Category: St. Clair Business

Vacant hospital land sees
new life as shopping center

Story by Carol Pappas
Staff and submitted photos

In the 1970s, this land gave way to a new, three-story hospital for St. Clair County in Pell City. In the 1980s to accommodate this quickly growing city, a fourth floor was added. Ten years ago, the hospital saw its last patient moved to its new state-of-the-art hospital across Interstate 20 – again to accommodate the growth of a thriving city.

An abandoned building stood dormant for years then was demolished to once again make way for growth, this time in retail.

For five years, local developer Bill Ellison had been recruiting national retail brands, like Hobby Lobby and T.J.Maxx, to various properties around Interstate 20, but it wasn’t until McSweeney Automotive cleared trees on its development at the corner of I-20 and U.S. 231 that he saw the ideal spot. An unobstructed view left by clearing the trees revealed the old hospital property – visible from U.S. 231 and I-20. “That day, I saw the opportunity,” Ellison said. “That’s it!,” he told himself.

That act of clearing the land led to making it the perfect location for the retailers he was after and more. He approached county officials with the idea that it would be the perfect spot for retail development. It had all the right essentials of Interstate 20 frontage, plenty of acreage and the key – access and visibility from the interstate and U.S 231.

The St. Clair County Commission, which owned the property at the time, gave Ellison options on the land. Later, the City of Pell City assumed ownership of the property. Knowing the kind of retail the city and county needed, Ellison recruited a national commercial development company with a proven track record for this type of development.

Ellison had been making calls on the national retailers, but he was a local developer without the national relationships he needed to swing the deal, he said. He learned of the reputation of key executives of a development company that had those national ties, and he met them at a national shopping center conference in Las Vegas.

Those executives, now with Noon Development based out of Chattanooga, Tenn., began marketing the property, and in recent weeks, officials in Pell City announced the first two confirmed tenants with others to come.

Noon developed the Trojan Marketplace in Troy, where Hobby Lobby and T.J.Maxx are the anchor tenants along with Ulta Beauty, Five Below and Rackroom Shoes. 

Delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic, but not deterred, the Pell City development is now becoming a reality. Officials announced Hobby Lobby and T.J.Maxx as anchor tenants on the 19-acre tract with more news on the way about other household name tenants committing to set up shop there.

“The two anchor tenants are confirmed,” said Pell City Manager Brian Muenger. While others have not yet confirmed, Muenger said other tenants frequently locate with anchor tenants and are “proven, name brands. We are very happy to see them committed to it.”

Muenger pointed out that there are four outparcels in addition to the 135,000-square-foot retail complex. The one closest to the interstate has been reserved for a restaurant. In the agreement with the city during adoption of tax abatement incentives, the city will provide the land for a national, sit-down restaurant provided the developers locate one there within two years. If not, it reverts back to the city. “Rather than simply filling the space, we specifically said a national restaurant has to be part of the development.”

For years, citizens have been asking for amenities that would improve the quality of life in the city – more upscale restaurants and quality retail. “The developers are confident they can deliver on that agreement,” Muenger said.

To further ensure the city gets the kind of development its population wants, there was a pre-approved list of retailers.

The “gap” going unfilled for the city, Muenger said, has been soft goods and a sit-down restaurant.

The city has solidified its opportunities by partnering with the St. Clair County Commission as well. All involved see it as a “game changer” for the region.

The city is filing a petition to validate the project with the court, which will review the development agreement to ensure it complies with state law. Once approved, “that’s when work will begin,” Muenger said. Groundbreaking is expected later this year – mid-2022. As a comparison, the Trojan Marketplace broke ground in December 2019. It opened in May 2021.

There is grading work to be done at the U.S. 231 intersection and clearing more trees at the interstate.

“We’re excited about it,” Muenger added. “This is the highest and best use of this property. It will establish Pell City as a viable shopping destination, keeping dollars in the community that frequently were spent somewhere else.”

Ellison agreed. “There is a natural progression in commercial development in a community. Brands follow brands. In the future, any retailers that looks to expand in St. Clair County, they’re going to look at Pell City first. It’s the gift that keeps on giving, and it keeps local tax dollars at home to do some good in the community – providing funding for schools, infrastructure and a better place to live.”

The development, Ellison noted, “greatly expands our shopping trade area. People who would not ordinarily shop here will come here. While they’re shopping at the new stores, they’ll shop at existing stores, too. It’s a win-win for everybody. It makes us a stronger economic hub than ever before, building on our already firm position in the region,” Ellison said.

