Real estate developer Ed Drummond of Integrated Properties LLC received zoning approval on Tuesday to convert a former medical center to self-storage in the Crestwood South neighborhood of Birmingham, Ala. The city council agreed to rezone the 4.7-acre site at 720 Montclair Road from a health and institutional district to general business. Drummond is under contract to purchase the 50,000-square-foot structure, according to the source.

The medical building housed offices and an orthopedic-rehabilitation facility associated with Trinity Medical Center. "We are going to update the exterior some, but otherwise it will be much as it has been," Drummond told the council, adding that there’s demand for more self-storage due to high occupancy at locations serving the Crestline and Crestwood areas.

Though Drummond indicated the remainder of the property could be developed in the future, he wasn’t sure what local demand would be. The Crestwood South Neighborhood Association supported the rezoning effort, but councilmember Valerie Abbott, who represents the neighborhood, said residents are against restaurants and retail at the Montclair location. “They don’t want it to turn into a retail strip center,” she said.

One of the reasons the neighborhood is supportive of the self-storage project is the expectation of low traffic volume, the source reported. The property is immediately east of the Levite Jewish Community Center and School.

Steven Hoyt was the only council member to vote against the rezoning, calling the storage project a “train wreck.”

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