Birmingham's urban decline initiated during the mass suburbanization after WWII and continued through the next few decades until the city was widely avoided in favor of the cities suburbs.^1,2 The Pizitz department store on 2nd Ave North is one representative tale of this migration out of urban centers in the United States. Opening in 1925 the iconic building in the heart of downtown Birmingham was the flagship store for the Pizitz department store chain.^3,4

At 8 floors the store was a well-known landmark in the city, yet it still fell victim to the gradual loss of economic activity in Birmingham.² While the company was eventually assimilated by other department store chains, the building itself closed in 1988. From this point, it was left vacant and abandoned for nearly 3 decades. With these photos we can take a look inside the building as it was toward the end of those years of neglect.

Although purchased for redevelopment in 2000, it still remained untouched as the project continued to pass successive planned completion dates without progress. ⁴ Like the Lyric Theatre, procession on the refurbishment only reached critical momentum at the same time as other revitalization projects downtown. ⁵

PZ Department Store Office - [2349].jpeg

“There always seemed to be a plan on the table for restoring Pizitz, and those plans always fell through – not enough investors, not enough community support, skepticism over downtown’s rebirth.⁶”

Once funding and tenants were secure the repurposed building finally opened in early 2017 featuring retail, offices, luxury apartments, as well as a food hall. ⁷ While some have claimed that this type of development is contributing to the gentrification ⁸ of downtown, others have pointed out that redevelopment of vacant buildings is not a major contributor to displacement. ²

See more photos on Flickr