The Brown Marx Building - the last empty building in the "heaviest corner on Earth" - could soon be developed into a hotel.

Tupelo Hotels 1031 Acquisition II LLC purchased the building at the corner of 1st Avenue North and 20th Street North in downtown Birmingham from Hughes Capital Partners late last year for $3.7 million, public records show. The company also bought the Allright Parking Deck at 1901 First Ave. N. for $1.6 million.

According to information from the city of Birmingham, the purchaser plans to develop the property as a hotel.

Tupelo Hotels 1031 Acquisition II LLC shares the same address as Ascent Hospitality, which developed the Elyton Hotel in the adjacent historic Empire Building. Ascent is also developing a limited service Marriott hotel with 120 rooms in the former Alagasco headquarters building.

A marketing representative for Ascent Hospitality didn't respond to multiple requests for comment on the Brown Marx project.

Both Brown Marx and the Empire Building are part of the "heaviest corner on Earth." In the early 1900s, four of the South's tallest buildings were constructed at 20th Street and First Avenue in downtown Birmingham. A magazine proclaimed it "the Heaviest corner on Earth."

Scaffolding surrounding Brown Marx Building was removed last summer. A representative for the then-owner said the building was being cleaned up to look better for the opening of Elyton Hotel.

The Elyton project was funded in part through Alabama's historic tax credit program.

Earlier this week, the economic development committee of the Birmingham City Council approved providing a quitclaim deed to Tupelo Hotels 1031 Acquisition II LLC to clear title issues affecting a portion of the parking garage property.

The full council is expected to pass the item next week.

The city of Birmingham started condemnation proceedings on the property in 1957 to acquire a 20-foot wide strip of real property that would have enabled the city to widen 19th Street North.

The project never moved forward, but the condemnation was never cleared, assistant city attorney Jim Stanley said.