A request to demolish a rundown Woodlawn business is the next step in a plan to revitalize the surrounding community.

Woodlawn United last week asked for permission from Birmingham’s Design Review Committee to tear down a dilapidated former convenience store on First Avenue South at 57th Street.

The place-based nonprofit is working with REV Birmingham to develop a mixed-use property with residential and commercial uses convenient to the bus rapid transit station on the same block facing First Avenue North.

Elizabeth Barbaree-Tasker is the chief of finance and administration of REV Birmingham. She said REV and Woodlawn United each bought lots on the block behind the bus rapid transit station.

“We have been working on a vision of bringing commercial and housing, and a mix of uses, along with a parking lot across the street to support those uses and the commercial district as a whole,” Barbaree-Tasker said. “Our vision is not firmed up so specifically that we know more than just ideas to make it an improvement over what is there now.”

Woodlawn United is in its 15th year of working with Woodlawn community members on revitalizing the area. Joe Ayers is the chief community development officer at Woodlawn United.

Ayers’ job includes real estate but, he said, real estate is “only about 20% in terms of value of what we do, helping give people resources and a platform to elevate themselves and their families.”

Ayers said the desired development on First Avenue South would include a combination of housing and some form of retail or restaurant space.

“We’re not 100% certain what we can achieve,” he said. “We will do all in our power to make that happen. We try to take into account the people who are already here.”

Woodlawn United and REV Birmingham are in active conversations with potential developers. The development’s proximity to the BRT station on First Avenue North provides a way to address housing affordability problems.

With convenient access to the bus station, a household might forego the purchase of a car or a second vehicle. Public transit would provide a means to get downtown or as far west as the Birmingham CrossPlex.

“The development needs to increase foot traffic while adding value to that part of the block and fit with redevelopment (on the First Avenue North side) of that block,” Ayers said, echoing the need to increase foot traffic. “First Avenue South is a place where people need to come to get services.”

Ayers grew up in nearby Kingston. He said working at Woodlawn United is a chance for him to play a role in the redevelopment of the community that has been his home.

The building that is slated for demolition was the site of a business that closed during the COVID pandemic. Ayers and Barbaree-Tasker said the vision of what will replace the currently blighted spaced along First Avenue South in Woodlawn is not yet clear. But permission to demolish buildings is an early step.

Barbaree-Tasker said the organizations have been talking with the neighborhood for a couple of years about bringing a mix of uses that would encourage more foot traffic.

That increased foot traffic “could connect the residential side of the community with the commercial district, with the high school and library,” she said, “with an ultimate goal of increasing customers for the bus rapid transit line … and connecting more people to Woodlawn.”

If successful, the development would provide new, higher-quality housing that could be adjacent to the Birmingham Transit Center to provide ease of access for residents and could bring others to Woodlawn, benefiting the business district there.

“That’s our ultimate goal,” Barbaree-Tasker said. “We really have not firmed up what the development plan is going to be.”