Groundbreaking held for State Veterans Home in Enterprise

On Friday a Groundbreaking Ceremony was held for The Command Sergeant Major Bennie Adkins State Veterans Home in Enterprise, Alabama. Perched on a gentle hill on 108 acres of sprawling farmlands, the facility will be a long-term state-of-the-art Veterans health care facility with approximately 182,000 square feet and house 175 residents.

"This is an exciting and fulfilling occasion for me, our community and the surrounding communities as well," said Mayor Cooper of Enterprise. "We will soon see more dirt turned, foundations laid, walls up raised, and rooftops silhouetted against a South Alabama sky. Command Sergeant Major Bennie Adkins State Veterans Home will be an absolutely lovely and functional facility - It will be beautiful sight in itself - But what we are really celebrating today is what this facility stands for."

The inspiration for the design was to honor the character and image of the town. Rustic farmhouses and historical homes with large front porches were primary elements incorporated into the design. The facility will have a contemporary farmhouse appearance with board and batten siding and stone accents. Fitting in to the rustic, rural area, large covered porches wrap each building within the facility allowing veterans to enjoy the sun or shade. Cupola’s rise atop each building to allow natural light into every entry way.

“This is a wonderful day for the Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs and State Board of Veterans Affairs,” ADVA Commissioner Kent Davis said. “We are thrilled to have such a large crowd from the community to join us in beginning the process of building the Command Sgt. Maj. Bennie G. Adkins State Veterans Home, which will serve as a wonderful home for many of our nation’s heroes in the Wiregrass.”

The Concord Center Time Capsule Opened

A 20-year-old time capsule was opened last week at The Concord Center building owned and managed by Cushman & Wakefield. Included in the time capsule was an original sketch of the design from our team and original renderings. The design paid homage to the original site building's 1889 Courthouse with twin pyramid-shaped glass spires in a neo-art deco design.

"We chose to give a nod to the historic Courthouse but with a modern, contemporary twist. The Concord Center has two towers with sleek glass pyramidal caps that light up at night to provide a dramatic image on the skyline. The other important thing about the design is it really embraces the street. A lot of the buildings down here that had been built in the 70s walled themselves off from the street. However, this building is full of glass and you can see into the lobby. ”

Joel Blackstock, CEO, Williams Blackstock Architects

“The Concord Center was made possible due to work between the City of Birmingham, the YMCA, the Birmingham Parking Authority and our team. We wanted to create a building that was street-friendly to pedestrians, featured artwork in the lobby and was overall a timeless design and worked with the existing architecture of our surrounding neighbors.”

Charles Simpson, Senior Vice President, Graham & Company

Bill Noble Park Groundbreaking

Joining city officials and the kids of Gardendale, Alabama, we broke ground last week for the new Bill Noble Park expected to be finished by spring 2023. The finished complex will feature nine baseball and softball fields, a football and soccer field, all with synthetic turf. The finished complex will also have eight tennis courts, 11 pickleball courts, a beach volleyball court, a playground, a putting green and more.

“"I don’t know if you ever thing about your purpose and what the purpose of your job is, but to me you’re building lives. You’re making small people become adults. What you’re going to build here at this facility is going to have an impact in this community. You’re helping so many families," said Sheldon Haygood of Fox 6 Sports.

"You’re building life-long memories. It makes me excited to think about the impact this will have for generations to come."

Southern Research Groundbreaking

Today we had the honor of being a part of the groundbreaking for the new Southern Research building in downtown Birmingham that will serve as the nexus for biotechnology in the state of Alabama.

“Today we're not just here to celebrate this new facility for Southern Research, but the vision for this project goes beyond a new building. It's about creating a better future for all of us and that's what excites me the most," said Mayor Randall Woodfin.

Spring Social

We had a great time together enjoying a company social at Top Golf! Working together is what we do best.

UAB Altec Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences

Yesterday a ground-breaking ceremony was held at UAB to announce the construction of the new Altec/Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building and the Marnix E. Heersink Institute for Biomedical Innovation Conference Center. Governor Kay Ivey, Senior leaders from UAB, the Board of Trustees, the Styslinger family, and state government leaders attended.

The new 175,000-square foot facility will include space for computational research, research support, offices, administrative and scientific collaboration, and meeting spaces designed to meet the specific needs of genomics and precision medicine investigators and their programs. The building is an exclamation point on the focus of medicine in the state of Alabama.