“This property has been a tremendous partnership between the city and county commission,” said Commission Chairman Paul Manning. “It began with us working together to construct a top-rated, new hospital but then continued with the redevelopment of the hospital’s old site.” 

Officials project the investment will generate more than $30 million in tax revenue over 20 years – $11 million of which is allocated to schools – and create a significant number of jobs. “This project will be good for the City of Pell City, the County Commission, and all of our citizens,” Manning said. “This project will provide both job and shopping opportunities that will help keep our families shopping local and attract more shoppers from outside of the county.”

St. Clair Economic Development Council Executive Director Don Smith echoed the essence of the development’s potential impact and talked of the partnership that helped bring it about. “The County Commission and Pell City have a long history of successfully working together on transformational projects. This project was no exception and would have been impossible without both entities supporting one another.”

Emphasis on ‘good growth’

Story by Linda Long
Photos by Graham Hadley

“Growing like gangbusters!” That’s how Springville Mayor Dave Thomas describes what’s going on in his town.

To those who think of Springville as the quintessential small, quaint, Southern town with sidewalks and antique shops lining Main Street, that might seem a contradictory remark. But to quote Bob Dylan, “the times, they are a-changin.”

“The antiques have given way to boutiques,” said Thomas. “A portion of our population wants Springville to never change, but I’m afraid that’s not reality. We’re going to continue to grow. So, the best we can do is to properly plan and manage the growth. We just need to do what it is we want to do and can do with our community, and what we don’t want to do is just as important,” he said.

“It’s quite a juggling act. Sometimes, it feels like your juggling chain saws,” Thomas said with a laugh.

Don Smith, executive director of the St. Clair County Economic Development Council, understands the mayor’s challenge. “Springville is not the largest city in St. Clair County, but that’s not their goal. Springville is focused on quality over quantity. It may mean they grow slower, but the growth they have brings tremendous value to the community.”

While Springville is not the largest of all the municipalities in St. Clair County, it does have the highest median household income in the county of almost $84,000, and the homes are probably among the most expensive.

“Their median household income is the same as Homewood even though Homewood is about five times larger,” Smith noted.

Calling it Springville’s vision for its community, Smith said, “they have always put their money and their efforts toward supporting small business and focusing on quality of life, safety and supporting their schools. Folks that live there in Springville take tremendous pride in making their community the best it can be,” Smith asserted, “and they are well on their way.”

“Personally, I think Springville is a hidden jewel in the region,” said Nikkie Posey, president of the Springville Chamber of Commerce. “As a community, it is very welcoming, and there are affordable options for shopping, living and visiting here. There is a great vibe in the city right now for small business with a lot of community following, which is one reason I opened my business downtown in Springville and got so involved with the Chamber.”

Posey, owner of Pinkhill Organics said she named her shop for the town’s original name, Pinkhill. “Nobody knows where the name came from,” said Posey. Because of many other businesses already using the word spring in their names, she opted for something different.

“So, I did some research and discovered Pinkhill and just ran with it,” she said. “Springville is becoming a place to come to stay, shop, to live,” said Posey. “People want that small-town feel that, as a community, we feel we have. As a community, that is something we want to maintain. We want to have good growth – controlled growth – without losing that small, hometown feel.”

According to Smith, in looking at new businesses or projects for Springville, “we always want a good fit. Many times, projects by residential developers have been turned away because they didn’t want to build the quality development that city officials wanted.”

The mayor remembers one such proposed development. “This young man, actually homegrown, wanted to do something in his community. He wanted to build, in his words, ‘high density, affordable housing.’ These would be on tiny lots just packed. I told him your business is not mine. My business is what’s good in Springville.”

Continuing, Thomas said, “I like to see opportunities available to locals, not just corporate chains, big box stores, and developers who are interested in nothing more than making their money and moving on to the next project.”

One project it seems almost everyone can agree is good for Springville is the Forever Wild Big Canoe Creek Nature Preserve set to open just north of town. According to Smith, the preserve “checks all the boxes on what is a good fit for Springville. It will have walking trails, biking trails, horseback riding, kayaking and canoeing in Big Canoe Creek and will allow people in Springville and outside the area to come and enjoy outdoor activities.

According to Thomas, a lot of folks in Springville are concerned at how neighboring Trussville has, in his words, “continued to explode” in growth over the years with strip malls and more and more subdivisions.

“Now, I’m not knocking Trussville,” he said, “but we don’t want to be them. We want to continue to be Springville. Of course, we’d like to get more storefronts filled, and we’re working on that. Things are happening in that regard.”

