Time's right for historic building to get makeover

After lying dormant for more than a decade, several floors of Huntsville's first skyscraper are getting a face-lift.

The 12-story Times building, at Green Street and Holmes Avenue, is undergoing construction on its third through seventh floors.

The basement is also being refurbished.

Plans call for offices and possibly a pub or restaurants, said developer Randy Schrimsher, who owns the building.

"We'll probably have a floor ready in 30 to 60 days," Schrimsher said. Other floors will be ready shortly after that.

He said he'll leave carpeting and paint color choices to the tenants.

The Times building was constructed in the 1920s. Schrimsher bought it at a county auction in 1985 and renovated the first floor soon after.

"But it took 15 years to get someone interested in the second floor," he said. That floor ended up being occupied for a time by Anivision, a now-defunct 3-D animation company.

Schrimsher remembered joking years ago that, at that rate, he might not live to see all 12 floors completed.

"It's been a long, long go."

Schrimsher said he always wanted to put residential apartments in the building.

"Because of code requirements, I realized that was never going to be feasible," he said. With the decision made to go with commercial development and with the other development starting or planned downtown, "I thought the time was right" to start renovation.

Schrimsher said it's a "real possibility" the basement - which includes 10,000 square feet of usable space - will be used for restaurants and/or a pub. But no deal has been signed.

According to Sandy Houck of Coldwell Banker Commercial McLain Real Estate, which is responsible for leasing the building, each floor has about 1,560 square feet of space.

There's a stairwell, elevator and bathroom on each floor.

The offices will have new heating and cooling systems, wiring, plumbing and wireless and wire computer connections.

Each floor also offers a 360-degree view of the city.

The Coldwell Banker Commercial office is now located on the second floor of the tower and part of the second-floor wing.

Two double offices are already leased, and two more are available in the second-floor wing. Five single offices on the second-floor wing are also available.

Schrimsher said he'll probably finish renovating the whole tower when three floors are leased.

Link to history

The building is "an absolute work of art," Houck said. "It's like a link to Huntsville's history."

The Huntsville Times moved from the building in 1956 to its current offices on Memorial Parkway between Governors Drive and Bob Wallace Avenue.

Some features of the downtown building will remain: a mail drop that ends in the first-floor lobby, the original marble walls, the bubbled glass office doors.

Already occupying offices on the first floor are Bill Peters Architects, Garver Engineers, Thornton Properties and lawyer Jake Watson.

There are plans for more developments near the Times building.

Steve Thornton, president of Thornton Properties, plans a condominium project called 301 East at the northeast corner of Holmes and Green, cater-cornered from the Times building.

Just down Holmes, there are plans for a microbrewery called Olde Towne Brewing Co. in the building that once housed Theatre 'Round the Corner.