Giattina Fisher moving to new office in loft zone

Birmingham Business Journal

June 20, 2003

Birmingham's largest architectural and interior design firm will move this fall from Five Points South to the Jemison Flats loft and office building complex it helped develop last year at 19th Street and First Avenue North.

Giattina Fisher Aycock Architects Inc., the original investor in Jemison Flats, this week began finishing out the interior of the 10,000-square-foot first floor and expects to occupy it by Oct. 15. The only other office tenant is advertising agency Big Communications, with 6,000 square feet; another 14,000 square feet are available. The three-building complex's 57 one- and two-bedroom loft apartments are fully leased.

The firm says ad agency Slaughter Hanson & Associates Inc. will take its current location on 11th Avenue South after making some minor improvements; owner Terry Slaughter did not return phone calls by press time.

Built in 1911 as the First Church of Christ, Scientist, the 7,000-square-foot structure has been the firm's home since it bought and renovated the building three decades ago.

"We're leaving a community to help start another one," says Giattina Fisher Aycock vice president Chris Giattina, son of founder Joseph Giattina. "Our building was an important cog in the revitalization of Five Points; Jemison Flats could have a similar role downtown. This move has been in the back of our heads since we bought in three years ago."

The gamble that paid off

The $10 million transformation of the old seven-story Heritage and four-story Goldbro buildings and attached 250-space parking garage into the upscale Jemison Flats began last June and was completed earlier this year. Chris Giattina and brother Brian, the firm's chief financial officer, developed the project with Geoff Golden of Golden & Associates Construction LLC and Robert Simon of Corporate Realty Associates Inc. The group initially planned to convert the buildings into Class A office space entirely, but was unable to find an anchor tenant, according to Brian Giattina. "It had all the pieces - parking, location, size - but people weren't interested in offices west of 19th," he says. "So we had this epiphany to try multifamily, and we went with soft lofts because they're more sustainable." ("Soft loft" is an industry term that refers to a more finished, partitioned interior than the raw space typically thought of as loft space.) The project was no cakewalk, with unexpected costs popping up constantly due to the buildings' advanced age. The partners' patience, however, has paid off. More than half the lofts were occupied when they opened in January - at a monthly rate of $1.10 per square foot - and there is now a lengthy waiting list. Potential tenants, including several engineering firms, have expressed interest in the remaining office space, which rents from $15-$18 per square foot. In March, the Birmingham Business Journal named Jemison Flats the runner-up for its 2002 Renovation Deal of the Year award. "We took a gamble," Chris Giattina says. "Now it seems the obvious thing to do, but it was questionable then."

A 10-year lease

Founded in 1966, Giattina Fisher Aycock employs about 55 people, including 15 registered architects, 12 graduate architects and 12 interior designers. The firm's officials hope their experience with Jemison Flats and their 10-year lease there will help them land other renovation projects in the central business district. In the meantime, it is tearing up a nearby parking lot and will complete a 10,000-square-foot park on the site by the end of summer. Visible from Jemison Flats, the park will feature two hedges, rows of trees, a fountain, benches and tables.