While much of the attention of late has centered on Pell City Square, the 100,000+ square foot retail center, officials see it not as an end to the story, but a new beginning.
It seems there is more good economic news on the horizon already. Mariott has broken ground on a $14 million hotel project just across I-20 next to Home Depot on Vaughan Lane. The 89-room venture is a higher end, medium stay hotel that can cater to business travelers.
It is a high-quality hotel with pool and other amenities, giving the city more capacity to market accommodations for events all around the region, not just in Pell City. Event venues like Talladega SuperSpeedway, Barber Motorsports, Lincoln’s Landing, Civilian Marksmanship Park and Top Trails will benefit from the increased capacity the hotel provides for travelers. And the lodging tax it generates only serves to strengthen Pell City coffers, enabling the city to reinvest in infrastructure, services and quality of life, according to Pell City Manager Brian Muenger.
None of the current economic shots in the arm happened overnight, officials are quick to say. Plenty of needs identification, planning and goal setting preceded the series of announcements made in recent months.
The city identified the “biggest gaps” in its retail and restaurant landscape and set out to fill them, Muenger said. Because of the comprehensive planning effort, “All the things we said we wanted, we’re on track to do.”
Crawford-Skinner Agency retains its Best Practices status, once again becoming a part of an elite group of independent insurance agencies around the United States. This status comes by participating in the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA or the Big “I”) Best Practices Study group. The annual survey and Study of leading independent insurance agencies documents the business practices of the “best” agencies and urges others to adopt similar practices.
“Crawford-Skinner Agency is proud to be recognized again as one of the best agencies in the business,” says Brian Skinner, Crawford-Skinner Agency president. “Since my grandfather founded the agency in 1944, we have consistently provided the best possible service to our clients. We look forward to continuing our legacy of service for years to come.”
The Crawford-Skinner Agency was founded in 1944 and can offer insurance products from a number of different companies including Auto Owners, Progressive, Liberty Mutual, and many more.
Since 1993, the Big “I” and Reagan Consulting, an Atlanta-based management consulting firm, have joined forces to study the country’s leading agencies in six revenue categories. The agencies comprising the study groups are selected every third year through a comprehensive nomination and qualifying process and awarded a “Best Practices Agency” designation.
The agency was nominated by either an IIABA affiliated state association or an insurance company and qualified based on its operational excellence.
The selected Best Practices agencies retain their status during the three-year cycle by submitting extensive financial and operational data for review each year. This is the second year of the current three-year study cycle, where over 2,600 independent agencies throughout the U.S. were nominated to take part in the annual study in 2022, but only 287 agencies qualified for the honor.
To be chosen, the agency had to be among the 35-45 top-performing agencies in one of six revenue categories.
Editor’s Note: Founded in 1896, the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (the Big “I”) is the nation’s oldest and largest national association of independent insurance agents and brokers, representing more than 25,000 agency locations united under the Trusted Choice brand. Trusted Choice independent agents offer consumers all types of insurance—property, casualty, life, health, employee benefit plans and retirement products—from a variety of insurance companies.
EDC develops road map to St. Clair County’s future success
For some, talk of five-year plans conjures visions of a small gaggle of decision makers in a back room, setting a course for the masses.
But when St. Clair County’s Economic Development Council crafted the county’s growth blueprint for the next half decade, EDC Executive Director Don Smith made one thing plain: This is a countywide team effort. The council listened to hundreds of voices, folks from the incorporated areas to the farmlands, the lakefronts to the riverfront, corporations, small business owners and every entity in between.
“The EDC’s success is the result of the partnerships we create throughout the county,” Smith says. “That’s really the secret to our success. It’s not what the EDC does. It’s what we’re able to do by working with others.”
Springville’s downtown drawing new businesses, visitors
The recently approved new five-year plan was crafted after a series of public meetings across the county and input from hundreds of citizens.
“From that, we were able to create a vision of what we need to focus on achieving in the next five years,” Smith says, “The plan helps us to stay focused and to dedicate resources to make sure we achieve our goals.”
The wide-ranging plan focuses on six key areas – infrastructure development, marketing and communication, recruitment and retention, community development, leadership and tourism.
