Harbert Center

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The Harbert Center in 2011

The Harbert Center is an office building and meeting facility at 2019 4th Avenue North owned by the Civic Club Foundation. The Center was opened on June 18, 1986 as the culmination of a community project headed by Hall Thompson and John M. Harbert III (for whom it is named). The building, finished in Italian granite and mahogany, was designed by architect Charles A. Moss Jr and built by Brasfield & Gorrie at a cost of $3.5 million.

The Harbert Center is the home of the Rotary Club of Birmingham, the Kiwanis Club of Birmingham, the Crippled Children's Foundation and Monday Morning Quarterback Club, and the Sunrise Rotary. It also hosts regular meetings for numerous other non-profits. The executive director is Chandrel Wright-Richardson.

On evenings and weekends the Harbert Center can be rented out for business or social events. Center Management, Inc. operates the building and Southern Foodservice Management provides catering services. The center also leases business and party equipment for on-location use. Rentable spaces include four halls seating between 80 and 472 diners, as well as the building's atrium, library, terrace, and second floor. The 3rd floor contains plaques commemorating those who have been inducted into the Birmingham Business Hall of Fame.

In 2002 a $750,000 master plan for refurbishing all areas of the facility was adopted. In 2011 the center launched a $1.5 million fund raising drive in order to update and expand its technology systems and to renovate the entrance and landscaping.

In 2012 a large bronze sculpture of an eagle was added to the Harbert Center's lobby. It was commissioned by the Alabama-Mississippi Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society as part of their "Legacy of Leadership" series to honor Hall Thompson.

References

  • Williams, Roy L. (October 5, 2011) "Harbert Center launches $1.5 million fundraising drive for improvements." The Birmingham News

External links