Ensley’s 10-story-tall Ramsay-McCormack Building, a historic landmark demolished in 2021 after standing more than 90 years, was supposed to be immediately rebuilt, better than before, by the fall of 2022, Birmingham officials announced in 2020.

Now, four years after the demolition, there has still been no vertical construction begun on the site.

The city, which already delivered $4 million to jump-start the project from 2019 through May 26, 2021, on Tuesday approved up to $6 million more toward the estimated $20 million cost. That includes a $3 million forgivable loan, with the loan forgiven if construction is completed within a deadline of 30 months. It includes an optional additional $1 million loan after completion of the project, pending approval by the Birmingham City Council.

Before approving the additional funding, the Council went into executive session to discuss it because of continuing litigation that has surrounded the project for years.

“We did what we had to do,” said City Council President Darrell O’Quinn after the vote. “I don’t think anybody is super satisfied with the history of that project.”

The item had been scheduled for a consent vote without discussion, but council member Valerie Abbott pulled it off the consent agenda. She noted that the fate of the Ramsay-McCormack building had lingered through several mayors dating back decades.

“We talked about it when Larry Langford was here, we talked about it when Mayor (William) Bell was here, and now we’re talking about it while Mayor Woodfin is here,” Abbott said.

Under the agreement with developers, the city will lease about 6,000 square feet for a police sub-station and city services related to economic and community development. The developer is expected to begin vertical construction within 120 days of the new amended and restated redevelopment agreement from the time it was approved Tuesday.

Irvin Henderson, managing partner of Ensley District Developers, which is overseeing the project, was at City Hall on Tuesday, but declined to discuss why construction halted after the demolition. “I told you three times no,” he said, when a reporter pressed him for comment on the delay.

The city released a statement saying the delays are related to the pandemic in 2020, after funds were allocated in 2019.

“The original Ramsay-McCormack Redevelopment Agreement, dated October 22, 2019, predated the shift caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” the statement said. “Nationally, capital development projects experienced significant setbacks. According to industry reports, construction delays and cost escalations became rampant, with some projects being completely abandoned. The pandemic’s impact on supply chains, labor availability, and financing created a volatile environment that continues to affect the construction industry. This context is critical to understanding the dramatic and sustained period of disruption.”

The Ramsay-McCormack Building towered over Ensley from 1929 through 2021, a symbol of its once proud business district in a historic industrial hub of west Birmingham.

The shutdown of U.S. Steel’s Ensley Works steel mill in the early 1980s set off a ripple effect of businesses leaving, with an estimated 34,000 jobs lost in Ensley since then.

Ensley’s business history has also been marred by high-profile crime, including the April 1986 killing of Ensley Grill manager Nathan Madison, and the 2020 killing of Ensley Food Market owner Amin Poonawalla.

After years of legal wrangling over the building that the City of Birmingham bought for $1 from a private owner in 1983, building inspections determined that the building had been neglected so long it was unsalvageable and that its walls would not have been stable enough to keep.

A Jefferson County judge ordered the demolition in 2017.

Marble slabs, terra cotta ornamentation, the entrance window and more than 200 bricks from the original structure were salvaged for use in the new building.

Plans call for the new building to be five stories tall, but each floor will be much larger than the original, making it only 18 feet shorter than the old building. The parapet at the rooftop would incorporate four stars, one at each corner, imitating the original building.

The projected new building, with 30,000 square feet of space, was expected to house offices for Innovation Depot, the City of Birmingham’s Business Diversity Team and Birmingham Promise, and other anchor tenants yet to be announced.

“We are fully committed to investing in the Ensley community,” city spokesman Rick Journey said in a statement released Tuesday. “A key part of that investment involves the completion of the Ramsay-McCormack Building site. The resources approved today supports that commitment for developers to go vertical on the property.”

The statement from the mayor’s office also said:

“In recent years, many developers have experienced the challenges and delays due to the pandemic, supply chain, increased construction costs and interest rate changes. Despite that, the city’s commitment has never wavered concerning this project. Today’s investment supports efforts to get this development across the finish line.”

No public hearing was held before Tuesday’s vote, which angered Ensley business owner Brian K. Rice. He said the city needed an accounting of the money it had already spent on the project before allocating more money.

“Why are we giving a failed developer more funding?” Rice said. “From 2021 to 2025, that’s another four years, and he hasn’t started construction.”

The lot remains an eyesore, he said.

“If you go there, the entire basement of the Ramsay-McCormack is still intact and it has got gravel filling in the basement,” Rice said. “I don’t think that’s considerate of the taxpayers or the business owners in downtown Ensley.”