Some key areas include job creation, growing agritourism, including farm-to-table initiatives, and assisting municipalities in tapping into a deep pool of available state and federal grants through EDC’s Grant Resource Center.
“We had a lot of input from our smaller municipalities about the difficulty in knowing what grants are out there and being able to obtain those grants,” Smith says. “When you talk about a municipality that has a budget of $1 million, and they can get a grant for $200,000 for infrastructure or something else, that’s a major impact for them.”
The plan also envisions an industrial park to create more wealth along the county’s section of the burgeoning Interstate 59 corridor. Development along the vital transportation artery is a key component in the goal of creating 1,200 jobs over the life of the blueprint.
“That’s going to be a major priority for us over the next five years – to create more jobs along (I-59),” Smith says. “I think we identified 300 acres as being part of our goals. Those goals are very important because over the last 15 years, since I’ve been head of the EDC, we’ve achieved all of our goals. We put all of our efforts in making sure those things take place.”
The EDC is also looking at reinvigorating hands-on workforce development in partnership with local schools and Jefferson State Community College. The COVID-19 pandemic stalled those efforts.
Workforce Development
“There’s going to be a renewed focus on getting these programs – from K-12 to Jefferson State, to our employers – reconnected and utilized so that benefits our citizens, that benefits our employers, and it benefits our educators,” Smith says.
“We have a tremendous asset in Jefferson State Community College, and I don’t believe it’s being fully utilized by the citizens of St. Clair County,” Smith adds.
A heightened communications and marketing presence is also on the horizon. Competing counties, like Walker in northwest Alabama, have stepped up their advertising presence in the Birmingham TV market and beyond. Look for St. Clair County to do the same, along with a larger social media presence.
“One of the things we learned from the tourism initiative is there’s a desire to know what’s taking place in the community. So we’re going to take that focus and extend it on, not just tourism events, but all the successes and opportunities that a fast-growing community like St. Clair County offers to not only the citizens of the county, but outside of our county as well.”
Industrial and small business growth, combined with an exodus from crowded big cities like Atlanta and Birmingham, fueled growth of nearly 10,000 residents between 2010 and 2022, according to the Census.
Here is a brief snapshot of some other highlights of the five-year plan.
In infrastructure: As noted earlier, the development of the I-59 corridor is “absolutely a top priority,” Smith says. Obtaining more grants is near the top as well.
Marketing and communications: Greater use of the EDC website is expected to be a priority moving forward, Smith says.
Recruitment and retention has been the cornerstone of the EDC since 1999. A recent ribbon cutting for an industrial park in Moody illustrates that effort and will move the county toward such goals. “That’s going to continue, along with new manufacturing parks that are going to be identified and developed in the future,” Smith says.
In the area of leadership, the 17-year-old Leadership St. Clair County has been an incredible success, Smith says, connecting governmental and business leaders to develop relationships and to solve common problems and foster cooperation. The EDC hopes to conduct four Leadership St. Clair County classes in the next five years.
Smith praised county commissioners for supporting the EDC tourism initiative, which began in 2019. The county’s lodging tax revenue has increased by 87 percent since the push for more visitors began, an estimated $200,000 in additional revenue.
“With that, comes the opportunity for more hotels and more opportunities for short term rentals. Ultimately, it means that more folks are coming to the festivals we’re having and visiting the resources we have here.”
The county also gets a tourism bounce from nearby marquee events at Talladega Superspeedway and Barber Motorsports Park.
Ecotourism is also blossoming, as fly fishing, sailing, kayaking and other water sports grow on the Coosa River and Neely Henry and Logan Martin lakes and their accompanying tributaries.
A byproduct of the EDC roadmap to the future?
EDC staff, from left: Executive Director Don Smith, Tourism Coordinator Blair Goodgame, Retail and Marketing Specialist Candice Hill and Director of Industry and Workforce Development Jason Roberts
“Ultimately, as this county continues to grow, having cooperation between the County Commission and the municipalities is going to be paramount,” Smith says. “Otherwise, we’ll become fragmented and dysfunctional like many counties are in Alabama.”
