McWane Economic Education Center
The Junior Achievement McWane Economic Education Center is a Junior Achievement of Alabama educational facility located on the former Regions Bank surface parking lot just south of Park Place Apartments at 2201 6th Avenue North in Birmingham's Central City neighborhood.
Junior Achievement planned the 30,000 square-foot building to house its JA BizTown and JA Finance Park programs for 6th and 8th grade students. The project was supported by the State of Alabama, the Alabama Community College System, Regions Bank, EBSCO, the Stephens family, Altec, Brasfield & Gorrie, the Beeson Community Fund and Carver Bank. Will and Kaitlin McWane committed $4 million to the project through their family's McWane Foundation. The facility was named in their honor.
Goodwin Mills Cawood designed the $15 million building. The 1.9-acre site was purchased from Regions Bank for $2 million. A $20 million capital campaign to cover the development costs and five years of operations was chaired by Jim Gorrie. A ceremonial groundbreaking was held on January 9, 2025. Pylon Building Group was the general contractor.
Junior Achivement anticipates running a pilot program in spring 2026 and operating at full capacity in the 2026–2027 school year.
References
- Jones, Ashleigh (June 13, 2024) "Nonprofit's $20M campaign to bring two learning centers downtown." Birmingham Business Journal
- Watson, Nathan (September 3, 2024) "JA McWane Economic Education Center coming to downtown Birmingham." Bham Now
- Jones, Ashleigh (September 22, 2024) "Bham nonprofit inks $2M downtown land deal for significant project." Birmingham Business Journal
- Watson, Nathan (January 9, 2025) "A new state-of-the-art experiential learning facility coming to downtown Birmingham." Bham Now