A historic building in downtown Birmingham will get new life as a private laboratory, as well as a small retail component.

Redmont R&D bought the two-story, 9,000-square-foot building at 316 18th St. N. last year for $390,000, according to public records.

Now, the research company is redeveloping the building as a private lab space. The bottom floor will feature a small locally owned juice bar.

This photo of the 300 block of the 18th Street North shows the building that will be redeveloped as Redmont R&D in the 1930s.

"Everything is totally natural. There's some refrigeration, but there's no freezer, no microwave, nothing like that," McClure said. "They've got a really good product."

Joseph McClure Commercial Real Estate is the developer of the project. Hendon + Huckestein Architects is the architect on the project. LCS Designs is doing the interior design work.

Interior and structural work has already begun on the building, and building is expected to begin in about four weeks.

"Someone went in and took some support walls in there, and without doing it, the building basically caved in onside itself," McClure said. "Structurally, the inside was in very poor conditions for some other reasons, and there was some termite damage, but the site was still in good shape. What we did was basically tearing down the inside of the building, and on the outside, we're going back to as close to what was there originally as possible."

The building was originally put up in the early 20s and used as a hotel on the top floors. The downstairs had various uses, mostly retail.

McClure said he hopes folks will be working out of the building by February.

McClure estimates that about $1.5 million will be invested in the building, not counting the lab equipment. Redmont R&D is seeking historic tax credits.

The developers are considering putting a small temporary greenhouse on the roof for the freshest possible fruits and vegetables for the juice bar.