Endeavors like the five-year plan help to build county unity, something much needed in a fractious national political and social climate.
“The EDC has trained specialists in different fields,” Smith says. “But we never want to be in a bubble, because then we’re not going to be focused on what’s important to the citizens and elected officials of St. Clair County.”
He adds, “The only way that we can know what’s important to people is to get them to tell us – to listen, to document it and then to publicize it and to hold ourselves accountable for meeting those goals.”
And those goals are crucial to St. Clair County’s success, keeping the main thing the main thing
“Just like any business, or any successful organization, when you write down your goals and you look at them every day, it helps keep you focused,” Smith says. “It helps best utilize your funds and ultimately, it helps bring you success in ways you don’t even dream of.”
From camper to storefront, cake creator cooks up success story
Story by Scottie Vickery Photos by Mackenzie Free
For lots of folks, the idea of graduating from high school a year early and building your own business from scratch at 18 would be a tad daunting. For Klarissa Hendrix, it was a piece of cake.
Her mobile bakery business was such a hit, in fact, that three years later she decided to mix things up and make it permanent. This past December, she opened Klarissa’s Cakery in an Odenville storefront and has enjoyed sweet success ever since. It turns out that her ability to dream big and willingness to take some risks, coupled with a lot of hard work and creativity, were the perfect ingredients for a booming business.
Custom Hot Wheels cake
“From sunup to sundown, I’m going all day,” she said, adding that she starts baking around 5 each morning. “Most Saturdays, we have a line outside waiting on us to open. It’s been crazy.”
Customers can’t get enough of the mouth-watering treats, which include an ever-changing assortment of cupcakes, brownies, cookies and cakes that are sold whole or by the slice.
Her cake decorating skills help set her apart, and she’s created everything from beautiful tiered wedding cakes to cakes featuring superheroes, lobsters, unicorns, footballs and mermaids – all handmade from fondant icing. “Sometimes people will bring in pictures of what they want, but I love when they tell me I have free rein,” Klarissa said.
Her cakes come in all shapes and sizes, as well. She’s crafted cakes shaped like baseballs, whiskey barrels, pineapples and an RV. Her most popular cake is a Highland cow.
Cupcakes flavors range from strawberry, wedding cake, watermelon and orange Dreamsicle to pina colada, red velvet, lemonade, pistachio, banana pudding and key lime pie.
She’s pretty much done it all – well, almost. “I still really want to do a pickle cupcake,” Klarissa said with a grin.
Although lots of her customers are new fans, many were familiar with her cakes and cupcakes from her first business, Klarissa’s Cakes and Cupcake Camper. In addition to making custom cakes and filling cupcake orders, she hosted birthday parties and sold cupcakes at pop-up events – all from her refurbished 1970s camper.
“I went to Tennessee with it and took it to all kinds of events,” she said. “I’d do birthday parties and let the kids decorate cupcakes, and I even took it to schools so teachers could decorate them. It was a cute party idea, and people loved it.”
At the time, it was a great way for Klarissa, who had always planned on being a cosmetologist, to explore a new dream that was just beginning to take shape.
Cooking up a career
Klarissa, who lives in Springville, first began baking as a child. “My mom started letting me use the oven when I was about 9 years old, and I loved watching Cupcake Wars,” a televised cupcake-baking competition on Food Network, she said.
Her grandmother, Vicki Smith (also known as Gammy) has always baked for the family’s holidays and provided additional inspiration. Once they started baking together and exchanging ideas, Klarissa’s excitement grew. “Gammy really helped me,” she said. “We teach each other.”
When Klarissa turned 16, her grandmother made her a cake that featured a sculpted purse with makeup brushes, powders and lipsticks she made out of fondant, an icing that can be molded, shaped and rolled. “I saw her making all these amazing things, and they looked so real,” Klarissa said. “I got really excited about it, and I’d go to her house, and we’d try out all these new flavors and decorations.”
About the same time, Klarissa was working part-time at a bakery in Trussville and began to have second thoughts about cosmetology school. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do,” she said. “I took a tour of the cosmetology school, and it didn’t really feel right, so I started praying about it.”
