BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – The historic, fire-surviving Powell School property is very close to getting new life as a multimillion-dollar apartment project.

Atlanta's Integral Group is in final negotiations to purchase the property and invest $3.5-$4.5 million converting the old school into 22-26 apartments.

Powell School, at 2329 Sixth Ave. North, was built in 1888 and is Birmingham's oldest existing school building.

Sam Frazier, the Birmingham attorney who chairs the Birmingham Design Review Committee, revealed the deal at Wednesday's committee meeting. He said the contract is now with city attorneys but all are confident an agreement will be reached soon.

Frazier and Michael Calvert, former president of Operation New Birmingham (now REV Birmingham), have been serving as volunteers for the Alabama Trust for Historic Preservation since a January 2011 fire caused substantial damage to the building and cost it its roof.

Frazier and Calvert worked with the Alabama Trust to have the roof replaced, the asbestos removed and other structural and cleanup improvements.

"The building is cleaner now than it was before the fire," Frazier said. "It's ready to go for development."

The city gave control of the building and the 1.3 acres of property to the Alabama Trust in hopes of finding a developer able to save the building.

Calvert cautioned there are still hurdles that the city's legal department and Integral must clear before a final deal is in place. Integral must still put together detailed plans and cost estimates after it purchases the property.

But Integral has been in talks for the property for more than a year and the company is committed to the area, already handling the management and leasing for Park Place, the mixed-income, Hope VI project next door. The Powell School, however, is destined to be market-rate apartments.

Efforts to reach the Integral official heading the Powell School project were unsuccessful.

Calvert said instrumental in Integral's development plans was being named one of the inaugural recipients of an allotment from the state's $20 million state historic tax credit program for fiscal year 2014.

"It is a critical aspect of the plan to renovate the building," he said. "Without that, I don't think Integral could make the numbers work."

The school sits just a couple of blocks from the site of the old Terminal Station, the demolition of which is still decried by preservationists as one of Birmingham's biggest mistakes.

Calvert said he and Frazier have used the memory of the Terminal Station's demolition in 1969 as encouragement for their efforts to save Powell School.

"We're excited about the potential for renovation and a new use and life for Powell School," Calvert said. "We sure don't want this building to go the way of the Terminal Station."

Although the old 25,000-square-foot school is three stories, Calvert said there is a very large attic that could become a fourth floor loft with large, arching windows and a high-pitched ceiling.

The former playground area for the school can be converted to secure parking, Calvert said.

Powell School is named for Col. James R. Powell, former Birmingham mayor and president of the Elyton Land Co., which donated the property. The school is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for both its historical significance and its distinctive Victorian-Gothic architecture.