He points with pride to a new restaurant similar to Vestavia’s successful Backyard Market that will be opening, as well as a new bottling operation. “It’s from the same folks who bottled the water at Blount Springs. Now they’ll be doing the same thing with Springville water,” said Thomas.

He said the group already has a contract with Publix to develop local label products to put on their shelves. “They’ll be using Springville’s finest bottled water as a marketing hook.”

Promoting small business throughout St. Clair County falls to EDC Retail and Marketing Specialist Candice Hill. Toward that goal, Hill is working with chambers of commerce with what she calls Relevant Roundtables.

“We hold these every quarter as a way to touch small businesses and provide educational opportunities,” she explained. The meetings cover topics like social media and accounting practices among others. Hill said the resource is for all small business whether they are continuing to grow or just starting up.

Remembering back to when he first moved to Springville some 30 years ago, Thomas said, “Springville was lined with antique stores. The town had a Norman Rockwell-esque feel to it. Well, the antique stores are mostly gone, but what makes downtown appealing hasn’t changed. It hasn’t gone anywhere. The essence is still here. Everybody shares the same sentiment. Springville really is exceptional.”

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The Depot construction begins

Another sign of Springville growth

Story by Linda Long
Photos by Graham Hadley and submitted

There’s yet another sign of ‘good growth’ in Springville these days. The Depot, a facility now under construction in Springville, gives new meaning to the term multi-use. The first two phases of the 60,000-square-foot project on 20.43 acres on U.S. 11 will open next fall. The complex is planning space for just about everything – from physical fitness and education to arts and worship.

Mike Ennis, pastor at Faith Community Fellowship Springville Campus, says the project has been under way for the past four years. “It started with the opening of our church campus here in Springville and realizing the community was very centered around athletics. It was birthed out of some of the challenges facing Alabama.”

Because Alabama ranks low nationally in economics and health, “We felt like rather than building a church, we’d rather build a community center. Something the entire community could use. Something that would hopefully improve both the economics and health of our community and provide athletic opportunities.

Explaining that the center is “not just for young people and not just people who are a part of our church, we really wanted to build something that would serve the community at large. That’s been the driving factor behind it from the beginning.”

The Depot includes a community café and catering kitchen, multipurpose areas, conference rooms, coworking spaces, a teen center and independent living.

The center also includes an auditorium which the church will use, Ennis says, but his church won’t own the building. It will be a tenant. “We realized to make a decent impact and provide the most opportunity, we needed to hand it off to a property management group,” he said.

Surgance, Inc., 501(c)(3) nonprofit group, is overseeing and managing the project.

Ennis, who served on Springville’s strategic planning committee, said the committee decided Springville needed a facility like this one, which will include two auditoriums, banquet and meeting rooms, school grades K-8 and a preschool called Esteem Academy. Surgance is also partnering with the St. Clair County Board of Education, providing space for its virtual academy.

Representatives of regional, state and national organizations have been involved with the childcare and education committees to help with planning. It will include early childhood education, virtual school, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Math) Academy.

“There’s really nothing like it on this end of the county,” said Ennis. “We’re hoping to reach out to Springville and beyond. We’ve had a super positive response from everybody we talk to. I think there’s a real need for something like this.”

Phase I of the project is a 10,000-square-foot building, which is expected to be completed by June 2022.

Looking back at 2021

Story by Linda Long
Photos by staff

For St. Clair County, 2021 has been quite a good year – a boom year, in fact. It has experienced an economic upswing across the board, from housing to manufacturing; retail sales to tourism; new business to expansion of existing business. All that comes despite recovering from the unprecedented pandemic that struck in 2020, leaving many economic projects on the drawing board and spiked the unemployment rate to over 13%.

Nobody’s looking back, though. Optimism is high as county leaders look toward the future and interpret the numbers.  

Don Smith, executive director St. Clair County Economic Development Council, cites a study ranking the top 10 counties in Alabama with the most incoming investments. St. Clair county ranks No. 7 on that list.

“The study measures growth in gross domestic product, number of businesses opened and number of new building permits per every 1,000 homes in each county,” said Smith. “St. Clair County saw 3.8% business growth, $118 million in GDP growth, and 10.7 new building permits per every 1,000 homes over the last three years.” 

The study was conducted by technology financial technology firm Smart Asset.

Those numbers, on paper, are backed up by real brick-and-mortar projects springing up all over the county. The latest gem in St. Clair’s financial crown, Kelly Creek Commerce Park, is a $125-million industrial park to be situated on 172 acres in Moody.

Smith said about two years of preliminary engineering and planning have already gone into the project, and work was expected to begin in November. “We’ll be trying to get manufacturing and distribution-type companies in there with a focus on headquarters,” said Smith, adding that with this new facility, the county will be adding several hundred new jobs within the next five years.