Humble beginnings in a trailer
Although Klarissa didn’t know what her future held, she knew she wanted it to come quickly. “I was the type who was ready to be done with high school and wanted to start working,” she said. Klarissa, who was homeschooled through Faith Community Christian School, worked hard so she could graduate a year early.
By then, friends were asking her to fill cupcake orders. She got a request for her first wedding cake and began thinking she might be able to turn the hobby she’d fallen in love with into a career. “I knew I couldn’t open a storefront at 17, and I began thinking about a food truck,” she said. “The next day, a friend posted a camper for sale.”
Her parents, Leslie and Bridgett Lupton, renovated the camper while Klarissa focused on baking at home and getting the necessary licenses and permits. Soon, she was able to take her business on the road – literally – and she hasn’t looked back since.
“It’s been working out so far,” she said, adding that after running the Cupcake Camper business for several years, she was ready to find something permanent. After finding the perfect storefront in Odenville, her family, which now included her husband Kody, helped get it ready for the opening in December – just months before her 22nd birthday.
Forecasting success
Opening day was a busy one. “We sold out in the first hour,” Klarissa said. “My grandmother and I were trying to throw cupcakes and cookies in the oven, so we’d have enough to sell. December was a crazy month. We had 27 cakes go out in one day alone, and it really hasn’t slowed down at all.”
Although she’s got lots of repeat customers and is busier than she ever dreamed, Klarissa said she got one review that was extra-special. James Spann, the chief meteorologist for ABC 33/40, declared a creation she made to be “one of the greatest cakes ever.” Spann posts photos on social media of the hundreds and hundreds of decorated cakes and cookies he gets when visiting schools to present weather programs.
“I’ve always wanted to do a James Spann cake,” Klarissa said. She got her wish a few months ago when Leeds Primary School placed an order. “I immediately called Gammy and said, ‘We’re doing a James Spann cake.’”
Although the planning took a while, the pair spent about a week making the different pieces of the creation. It featured a house with an overturned car, a swaying tree, and a tornado with a trampoline in it since Spann often refers to trampolines that go airborne during storms as the “state bird.” The cake, which was completely edible, also showed a family wearing appropriate safety gear in front of a television in the basement.
“One of the greatest cakes ever,” Spann posted. “It even features someone wearing a helmet watching our live coverage in an underground basement. Amazing!”
Not just desserts
Not long after opening her bakery, Klarissa began getting requests for breakfast, so she now offers sausage balls and a variety of muffins. “I want to say I have the best sausage ball recipe,” she said. “I know that’s a bold statement, but I stand by it,” she said.
Breakfast has been such a hit, she hopes to one day be able to offer lunch as well. For now, though, she’s going to enjoy her success and the fact that her family has been a part of it all. Her grandmother does some of the baking, her mother helps at the counter a few days a week, and her 16-year-old sister, Chloe, has started working there, too.
Although Klarissa wasn’t sure she could make a bakery business work, her mom said she and her husband knew it would be a success. “We knew she was too young at 17 to enter into a legal contract, but the camper was a great way for her to start,” Bridgett said. “She took it and ran with it. She’s always been so mature for her age, so we didn’t doubt she could make it.”
Pell City Square, including Hobby Lobby, to open in September
Story by Carol Pappas Photos by staff
In the midst of handling the city’s burgeoning responsibilities on the massive development of Pell City Square Shopping Center, an April 2017 memory popped up on Pell City Manager Brian Muenger’s cell phone screen.
It was a photo he had taken from atop the old St. Clair Regional Hospital building. The focal point? Construction of McSweeney Automotive. Except for the spot cleared for McSweeney, nothing else was there, only woods.
What a difference six years later. Not only is McSweeney Chevrolet Dodge Jeep Ram commanding a presence over I-20 and U.S. 231, Starbuck’s, Jersey Mike’s, The St. Clair and Tavern at The St. Clair usher in crowds daily at their thriving nearby businesses to the west.
To the east, the hospital is no longer there. Instead, a 147,000 square foot retail center is taking shape.
