Apartments will be built on floors two through seven in Pizitz. The ground floor will be retail space.

“We’re extremely excited about where we are with bringing Pizitz to reality,” Silverstein said. “Our goal is to be under construction with the project spring of ’14. We have always recognized it’s a transformative project. We’ve heard more than once, ‘When are you going to do Pizitz?’ It will get done when it’s the right time and it certainly appears that this is the right time.”

The Pizitz, the Thomas Jefferson Hotel and other projects qualify for a new state historic tax credit. However, there is a $5 million limit on those credits for any single project and a $20 million statewide cap on those credits in a single year.

With more and more major projects being announced it could raise the competition level for those credits.

But Silverstein said multiple apartment projects within a few blocks of each other could create a necessary synergy that boosts all of the developments.

Developers are drafting plans for apartments in downtown's former Thomas Jefferson Hotel, also known as the former Cabana Hotel. (File)

“Timing is everything and now is the right time to be bringing this project online,” Silverstein said. “It’s wonderful that the Thomas Jefferson has been acquired and they are going to put in about 110 rental units there. When Jeffrey (Bayer) and I purchased Pizitz over 10 years ago, 19th Street was the frontier. That’s no longer the case.”

Silverstein said while having a daytime crowd of workers is good for some restaurants and retailers, even more important is having a 24-hour population that includes people living nearby.

“There are more retailers that have an interest in the ground floor of Pizitz now than when it was an office project because the dynamics have changed for the better,” he said. “We feel comfortable that we will lease the retail appropriately.”

The Pizitz project will start construction in spring of 2014 with an opening of fall of 2015, Silverstein said.

Elgin said he doesn’t feel the planned projects will hurt each other because his own research mirrors that of REV Birmingham.

“I think downtown is finally getting a critical mass,” Elgin said. “From our perspective, the more the merrier.”