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How a century-old steam plant may play a huge role in downtown Birmingham’s resurgence

Powell Avenue Steam Plant in the early 1900s
Powell Avenue Steam Plant

The two chimneys atop the Powell Avenue Steam Plant have been fixtures of the Birmingham skyline for over a century. Originally constructed only 25 years after the City of Birmingham’s founding, the 60,000 square-foot facility was built to power a “new south” city rising out of the mineral-rich soil of central Alabama.

“It was like a boomtown,” explained Alabama historian Dr. Leah Atkins. “People were flooding into the city to take advantage of real estate booms. The mines and mills opened up, more railroads came, and of course, an important thing was that the city had to have electricity. In 1896, Powell Avenue Steam Plant was built — and it was a state-of-the-art facility at that time — to provide the electricity for a ‘new south’ city.”

The plant powered Birmingham’s ascension into an industrial powerhouse.

“The growth of Birmingham grew up around this plant,” said Alabama Power Archivist Bill Tharpe. “It saw the coming of the airplane, the coming of the automobile, the civil rights movement of the 1960s. It’s sort of the grandam of Birmingham.”

But in 2013, Alabama Power finally shut it down.

“That’s continuous operation for approximately 117 years,” said Dale Dambach, who managed the plant for over three decades.

Powell Avenue Steam Plant

As the Powell Avenue Steam Plant aged, so too did Birmingham’s once-vibrant downtown. The city’s population shrank 12.6 percent from 2000 to 2010. Thousands of buildings sat dormant as businesses and residents moved to suburban areas surrounding the city’s center. Jefferson County’s $4.2 billion bankruptcy filing in 2011 only made matters worse.

But over the last several years, Birmingham’s beleaguered downtown has experienced a remarkable resurgence. Even the New York Times took note in a piece titled “A Return to Downtown Birmingham.”

And today, Alabama Power CEO Mark Crosswhite announced that the Powell Avenue Steam Plant will now power the next phase of Birmingham’s comeback story — not with electricity, but by adding a spark to the cultural renaissance taking place downtown thanks to development projects like Regions Field and Railroad Park.

In a video presentation titled “A New Venue for a New Era,” Crosswhite’s team laid out a massive renovation concept that would turn the old steam plant into a modern venue that could include outdoor green areas, restaurants, retail space, a theater, an entertainment venue, museums and other attractions that they believe will “create an economic generator for the future of Birmingham. A place that lures our children and our children’s children home for the next century with opportunity.”

Mark Crosswhite, CEO of Alabama Power Co.
Mark Crosswhite, CEO of Alabama Power Co.

“This is a concept,” Crosswhite said during a speech to the Birmingham Rotary Club. “This is our vision for what Powell Avenue could be.”

Crosswhite’s speech was also notable because it was the first major public event he has keynoted since taking over the helm of the Power Company on March 1st. He made it clear to the packed room at The Harbert Center that economic development will continue being a major priority for the company under his leadership.

“There are many questions about what Powell Avenue will evolve into, who will develop it, what might be located there,” Crosswhite said. “Will there be costs to develop Powell Avenue? Absolutely. But there would be costs if we did nothing more than leave Powell Avenue empty. There’d be costs if we tore down Powell Avenue. But what would be the cost of losing another historic landmark in Birmingham? We’ve got a different vision for Powell Avenue. We believe it can be a catalyst for further development in the city’s center. We believe that if we revitalize Powell Avenue in the very heart of Birmingham, it will bring more people downtown and be a driver for economic growth in the city and the entire region.”

Want to see what Crosswhite has in mind? Check out the video below, followed by a handful of artist renderings.

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