Real estate developer William Yandell was having lunch with his son in downtown Tuscaloosa in 2009 when he spotted one of the city’s iconic landmarks, the 11-story, classic revival skyscraper at the northwest corner of University Boulevard and Greensboro Avenue. Birmingham architect David O. Whilldin designed the structure, which was built for First National Bank in 1925.
Yandell, a principle at the Memphis-based Heritage Land & Development Co. LLC, a company known for redeveloping historic buildings, talked with business partner John Glassell about buying the Tuscaloosa office tower. In 2012, they announced the purchase of the building, which was by then home to PNC Bank.
Yandell and Glassell turned to Harbert Realty Services to help them acquire the building.
“We put the building under contract and had a due diligence period of several months to get in and survey the building and figure out how it could be renovated, because this would be a mixed use of offices and apartments,” says Dean Nix, Senior Vice President at Harbert Realty Services, Inc.
“A lot of the upper floors were vacant, and no renovation had taken place on those upper floors,” he says.
Read more on this story here, http://www.businessalabama.com/Business-Alabama/December-2014/Prestige-Digs-in-Tuscaloosa/