Different construction but part of the main project, the piers have been poured for Hobby Lobby
A year to the month that dirt was hoisted from ceremonial shovels to begin the construction of Pell City Square, officials are expected to check off the longtime dream from its wish list.
The ribbon is expected to be cut in September on the center fronting I-20 just off U.S. 231 South on John Haynes Drive. An exact date has not been set. That announcement should come about five to six weeks out from opening, Muenger said.
The project partnering Noon Real Estate, City of Pell City, St. Clair County Commission and St. Clair Economic Development Council represents a major breakthrough in retail development for the city and county, adding familiar names like Hobby Lobby, Old Navy, TJ Maxx, Pet Smart, Five Below, Rack Room Shoes, Ross Dress for Less and Ulta Beauty.
The development’s early vision is credited to Bill Ellison, who introduced developers to the property and its prospects. Ellison developed the center and surrounding businesses that Walmart now anchors, and the U.S. 231 bridge connecting the two developments now bears his name in recognition of his work in developing the areas.
But that’s not the end of this story. More development is expected at the nearly 18-acre site. It’s just too soon to announce anything official, said Muenger.
He did give a hint at what’s expected, though. The user agreement for the city’s part of the development specifies what should be located there – a “national, sit-down restaurant” like Outback and Olive Garden. While no agreement has been reached, the city and its development team have been working with prospective businesses “in that genre,” Muenger said.
He added that the original plat has been revised to accommodate specific additional businesses, and one, or both, of the outparcels on the western end closest to the interstate may have announcements by the time of the opening of the center in September.
In the meantime, transportation crews have been busily preparing for increased traffic likely coming its way. The widening of John Haynes Drive has been completed. So has a retaining wall built near U.S. 231 South to give the outlet enough width for a fifth lane, enabling a new outbound turn lane. That will give drivers access to three turn lanes.
Restaurants line another big project just down the road
Traffic light signalization is being improved at Jeanne Pruett Drive and U.S. 231 to help with the flow of traffic.
What all that means is by September, the city will enter a new era of economic development with the opening of the center and the array of retail it offers to citizens plus the benefits coming to city coffers. First year sales projections are $25 million. At an effective tax rate of 5 percent, that’s an additional $1,250,000 per year. “It’s very material to our local budgets,” Muenger said.
It opens up another corridor for retail growth and other commercial developments are expected to follow. “It closes the gap in retail shopping needs,” Muenger said. And those shoppers “can stay here to find what they need rather than travel outside the city.”
When he thinks back to that photo on his phone – merely a clearing in the woods taken from the rooftop of an abandoned hospital – Muenger can’t help but see how quickly that entire area of the city has transformed.
“It’s extremely exciting for the city,” Muenger said. “We’ve worked for a very long time. It’s very gratifying. It’s what people told us they wanted to see here.”
As part of the construction business, Tiffeny Phillips Robertson has put her sweat, heart and mind to some of Alabama’s marquee projects – like the Honda Manufacturing plant in Lincoln and Birmingham’s Protective Stadium.
But her heart has always been here at Red Hill Farms-Phillips Family, the place her parents, Lonnie and Teresa Phillips bought some 50 years ago.
In that half century, the Phillips family, also including little sister, Kayla Phillips Lamb, transformed their spread from a commercial poultry producer for Gold Kist to a spot where folks can find farm-raised beef and chicken, eggs of all sorts, honey from their 45 hives, fresh vegetables and good, old-fashioned hoop cheese in a nod to an old-fashioned country store.
And, perhaps most important – as a venue for birthday parties, corporate retreats, small weddings and as home to a petting zoo – Red Hill Farms-Phillips Family is a place for growing merriment and memories on its 40 acres.
Ducks, chickens and turkeys roam the place, along with dwarf goats, miniature and full-size horses, llamas and alpacas, full-size goats and pigs. A petting zoo opened this year.
Family gathers next to their wagon
James Herriot, the late English veterinarian and author of All Creatures Great and Small, could run a full-time practice here.
Tiffeny and her husband, Chris, became more involved in the farm eight years ago after her mom’s death and a few years later returned from Augusta, Ga., to expand the farm with her father, Lonnie. Now a farm market operates in a red barn that shimmers against green grass. Produce – much of it grown in St. Clair County and in the state – is sold here.
