First US Bank starts construction on Pumphouse Plaza in Birmingham
Pumphouse Plaza will house offices for First US Bank and have office space available for lease to other tenants on U.S. 280 near Cahaba Heights. (Michael Tomberlin / Alabama NewsCenter)
First US Bank broke ground Tuesday on its 40,000-square-foot office building off U.S. Highway 280.
Bank officials were joined by developers and leasing manager Graham & Co., general contractor Brasfield & Gorrie and architect KPS Group Inc. in the ceremony.
The two-story building, which will be named Pumphouse Plaza, will house a branch and other banking operations for the Thomasville-based company while creating 30,000 square feet for lease to other tenants.
The ceremony took place on the nearly three-acre site for the new office complex at the intersection of U.S. 280 and Pump House Road in unincorporated Jefferson County.
“The only way this project ever happened was when the neighbors got involved and liked what they saw and realized they were going to have a good neighbor,” James F. House, president and CEO of First US Bank, said. “I don’t think the Jefferson County Commission would have gone forward with it had that not been the case.”
First US Bank breaks ground on Pumphouse Plaza Birmingham office project from Alabama NewsCenter on Vimeo.
In addition to the ceremonial shoveling of dirt, leaders talked about the significance of building new speculative office space on the busy U.S. 280 corridor for the first time in more than seven years.
“Location. Location. Location. That’s basically all I have to say about this site,” said Henry Graham, vice president of development with Graham & Co. “You’ve got 80,000-plus cars a day going by on U.S. 280. We couldn’t be more proud to be a part of the first speculative office building that is going to be built in Birmingham since 2008.”
The start of construction is not the start of work on the project, Graham noted.
“The hardest part of any development is all of the time and energy and resources that go into getting us where we are today,” he said.
Robby Hayes, vice president and division manager with Brasfield & Gorrie, said the company is aware of the project’s significance.
“This job is such an important milestone in your bank’s history. For us, any time that we can play a very small part in delivering a project and be a part of that milestone, it’s a big deal,” he said. “We appreciate you entrusting us and our firm to deliver this project.”
Hayes said the building will have the First US Bank name on it and, therefore, be a reflection of the bank itself in the community.
“You’ve got our commitment that it will be nothing less than a first-class operation,” he said.
Hugh Thornton, principal architect with KPS Group, noted Pumphouse Plaza will include subsurface parking as part of its design.
“We are honored to be part of this team. It takes a team of a lot of different people working towards the same goal to make a project successful,” he said. “We look forward to getting across the finish line and hope you have many productive days here on this site.”
House said the neighbors had a hand in approving the building’s and the site’s design.
“The community had a significant input into the plan, design and landscaping,” he said. “We are a bank and we exist with business from community, so we thought that was a really critical thing.”
The bank expects to open the new building in 2017 and will move the commercial lending staff and executive offices from Office Park to the new location. Services will include drive-up ATM and deposit services as well as a full line of electronic and online banking products.
The new offices will create or relocate up to 20 jobs in Jefferson County, a number officials said is expected to increase over time.
First US Bank is the wholly-owned banking subsidiary of United Security Bancshares Inc. The bank recently opened a loan production office in the Office Park area of Mountain Brook to become the focal point of the bank’s commercial lending efforts in the Birmingham area.
The new facility will further establish the 64-year-old bank’s growing presence in the Birmingham metro area. In addition to the loan production office at Office Park in Birmingham, First US Bank has 18 offices in Bucksville, Butler, Calera, Centreville, Coffeeville, Columbiana, Fulton, Gilbertown, Grove Hill, Harpersville, Jackson, McCalla, Thomasville, Tuscaloosa and Woodstock.