According to Moody Mayor Joe Lee, the business park is following a master plan for construction. “They’ve got a set of covenants outlining what they can build, how it’s to be constructed, and just exactly how they can do things out there, even to the color of the buildings,” which the mayor said will be “earth-tone colored.”

There’s going to be 1.4 million square feet of space in those two earth-toned buildings,” he said. “Currently, site preparation is under way. “They’re clearing the land, putting in curbs and gutters. This is going to be a long project, probably about two years.”

The mayor says there’s no commitment yet from potential tenants, “but a lot of folks are interested in it. A possible fit could be a distribution business like Amazon. What is being created out there has many users.”

The property is located next to Red Diamond’s corporate headquarters off Kelly Creek Road. Lee says road improvements are planned to better access the nearby Interstate 20 and that turn lanes will be added to Kelly Creek Road.

Several new retail businesses are also set to open in Moody, including Dunlap and Kyle Tire Company, Walmart Warehousing and Landing Warehousing. And according to Lee, “the old Burger King building has been sold, and Dunkin’ Donuts has turned in a set of plans. “Plus,” he said, the old Krystal building “is close to having a contract signed on it.”

In somewhat of an understatement, Lee acknowledged, “Yeah, this past year has been pretty busy.” 

As rosy as Moody’s business climate appears right now, the mayor says the housing market in Moody, now the county’s largest municipality, is “unbelievable. I’d say in the next year or two, we’ll see 300 new homes built here.”

The story in Moody is indicative of what’s happening all over St. Clair, according to Smith.

“Retail sales are up everywhere. New retail projects were put on hold because of the pandemic but not anymore. We did expect to announce about $35 million of retail projects by the end of 2021, and that’s throughout the county, not just one city or the other.

“So, everyone’s doing well,” Smith continued. “The things that are going to be announced are going to be names that are missing in our county, and everyone leaves our county to shop at. It’s great to see small businesses really coming back strong. That’s one of the things we really focused on, making sure that folks we live next door to and spend time with are successful in their business.”

Tourism, a new industry in St. Clair County kicked off in 2020 at the very height of the COVID-19 pandemic. And, while most industrial efforts struggled during this time, tourism did not. According to Smith, it was actually “great timing” to kick off the tourism campaign.

“We don’t have a lot of indoor tourism things,” he said. “Everything is outdoors, and that was the only place you could go. So, everybody was wanting to get out, either hiking, camping, boating, rafting. People wanted to get outdoors where it was safe and fun. So, 2020 was an incredible year for people to discover St. Clair County’s outdoor activities.”

And the trend fit perfectly with St. Clair Tourism’s theme – “It’s in Our Nature.”

In 2021, tourists continue to flock to the county’s lakes, streams and rivers as well as outdoor festivals. Proof that the tourism initiative, headed by St. Clair Tourism Coordinator Blair Goodgame, continues to be viable can be seen in some examples of documented growth provided by event organizers.

At the Logan Martin LakeFest and Boat Show, 15,000 people attended in 2018 and 20,000 in 2019. The number jumped to 35,000 in 2021.

Bulls on the Lake Rodeo was canceled in 2020 because of the pandemic, but in 2019, 1,700 attended the event. That number jumped to 3,000 in 2021.

The Rustik Bucket Vintage Market at the St. Clair Arena saw 1,300 attendees in 2020 and 1,800 in 2021.

Looking ahead, Smith is optimistic about the upward trend continuing. Because of St. Clair County’s central location between two major interstates, its abundance of natural resources and general livability “we don’t see any slowing down. I think we can expect growth all over the county for years to come.”

Dog trainer left computer coding to start dream business

Story and Photos by Graham Hadley

Last year, as the COVID virus presented businesses with difficult challenges, some entrepreneurs took the opportunity to move their lives in new directions.

Alex Allen, who had been in the tech industry, did just that, moving out from behind a desk all day to training dogs in everything from basic household obedience to drug and bomb detection and other professional police and security work.

Allen took the leap of faith, founding Alliance K9, working with some of the top trainers to hone his skills and is now open for business in St. Clair.

“With the lockdown, things were slowing down. I was working at a desk all day, and just wanted to do something new,” he said.

Allen did his training with Tarheel Canine school in Sanford, N.C., under trainer Jerry Bradshaw.

“It was kind of baptism by fire. They put you in there with the padded suit on. You came around a corner, and there was a dog. You could either handle it or not.”

Allen handled it, no problem, but admits the training can be intense.