“For the most part, we try to keep at least 75 percent of out produce grown in Alabama if not in St. Clair County,” Robertson says. “We have a lot of amateur and novice farmers. They grow a bunch of crops, and we buy their harvest from them. They get to see their bounty, and we get to sell it to the public through our market.”
Amish meats and cheeses and rolled butter are also on sale in the market. Candies and fried pies are available to satisfy that sweet tooth. And apple cider vinegar and herbal health teas are among the offerings.
Pell City craftspeople and artists are celebrated as well. For example, local veteran David Carden creates beautiful wood bowls from cypress and magnolia wood.
The market opened in 2022.
“We’re just trying to spread the word that buying from a national chain is not always the best thing,” Robertson says. “Buy local. Shop small. Support local businesses.”
Events bring visitors
Red Hill Farms is always up for a celebration. Right now, Red Hill is taking “baby steps” as an event spot.
“We’re doing any kind of party,” Robertson says. “As we grow, we do small weddings, birthday parties. We let people fish in our stocked ponds. We have a petting and feed experience with all our animals.
Red Hill also takes its animals to local schools as part of an educational effort.
“As a farmer’s daughter, I always thought that everyone in the world lived like this,” Robertson says. “That everybody knew the difference between a cow or a heifer, but that is not the truth. There are a lot of people who have lived in concrete jungles – big cities – and they have no idea.”
The parties – visitors bring their own food and beverages – are entertained by the horses, Butch and Sundance, alpacas named Einstein and Waylon, and a llama, a “funny little character” named George.
The alpaca named for the mop-topped science genius is easily recognizable. “His hair is everywhere, like Einstein,” Robertson says.
What you don’t see, but you can feel at Red Hill Farms is love – of the animals, of family, of the land, of country and community. Lonnie Phillips is a Vietnam veteran. Tiffeny’s husband, Chris, served in the War on Terror after 9/11.
“We love that people are enjoying (the farm) so much,” Robertson says. “That’s the biggest kick we get out of it. You know, people ask me all the time why we don’t charge more for our parties. One, we are an operational farm and two, I want people to experience it without having to take out a loan,” she explains.
“We’re not necessarily here to get rich. I just want people to know who we are.”
Other plans are in the works, like a place for kids to learn how to rope, or how to milk a cow or goat, or harvest honey from a hive, “Minus the bees, of course. We’re trying to educate as well as provide,” Robertson says.
There’s a joy in experiencing a simple life, she adds. “Everybody just can’t go to a beach resort for vacation. Everyone doesn’t want to deal with the heat and the traffic at an amusement park. They want something to do outdoors. Everybody needs the sunshine.”
Her childhood house – shaped like a barn – is still home for her dad. Every building on the property is red, eye popping on green grass against a blue sky. She and her sister, Kayla, grew up with their parents on this beautiful plot of land as they watched their father work tirelessly to improve the farm, year after year.
“As a kid, I wondered why we were always buying red stuff.”
A director of construction for a major firm, Robertson never thought she would return to the family business. For her, it’s about honoring and preserving her parents’ legacy of labor and love.
“I wanted to preserve it the way it was until it was my time not to be here anymore. I want our toddlers to grow up and understand what their grandparents worked so hard for, fought for and loved so much.”
The Robertsons have a 24-year-old son, Colten, as well as a 3-year-old daughter, named Brooklyn. Kayla Lamb and her husband, Bradley, have 3-year-old twins, Grady, and Madison.
All the children and grandchildren of Lonnie and Teresa Phillips, love the farm and contribute in different ways.
“Our three toddlers believe they are the tour guides for the pet and feed experience. It truly is the cutest thing ever!”
People often ask why she toils seven days a week to make the farm sustainable.
“This is my legacy, my sister’s legacy, and we would like to maintain it that way, until I no longer have a say.”
For more information on Red Hill Farms visit its Facebook page at Red Hill Farms- Phillips Family, email redhillfarms3@gmail.com, or call 205-352-8803.
