Children's of Alabama Holds Topping Out Celebration for New Southside Office Building

BIRMINGHAM (Jan. 24, 2019) — Children’s of Alabama hosted a topping out celebration on Thursday, Jan. 24 for the James C. Lee III Building, a six-story, 115,000-square foot office building on the 1600 block of 4th Avenue South. The building is named after long-time Children’s Board of Trustees member and supporter James C. “Jimmy” Lee III.

Lee III is the fourth generation of the Lee family to lead the Buffalo Rock Company in Birmingham, the largest single family-owned Pepsi-Cola bottler in the country. He joined the Children’s board in 1992 and has served many years of distinguished service on behalf of the patients at Children’s, including a term as chairman of the board in 2014 and 2015 and an influential role on the Investment Committee. In 2018, the Children’s of Alabama Board of Trustees resolved unanimously to name this building in recognition of Lee’s long-time service and lifetime of generous philanthropic support.

“We are pleased our Board of Trustees has committed to a project that will complete the Children’s campus and put us in the position to respond to the healthcare needs of Alabama’s children and their families for the next 10 to 20 years,” said Mike Warren, Children’s CEO and President.

Construction of the office building is expected to be completed in summer 2019. The building will house non-clinical support services, many of which have been located off Children’s main campus since construction began on the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children building in 2008.

The office building will be connected via a pedestrian bridge across 4th Avenue South to Children’s existing Park Place building and serve as a connector to all of Children’s Russell Campus facilities. The new construction will be powered by Children’s existing Central Energy Plant (CEP) at the corner of 16th Street South and 4th Avenue South. Brasfield & Gorrie was chosen as construction manager and Williams Blackstock Architects as architect for the project.

“The new office building will allow us to bring the more than 200 staff members currently housed off-site back to campus, and, we hope, continue to contribute to the outstanding growth of Birmingham’s Parkside District,” said Mike McDevitt, Children’s Vice President for Facilities.

Children’s campus facilities total more than 2 million square feet, making it one of the largest pediatric medical facilities in the country. In 2018, there were more than 677,000 outpatient visits and more than 15,000 inpatient admissions at Children’s.