“This facility, made possible by the foresight and help of our state and local leaders, as well as generous donors, will position UAB and Alabama to be a global leader in precision medicine and genomic sciences, enhancing world-class clinical care for our community and beyond.”

— UAB President Ray Watts, M.D

WBAkers Win The Great Birmingham Bake Off

This weekend the WBA team had a great time at The Great Birmingham Bake Off at Cahaba Brewing. But, the time was made all the sweeter considering we WON the golden rolling pin. A huge congrats to the team and a huge thank you to all who came out to Cahaba Brewing to support us.

WE Made creates quality food mixes and home goods while providing employment, training, and opportunities for people with barriers to employment. You can support them by buying your own mix and learning more about the program here:

Happy St. Patrick's Day

We are feeling so lucky to have been a part of the Luckie & Co new corporate office space in downtown Birmingham. Located in the Denham Building, a mixed-use facility in the Parkside area of west downtown, the new 16,000 mid-century modern space centers around socializing and food to foster a deep sense of community. The new open-office environment triples the firm’s number of meeting spaces with five times the amount of square footage for collaboration and six two-person Zoom rooms.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day from all of us here at Williams Blackstock! We hope your feeling lucky too.

ULI Alabama Historic Preservation + Adaptive Reuse: Birmingham's Greyhound Bus Terminal

Thu, Mar 17, 2022, 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

618 19th St N, Birmingham, Alabama, US, 35203

Join us and the ULI (Urban Land Institute) Alabama at The Historic Greyhound Bus Depot, located at 618 19th Street North. Hailed as one of the most modern bus depots during the Mid-century and purportedly supported an influx of business into Birmingham during the booming, post war economy. This Depot is architecturally significant as one of the few remaining Arrasmith transportation buildings designed by in the Streamline Moderne style. This Depot is also historically significant to the Civil Rights Movement as a stop of the “Freedom Rider” activists, of which included the late U.S. Representative, John Lewis.

The Depot endured several harsh renovation campaigns during the 1970s that radically altered the exterior design and interior layout. By the late 2000s, this once state-of-the-art bus terminal was ultimately abandoned after Greyhound relocated to a newly constructed facility, rendering the historic Depot in peril of demolition by neglect.

Mike Mouron, Chairman of the Birmingham-based Capstone Real Estate Investments, purchased the building in 2018 to readapt the bus depot into new office space and pursue a meticulous restoration in partnership with Williams Blackstock Architects and Stewart Perry Contractors. Mouron was able to save this historically significant structure by using several incentive programs, including the Federal and State Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Programs and Opportunity Zones. The building renovation carefully incorporated functions that supported leasing flexibility in terms of building systems, metering, and egress and accessibility. The first phase of the project is complete, which includes a “core and shell” renovation that restored the exterior and common area interior spaces along with the installation of modern building systems. The next phase will include a tenant build-out.

Please join us as we discuss the aspects that made this renovation possible and how this case study could serve as an example for the potential of readapting other urban properties.

AIA Alabama Spotlight

Binx Newton

AIA Alabama Spotlight

Binx has grown from Intern to Principal since joining Williams Blackstock Architects over two decades ago, following undergraduate studies at Auburn and graduate studies at Cornell, and demonstrating the firm’s dedication to professional development of its employees.

Binx reflects WBA’s passion for creating highly functional, dynamic design solutions in a collaborative environment, seeking to make the world and our communities a better place. He has led design teams of several WBA major projects and collaborations with international design firms to integrate our clients’ programmatic goals with their unique aspirations.

With interests in leading diverse teams that conceive, develop, and meticulously execute challenging projects, some recently recognized work includes the O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center and the addition to the School of Nursing at UAB, Hewson Hall and the North Engineering Research Center at The University of Alabama, historic renovations of the Federal Reserve Bank Building and the 2200 Magnolia building, and an expansion of the Barber Motorsports Museum.

He is currently leading multiple healthcare, science and technology projects including the renovation and addition to the UAB LHRB for the Altec Styslinger Genomic Medicine and Data Sciences Building, an Advanced Analytical Research Center for The University of Alabama, and a masterplan for Southern Research. Binx’s passion is to balance our economic, social, and environmental impact by leveraging great design and emerging technology