“It’s on-the-job training and it’s fast-paced. They put you out there and see what you are made of.”

At one point, he was playing the “bad guy” during building search training, usually used by police and military.

“You are hiding in this dark room wearing the padded suit. And you can hear them going through the building, the dog’s feet on the floor. Then he scratches at your door, and you know this is it. The next second, uniformed officers storm the room, there are bright strobes, the whole thing.”

Since those first days, Allen has come a long way, continuing to fine tune his skills so he can be the very best trainer he can be – and that is no small task given the range of services he offers dog owners: pet obedience, personal protection, behavior modification, police and security, search and rescue, and much more.

Each skill takes a specific kind of training and tools – simple things like bright balls for teaching dogs to fetch and retrieve to special padded, bite-proof suits he wears to train dogs to take down suspects.

If that is not enough, Allen trains all breeds of dogs, and each of those has specific behavior characteristics that vary widely.

“Some of your smaller breeds (like terriers), I spend a lot of time just getting the dog to get involved in the training, getting them interested in the process. That can take a lot of time and patience,” he said. Other breeds, like his Dutch shepherd, Ranger, are very focused on their training and are well suited to police and security work.

Displaying his dog’s training at the soccer fields behind the Pell City Civic Center, Allen would throw an oversized tennis ball for Ranger, who would dash across the field, grab the ball and come barreling back to his trainer, who was now outfitted in the padded suit to practice take-down techniques.

For Ranger, Allen was his entire focus, even when a group of kids came out to an adjoining field to play football – an activity the year-old shepherd clearly thought would be great fun to take part in. But his training held. The kids were running all over the other end of the field, but the dog was all business, fetching, retrieving and practicing his takedowns and restraint moves on a suited-up Allen.

While most of the training is straight forward, some of the more complicated tasks, like drug and bomb searches, require more work and special equipment.

Some of the larger schools have special permitting that gives them access to real drugs and explosives to train the dogs with. Allen says he is not there yet, but there are legal alternatives to both drugs and explosives he is using now.

Particularly with the drugs, though, the alternatives are not the best option, and he hopes to have those permits in hand in the future.

“The problem with the fake drug scents is, take meth, for instance. The synthetic scents are just of the methamphetamine chemical. But in real life, those drugs are mixed and cut with all sorts of things like cleaning supplies. So, if the dog is looking for just the meth smell, they may miss the real thing because those other chemicals are not in the training scents,” he said.

For explosives, right now he and Ranger are just getting started, so he is using simple gunpowder.

“We have just started with that. I have him where he can find the explosive, but the trick is getting him to locate the gunpowder without digging for it. With explosives, you just want them to locate them, not actively start digging through stuff for them,” he said.

Allen prides himself in being able to work with all breeds and for all kinds of different training, whether he is helping a family obedience train a Chihuahua, someone who wants their dog trained for personal protection or working with law-enforcement agencies to make sure their K9 units are the best around.

That takes a lot of training for the dogs, but even more training for Allen, who continually works with schools and other trainers to sharpen his skills.

And he is quick to point out, a big part of the training, especially when it comes to professional K9 security dogs, picking out the right animal for the task and assessing their abilities and temperament are key. For those dogs, you want a steady, smart animal, preferably from a working breed that has the instincts.

“When we start working with a dog, that is one of the first things I look for,” he said. Since he has started, he has made a lot of progress in that regard, especially in spotting the “steady” dogs that have the ideal personalities for things like police work.

As is necessary for his new line of work, Allen is an avowed dog lover, and sees teaching and promoting responsible pet ownership as a responsibility he is more than willing to take on.

People need to research and learn about what kind of dog fits their lifestyle and schedule – working breeds need to be kept active and given “jobs” to do, or they don’t do well. Terrier breeds need to be given things to occupy their time, as well. Those breeds are not well suited to being left in apartments for long hours while their owners work.

Other breeds, like English bulldogs, are more suited to owners who might have longer working days. Beagles and spaniels tend to need regular social interaction.

“People need to know what they are getting themselves into with different breeds,” he said, and be willing to meet the needs of whatever pet they bring home. “I consider that a core part of what I do when I am working with people and their dogs,” he said.

Allen said he has, on more than one occasion, had to help owners – some of whom hired him to help train their dogs – find their pets new homes better fitted to their needs.

“I have never turned away a dog for training” or to help with a rescue animal finding a new home, he said.

That is all part of the job, and one that Allen loves.

On walking away from a career in computer coding and tech, Allen said he has absolutely no regrets.

“Not one. I love this,” he said.

Editor’s Note: You can learn more at AllianceK9.com