Towering plans for downtown

If all goes well, by this autumn a scab will have been removed from downtown Anniston and in its place should rise something to make the city proud.

That’s right, the old AmSouth Building, the thing that had its hair catch fire in 2003, is about to get a makeover.

As The Star has reported, the group undertaking the remaking of the 11-story building — Watermark Tower LLC, made up of partners Hubert Wright and Ken Keys of Anniston — has finally secured financing.

The deal was made possible when Compass Bank stepped forward with an initial $1.2 million loan. This freed up substantial historic tax credits and paved the way for the partners to add their contribution. When the building is ready to house tenants on the upper floors, close to $ 5 million will be tied up in this venture, according to James Lloyd, the project manager.

The cost of the original building, erected over the course of about 12 months in 1926-’27: $315,000.

And it is from Lloyd that we get this promise: “ The people of Anniston will see work on the facade by the end of this month. It should take about two months to finish that part of the job.”

Think what joy will bubble up when that burned-out top floor — the melted metal, the smudge marks that have blighted the higher altitude regions of Anniston all these years — turns more alabaster.

Well, more taupe actually, or maybe even a smidgen more beige. Lloyd says the thinking was the original building, which was 10 stories high, was fire-engine red. But when workers started peeling back the facade, they discovered light-colored stone and brickwork.

The important thing, of course, is that this represents a possible renewal of not only the Watermark Tower, but the whole of downtown. If the project is successful, there could be a substantial addition of office workers at the corner of 10th and Noble.

Bill Couch certainly sees the advantage. He runs Couch’s Jewelers, just across the street.

“ Sure, it’s a good thing for us and for downtown,” said Couch on a recent boiling afternoon. “ It will mean more people downtown, more people shopping, more people eating out. It can’t be anything but good.”

The only question bugging him, he said, was what to do about parking. “ Then again,” he added, “that’s a nice problem to have, isn’t it?”

No one seems happier about movement in the right direction than Karl Wasner of the architectural firm Dean, Tyler and Burns. Since the fire, Wasner has been the only tenant in the building, holing up in a space on the ground floor.

For him, rehabilitation of the building was “a must.”

Standing in the dusty lobby of the Watermark Tower, he simply pointed to the opposite corner and reminded this reporter that a beautiful structure — the old Noble opera house — once stood there and when it was torn down (1958), it was many years before the current boxy vacant building replaced it (1970).

Doing anything but returning Watermark Tower to its glory, Wasner reminded, would have been a disservice to Anniston.

Some credit should be spread around for that, argues Lloyd. First, of course, credit goes to the stay-with-it-ness of the partners. Then there’s Compass Bank for finally coming around after at least five banks gave the project a pass. But it was the persistence of Jim Miller at the Anniston Water Works that really kept this alive, Lloyd says.

The Water Works will be a tenant, but Miller has been in the background in this project all along.

Lloyd says he is contractually bound to ready the Water Works space — the basement, half the first floor and all of the second — by year’s end. He says he’ll have the other half of the first floor ready for Doug Ghee’s law firm to move in by then as well. The new office for Dean, Tyler and Burns will move to the third floor, but he says he’ll have that ready, too.

The rest of the third floor, and all of floors four through 11, will be fitted out to be basically ready for tenants, Lloyd says. But the floors will be left open so the space can be altered to the tenants’ wants.

Lloyd says he and the partners hope for a mixed-use building, with commercial, professional and perhaps residential tenants. The top floor with its 18-foot ceilings could, he says, be an ideal spot for a restaurant. The sixth floor, a space still very much the way it was when first constructed, is “the most historical” and could be used as a professional office or residence.

High-end condos and high-powered law firms populating the Watermark Tower would be a wonderful thing for downtown Anniston. But right now, most everyone will be happy just to see the scab removed.

Anniston Star Editor at large John Fleming explores issues related to the area’s economy and businesses in this weekly news column. Send topic suggestions to johnfleming2005@bellsouth.net.