After years of delays, Birmingham changes course on Ramsay-McCormack building

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) - Despite years of presiding over the court order directing the City of Birmingham to construct a new building at the site of the historic Ramsay-McCormack building, Circuit Court Judge Marshell Jackson Hatcher seemed surprised to see Mayor Randall Woodfin walk into her courtroom Thursday. She also seemed surprised to have City Attorney Nicole King ask permission for the mayor to address the court. When the curious judge finally allowed the mayor to speak, over the objection of plaintiffs attorney Antonio Spurling, what he had to say, surprised business owners WBRC talked to who were waiting to hear when vertical construction would finally begin.

The city was in court because Spurling had sued the city several times on behalf of neighborhood businesses to force it demolish or redevelop the building it had bought from U.S. Steel 40 years ago. Woodfin was still a new mayor when the city hired Ensley District Developers led by Irvin Henderson to redevelop the building, which had literally begun to crumble in 2019, just before the Covid-19 pandemic. While EDD did demolish the 10-story building in 2021, the company struggled to assemble the necessary capital to begin construction on the estimated $20 million project, despite up to $10 million in cash and incentives from the city. After numerous status hearings over the last several years convened by a special master assigned by the court, Judge Hatcher seemed concerned yet convinced earlier this year that the developers were ready to start construction, while Spurling remained skeptical. In April she issued an order essentially giving EDD until the end of August to begin vertical construction.

In early August, with no sign of construction, but another hearing weeks away, Henderson died unexpectedly in North Carolina where he lived.

During this first status hearing since Henderson’s death, Special Master Ken Simon described a conversation with EDD’s surviving partners whom he said lacked Henderson’s contacts and detailed grasp of the tax credits Henderson was seeking to employ in financing the construction. The partners, Simon said, did not feel comfortable going forward with construction and would step away from the project.

When Mayor Woodfin addressed the judge, he explained the city had come up with a new plan for the site, a library that would be designed by the same architects that designed the modern-looking library Irondale opened last year.

The judge granted the city 60 days to firm up its plans and return with an update.

Outside the courtroom the mayor told us he shares the Ensley community’s frustration. “I will tell you, Ramsay- McCormack is an exception. That is taking way too long. That’s unacceptable,” said the mayor. “We have a plan now. I expect vertical construction by the fourth quarter of 2027, because it’ll take a minimum of six months for architectural design, the public bidding process, et cetera, et cetera. We will comply with the court’s order and have vertical construction on that site. And Steve, honestly, this is the last point I can make. If there was no court order, we would still do vertical construction on that site because that’s our commitment to the residents of Ensley.”

Business owners we talked with in Ensley a couple of hours after the hearing were surprised by the new proposal.

Ranesha Cooper moved her Revive Lux Salon from Irondale to a space right across Avenue E from the sign that still suggests a new Ramsay-McCormack is coming.

“That was one of the attractions”, says Cooper. “So, before we decided on this space, we were looking at this place and it was like, ‘Oh, this is amazing. They’re actually gonna do something great like that in this area.’ And it’s just disappointing to find out that after 10 years and millions of dollars that they just decided not to do it.” Cooper does not regret the move because she enjoys being in the community, but she wants what she thought she was getting. " I mean...if this was the plan initially, why can’t we just redirect and find a new project manager to continue the plan and why do we have to back away from what we know was gonna help grow this community?"

A few doors down, Thaddeus Campbell was heat-pressing t-shirts for South Hampton K-8’s STEM team, as his father, legendary former Parker High School football coach Sylvester Campbell boxed them up in the building he purchased decades ago. The younger Campbell doesn’t feel like this is the time for an audible.

“Let’s take our time and find another developer to make it happen. Let’s just not do something just to do it because even if you build a library, you still gotta get a developer to do that. So why not go ahead and get a developer to go ahead and say, “Hey, you know what? I want you to take on this project for the McCormack building and see what you can come up with and show me the ideas you have so we can get something moving.” Instead of just saying, ‘hey, let’s just do a library.”

In his law office around the corner, Spurling, remains skeptical about the proposed library’s benefit and intent on compelling the city to act. “This is just a second or third iteration of the same thing where they have made certain promises to the community and they just do not make good on their promises. So I don’t trust... statements from the mayor’s office. I don’t trust the integrity of the mayor. I don’t trust the integrity of how he’s moving politically because he’s essentially a salesman.”

The mayor says the city’s next steps will be to retrieve the property from EDD and present the new plan to the city council.

Judge Hatcher has scheduled the next hearing for February 3rd.

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