The Liberty National building won't be part of the 20 Midtown development after all.

A group including Scott Bryant of Scott M. Bryant & Co. and Dick Schmalz of RGS Properties - the pair that developed 20 Midtown - bought the building in late December for $3.6 million from Pembroke Academy Investments LLC. The pair planned to make it part of the Publix-anchored mixed-use development.

They bought the building out of foreclosure, and in Alabama, owners may redeem the property within 365 days of a foreclosure sale. The original owners - Liberty Redemption LLC- redeemed the building Thursday.

"The previous owners had a legal right to redeem the property within a certain period of time," Schmalz said. "We're disappointed in losing the opportunity, but we still have plenty to work on."

The old Liberty National building on 20th street between Third and Fourth avenues south has been sitting vacant since 2010. The 80-year-old structure is riddled with asbestos, and one of the walls had begun to buckle. Last year, bricks and debris began falling off the building and onto the sidewalk below.

Schmalz previously told AL.com the building was riddled with asbestos that would cost upwards of $10 million to safely eliminate.

Liberty National moved from the downtown Birmingham building to an office in Hoover in 2010 and it's been vacant ever since. In 2010, Corporate Realty Development announced plans to buy the building and demolish it and replace it with a 400,000-square-foot office tower of around 12 stories. The company needed to secure a commitment for a major corporate tenant before moving forward, and the deal never came to fruition.

The future plans for the building are unclear. The attorney representing Liberty Redemption did not immediately respond to a request for comment Thursday.

8:45 p.m. April 27: This story has been corrected to reflect the proper name of the company that owns the building.