the paint colors, so I decided to draw the space and try out various colors. I can't draw rooms at all, and I ended up throwing away the drawing. I decided instead to try something that I can draw vaguely well, use the wood and brick colors that exist in the space, and try out various combinations of complimentary colors. When I picked out the colors, I took the drawing to Appleseed. Mike and Whitney said that no one had ever brought them a steampunk cowboy for color matching. After some snickering they hung it up on their wall. We've put some variations of the colors on the walls to see what I like. Mike described the green color as being inspired by copper patina. The residence will have a combination of this green and a mustard yellow.
The tile is almost finished in the bathrooms. I don't like cleaning shower doors and especially hate cleaning shower curtains, so I wanted a walk in shower with neither of these nuisances. Some of the brick will be exposed, and covered with a sealant. Tile protects the areas that will get more moisture exposure and creates a ledge for soap and shampoo.
The guest bath is a more traditional setup, with the same tile on the floor, and "subway" tiles on the wall.
The final tiled area is a utility room for hosing down camping and scuba gear. This room's sheet rock walls will be painted with a water resistant sealant.
Finally, we've started to pour concrete in the parking deck. For those of you familiar with the grease trap hold-up, we decided to concrete around the proposed area for the traps, until we have a 100% confirmation that they will be needed. Hopefully this will help me get a Certificate of Occupancy earlier, and I can finally stop having to sit in 280 traffic for 2 hours every day.
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Another Unexpected Media Mention
The Birmingham Business Journal mentioned Counts Bros. in another news story last week. Fran Godchaux, Interim President of Operation New Birmingham wrote this article about all the excitement happening downtown. Fran's helped me out immensely over the course of the project. Note that you have to have a subscription to read the full article. http://www.bizjournals.com/birmingham/print-edition/2011/03/18/city-center-blossoming-as-spring-nears.html
Jimmie Hale Project Featured on ABC 33/40
The local ABC affiliate reported on some of the great projects happening downtown. Jeremy's famous! There's a good shot of the Counts Bros./Storkland building, too. Thanks ABC 33/40. Despite bankruptcy talk, downtown business is booming - ABC 33/40 - Birmingham News, Weather, Sports.
1,100 entries show excitement for Prize2theFuture (via Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham)
Amazing to see how many people are excited about Downtown Birmingham, and I can't wait to see which idea wins the prize!
"Spiral Duct and Drywall" is Surprisingly Not a Super-Hero Duo
I wasn't there the day they delivered the drywall but my neighbor, Juannelle, took some great pictures. They parked a big flatbed truck stacked high with drywall on 2nd Avenue in front of the Counts Bros. Building. A crane arm attached to the truck picked stacks off of the truck and placed them inside through a 2nd floor window. The drywall has all been installed and you can start to see what the finished residence will look like. Spiral Duct has also been installed and looks fantastic. We debated painting it, but I decided to leave the galvanized finish.
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2nd Avenue Featured on CNN
This isn't really news for the Downtown Birmingham folks, but for those of you living elsewhere, a couple of weeks ago 2nd Avenue and Railroad Park were featured on CNN's My City, My Secret. The show interviewed Deontee Gordon who worked with us at Artwalk last year, and hopefully will again in 2011. Deontee took the interviewers to Urban Standard and What's on 2nd?, two businesses less than a block away from the Counts Bros. Building. CNN hasn't posted the video online that I can find, but you can see a bootleg here.
Self Storage Walls, Doors, and Lights
Last week Appleseed completed the self-storage walls, installed doors, and hung light fixtures. All that's left on the units themselves are paint and door hardware. Other improvements that will take place over the next month are the installation of a security system, rear stairwell, and finishing the customer bathroom. Construction for the freight elevator is currently underway. [gallery order="DESC"]
Residential Plumbing, Electric, and HVAC Complete
Last week Appleseed finished running the lines for the plumbing, electrical, and ducts for heating and air conditioning. [gallery order="DESC"]
Revolving Television Design
When I bought The Counts Bros. Building it contained two freight elevators that were no longer functional. Actually, they might have been functional but I wasn't brave enough to try them out. The first picture below shows the lifting platform, looking down the elevator shaft from the 2nd floor. We removed the shafts and rotting platforms. However, the gearing and pulley wheel were still in great shape (not to mention GIGANTIC). In the pictures below you can see the them as found, and later removed.
