BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Watts Realty Co. is planning to develop a $30 million apartment and retail project next to Regions Field baseball park in downtown Birmingham.

To be known as L&N Parkside, the six-story development is slated to have 129 apartments and 12,000 square feet of retail space. A 200-space parking deck will also be built and attached to the apartment building.

The development team plans to present plans for L&N Parkside at this morning's meeting of the Birmingham Design Review Committee. The project needs the panel's approval to pursue financing from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

L&N Parkside will front Fourth Avenue South and 16th Street. Along with the deck, which extends along 16th Street to Third Avenue South, the entire project will take up half of the block between 15th and 16th streets and Third and Fourth avenues.

L&N Parkside is slated for a block next to Regions Field baseball park. (Hendon & Huckestein Architects)

Instead of facing the baseball park, which is only active a few days a year, the developers decided to orient the project towards Children's of Alabama hospital and UAB.

Chip Watts, president of Watts Realty, said the apartments will target the young professionals who work at those and other downtown locations.

“We actually started planning this before the baseball park was announced and before some of the other apartment projects were announced,” Watts said. “We feel like everything that has happened since validates our plans for this property.”

L&N Parkside will have high-end finishes, such as granite and hardwood floors along with stainless steel appliances. Amenities will include a pool, courtyard, fitness center, rentable party room, business center and all but the studio apartments will have their own balcony.

Pricing is expected to range from $1,200 per month for a studio to $2,000 or more for a two-bedroom.

L&N Parkside is named for the famed Louisville and Nashville Railroad and the project's proximity to the Birmingham Railroad Park and the surrounding Parkside District.

Watts Realty is the developer and Brasfield & Gorrie will be general contractor. Hendon & Huckestein Architects is the designer and Arlington Properties will manage and lease the property.

L&N Parkside, as it will appear from Children's of Alabama hospital. (Hendon & Huckestein Architects)

The retail space can be divided for up to four separate businesses or the entire 12,000 square feet can be leased to a single tenant.

L&N Parkside joins several other downtown apartment or mixed-use projects announced for downtown that together will bring more than 1,000 apartments to the market. It is the third known project expected in the Parkside District.

More than half a dozen more projects are being rumored for various parts of downtown, including Lakeview, Southside and the Theater and Entrepreneur districts.

Bo Flurry of Rock Apartment Advisors said downtown is in need of these kinds of apartment projects aimed at young professionals and empty nesters.

“The market downtown is doing great. Most of the projects there have an occupancy of 95 percent or better,” Flurry said. “There is certainly the demand there and you’re seeing young professionals go over the mountain for these kinds of properties.”

Flurry said because the construction and renovation plans and approvals will cause the projects to be completed at different times, there isn’t much concern over the market getting saturated with apartment projects.

“If all of those came online at once, I think it would soften the market,” he said. “But I think they’re going to be staggered well enough to prevent that.”

Flurry said as long as these projects can show the kinds of returns expected, financing for the projects will be easier to come by and new developments will continue.

“I think they’re going to be really successful,” he said.

Watts said because the property is owned by the Watts family, which has been investing in properties around what is now the Railroad Park since the 1970s, they view it as a long-term commitment to the area.

“We’re a long-term holder of property and we intend to be here a long time,” Watts said.

With half the block going to the development, what will happen with the remainder of the block?

“The future of the block depends on the success of this project,” Watts said.

The project is seeking final approval from the Design Review Committee, which it needs to complete its application for $22 million in HUD financing. Birmingham Mayor William Bell has written a letter of support for the project. So has REV Birmingham.