Take H2 Real Estate’s Downtown Birmingham Loft Tour on April 30 to tour 14 lofts in downtown Birmingham and enjoy time at their Marketplace featuring food trucks & pop-up shops.
I wrote the book on shopping locally (I mean that literally — my book, The Localist, was published in 2014), so living in downtown Birmingham is basically a dream scenario. I can pick up dinner, grab coffee or get a beer without getting in a car. Railroad Park is just a few minutes away, and soon the Rotary Trail will be, too. I can even walk to shop for books (at Reed Books), a cute necklace (at Charm), or pantry basics (at Mamanoes).
But most of us who live in Birmingham still don’t think of downtown this way. Not long ago, it was kind of a wasteland. A few years ago, I worked downtown at The Birmingham Post-Herald, and the city basically shut down after 5 p.m. — to find an open business, you basically had to drive to Southside. Downtown Birmingham is so different now: It’s pretty easy to have fun and be safe, and it’s even a great place to live.
H2 Realty (one of our favorite new clients here at Infomedia) knows that lots of Birminghamians still don’t know what downtown has to offer — and they’re doing something about it by reinstituting Birmingham’s Downtown Loft Tour. Take H2 Real Estate’s Downtown Loft Tour on April 30, and you’ll be able to check out 14 spaces in downtown Birmingham — both residences and businesses. H2 is also hosting a marketplace set up with food trucks, pop-up shops from local businesses and other fun surprises in the lot beside their downtown office (2012 1st Ave. North).
Tour Downtown Birmingham Lofts with H2 Realty
H2 a lot lined up (they’re announcing it all via their Facebook event page, so follow H2 on Facebook for updates). Eugene’s Hot Chicken is already committed, and you seriously have to come by and say hi — I have literally never seen anyone so awesomely excited about his business, he’s really fun to talk to, and that chicken is incredible.
Tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door, and $10 for kids 13-and-under (all proceeds benefit REV Birmingham, an organization that’s working to bring even more development and local business downtown). Buy your tickets for H2’s Birmingham Downtown Loft Tour here, and mark your calendar for April 30; the event lasts from noon to 4 p.m.
And if you want to explore a little while you’re downtown, it’s easy to make a day of it. Here are a few of my ideas for making the Downtown Loft Tour into an all-day downtown Birmingham extravaganza:
- Start with coffee from Urban Standard (they have breakfast, too) or Revelator
- Have a lazy brunch at El Barrio or Feast & Forest
- Kill some time with video games and rosemary fries at Paramount
- Get a sushi roll for lunch at Bamboo — try to save room for food trucks at H2!
- Want to make things weird? Check out the very strange Birmingham Oddities, or look through old books and other treasures at Reed Books
- After the Loft Tour, walk through Railroad Park, catch a Barons game, and grab a beer at Good People
Oh, and if you’re a business hoping to open in downtown Birmingham soon, we’d love to help you out with a website — check out what we do at Infomedia, and get in touch below to let us know what you’re looking for.