We set out to find a creative way to use the elevator machinery in my residence. I suggested hanging it on the wall as art, but Appleseed had a better idea. A television and speakers would be mounted on a wall in the center of the loft, shown on the plans below. They designed the wall to rotate so that the TV can be viewed from the entertainment space, kitchen, dining area or office area.
The mechanism used to rotate the wall would be the elevator gears. In the conceptual drawing below you can see the television, speakers and receiver mounted on the wall. To the right of the Television the round gears are mounted on the fixed wall and connected to the TV wall with a belt drive that rotates the wall as the gears are turned.
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Original Wavy Glass
The National Park Service, which oversees the Historic Renovation Tax Credit process, wants us to keep as many of the original windows as possible. The downside is that they are not very energy efficient, and don't open. The upside is that the glass is old and wavy and lots of fun.
Knocking out walls
Appleseed knocked out the parts of the rear wall that will form the garage doors. Apparently this is dangerous and can collapse the building so I went to Chicago that day. You can see from the picture below where they installed a steel beam to reinforce the wall, and covered up the openings with plywood. They're also digging for the concrete floor footings. The digging revealed the original base for the wooden support beams. I thought it was interesting these were brick, but now that I think about it, I don't what else they would have been.
Finally, they've started building the forms to pour the concrete ramp coming down from the alley.
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Historic Storefront Pictures
I went to the library archives hoping to figure out which furniture company used the "Furniture Co." sign that I found in the coal chute. There were only two pictures available and neither shows that particular sign, so it remains a mystery. On the bright side I found two pictures to share. During the 1930s the Counts Bros. Building housed the Maxwell-Crow Furniture Company and the Counts Brothers Sewing Machine Company. Other than signage the building looks almost the same. The only structural difference is the entrance on the Maxwell side, which is now more narrow. In the Counts Bros. picture you can see the building on the west that is now Blair Furniture and Storkland. In the Maxwell picture you can see the building that originally stood to the east, which burned down and is now a parking lot.
When I purchased the building we found an old Counts Bros. sign in the upstairs storage area; I've included some pictures below. Interestingly it is not the same sign that is in the historic picture. Counts Bros. was there for 20 years, so the sign must have either been repainted or replaced. I had hoped to be able to restore this sign and put it out front, but it is too damaged and fragile. Instead I am going to try to preserve as much as possible and hang it in my residence.
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I've Made a Horrible Mistake
When I found this, I posted that it was the old Standard Furniture sign. With some help from Standard's current owner, I realize now that I read the property records wrongly and that I was actually reading adjacent properties. After a touch of embarrassment, going back to the records I see that there were actually 2 furniture companies recorded: Kliner Furniture Co. (1937) and A.P. Furniture (1938-1957). Sooooo, what did the other half of this sign say? I don't know. I guess I'll have to drag myself over to the library and dig into the city archives for pictures. I've been meaning to do that anyway, but its cold and wet, and frankly I don't want to go.
Better Storage Framing Pictures
I had neither good light nor a good camera on hand when I first took pictures of the self-storage framing. These pictures are better. If you look closely you can see Melton lurking in the shadows. He and Roxane claimed to be measuring something. [gallery order="DESC"]
Residence Framing Complete
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Storage Framing Complete
The framing for the mini-storage units is complete. The Counts Bros. Building will have over 60 secured, climate controlled self storage units. There are several sizes available, and can be modified to accommodate smaller or larger requests. Self storage customers will have access to a secured garage to park while they move items into or out of their unit. A unique code will allow occupants to enter either through the garage or by walk up access. Excavation has begun on the garage. In addition to parking my unit and for storage customers, there will be 6 spaces available to lease. All spaces will be monitored by video surveillance. Garage doors open on the alley between 2nd and 1st Avenue.
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