Q&A: Prattville Mayor Jim Byard
Massive retail projects keep Prattville mayor smiling
Prattville Mayor Jim Byard said city officials expect annual retail sales to increase at least $300 million a year when all the new retail developments have opened.
-- Photo by Jamie Martin
Jim Byard is the mayor of Prattville. He was recently interviewed by Central Alabama Business Journal Editor David Zaslawsky
Central Alabama Business Journal: There have been a flurry of recent retail announcements involving the High Point Town Center and Prattville Town Center – both of which are located off Cobbs Road. Are other areas of the city experiencing retail expansion?
Byard: We are experiencing growth all over the city. We certainly are experiencing a lot of growth and there has been a lot of publicity about what we call the eastern retail corridor, which is High Point Town Center, Prattville Town Center and Bass Pro Shops. Prattville Square, which is one of the Prattville’s oldest shopping centers at the intersection Highway 31 and Alabama Highway 14. It is owned by Innes McIntyre out of Montgomery and they are doing a remodeling. There is a site there for a grocery store. I know there is a grocery store company that is not from Prattville and not in Prattville. They are from Lakeland, Fla., where their home office is.
CABJ: Of course, we’re talking about Publix. Is Publix interested in other Prattville sites?
Byard: They are looking at different places.
CABJ: What are some other areas of the city that will see retail development?
Byard: We have some retail space on Highway 14 by McQueen Smith Road and the interstate – a site a large grocer may want to look at or a big-box. On the western part of Prattville on Highway 14 and the U.S. Highway 82 area, you have the country club and International Paper and there are some retail spaces available. A grocery chain has looked out there. We have a lot of rooftops being built to the west. The average citizen thinks all retail is going east and that’s not true – there are companies looking at the central part of Prattville and to the north and to the west.
CABJ: How soon are you expecting an announcement from Publix?
Byard: I don’t know what the time frame is. I know that Connie (Bainbridge, Prattville Area Chamber of Commerce president and director of economic development ) and some of the developers have been working on attracting some grocery retail in the western part of Prattville.
CABJ: Bass Pro Shops, Target and Parisian have announced new stores in Prattville. Will we be hearing from some other big-box retailers soon?
Byard: I would anticipate an announcement for a home improvement store at Prattville Town Center. I’m bound by confidentiality; I can’t tell you the name of the store.
CABJ: Prattville already has a Lowe’s.
Byard: We already have a Lowe’s and you can guess what the other one will be – a large, nationwide home improvement store. I think you will see announcements on the High Point Center side of two more anchor stores.
CABJ: The developers – McClinton & Co. have said there will be three department store anchors.
Byard: I’m just giving you some names. I’m not telling you these are coming, but I think you’ll see a Dillard’s type-store, a Penney’s type-store. I think you can look around Montgomery – look at EastChase and the shopping center where Best Buy is – I think we are ripe for a Best Buy or Circuit City or both. I think we would be ripe for a larger type bookstore; I think we are ripe for a Kohl’s. What you are going to see is that Montgomery is the economic engine of the River Region. The Montgomery metro area is a two-store market area. There are going to be two Parisians, two this and two that and we have defined ourselves as the shopping hub north of the river. I think you are going to see a lot of those second stores in the Montgomery metro area opening their doors here in Prattville. I think it makes sense as Montgomery moves east – we’re north – those people in the center part of Montgomery proper can choose to come to Prattville. The people who live north of the river will naturally migrate to our shopping areas. Then you throw in the tourist aspect with Bass Pro and that’s a tremendous regional draw. With that synergy of Bass Pro and those type of retailers, I think we are laying the ground work to become that hub north of the river.
CABJ: Are there any major retailers in Montgomery that we won’t see in Prattville?
Byard: I don’t know. I think they will follow some of these larger stores. Because of Bass Pro you may see some names not in Montgomery.
CABJ: Will Prattville also gain more national chain restaurants?
Byard: Yes, they are coming.
CABJ: When will the new retailers open?
Byard: Prattville Town Center will open July ’07. Bass Pro is shooting for an April ’07 opening, but I think it will be a summer opening. Parisians announced it will open in spring of ’08. In the next 12 months you will see some stores open and from 12-24 months we will have a lot of good ribbon cuttings.
CABJ: I’ve counted six big-box retailers coming to Prattville: Bass Pro, Target, Parisian, two other department stores and a home improvement store. Those six will likely hire a combined 600-plus employees. Then you add all the specialty stores and restaurants. What is your ballpark estimate on how many employees will be hired over the next 24 months?
Byard: I think you could conservatively say in the neighborhood of 1,500 jobs – full and part time. And that’s conservative. It’s probably going to be higher than that. There are some good opportunities for folks not to mention the hotels that are opening. There are several hotels planned and an expansion at The Legends.
CABJ: Are rooms being added to The Legends?
Byard: No, they are not adding rooms. They are adding a ballroom.
CABJ: Where will all the new workers be living? How many homes have been proposed, approved or are under construction?
Byard: HomePlace will have 700-800 homes – that’s on the drawing board. Plus, we have a lot of homes going out west.
CABJ: Prattville’s retail sales topped $500 million in 2005.What are city officials projecting for 2007-2010 as the new retail outlets come on line?
Byard: We have projected an additional $300 million-plus in annual retail sales.
CABJ: In an earlier handout, you stated that private investment will grow by $150 million by 2007. Do you have a breakdown for the $150 million?
Byard: The breakdown of the additional $150 million private investment for 2007 includes only Prattville Town Center, Bass Pro and the additional (meeting) space at The Legends Conference Center.
CABJ: The city has borrowed $47 million to help finance the retail development, including incentives. You are projecting an annual return of $9.4 million or 20 percent. Is that a conservative projection?
Byard: The city has borrowed only $19 million so far, however, when all is said and done, we will borrow $47 million. The 20 percent is conservative. In fact, all of our projections regarding these retail projects have been conservative.
CABJ: Is this the last major retail revolution for Prattville?
Byard: As a hometown mayor, I don’t want to see us change too much. We are progressing – we have progressed tremendously with the golf course, Bass Pro and Parisian. I think we – with we being the city government, City Council and city leadership – need to go out there and get these retailers while there is a window and that window is here. I think that we did a fantastic job of going out there and saying this is what our constituents want. They said they wanted Target, they wanted Parisian, they want some shopping amenities and we went out there and it worked. I think we have reached a plateau for a while. You are going to see some fill in. I think you will see more corporate job creation.
CABJ: Could you elaborate on that? Could Prattville gain some regional corporate headquarters?
Byard: We had the exciting announcement of the AIDT (Alabama Industrial Development Training) and the Alabama Technology Network headquarters coming to The Legends office park. There’s only so much retail. Ten years ago we opened Super Wal-Mart and everybody was excited. We had a Belk and that was our first major department store and that was wonderful. Now you see us step into that next level. It takes 10-15 years to move from one level to the next, but I think you are going to see us move to that. With those exciting retail announcements we have the LPGA Navistar Classic for three years. That is a tremendous opportunity to not only showcase Prattville, but the entire River Region and that’s a step up from the Nationwide Championship, which was a good boost to our economy for five years in a row.
CABJ: What it is the city’s future?
Byard: I think you see us stepping up and who knows what the future will hold. I think our future is only bright. We have the challenge to manage the growth, to continue to promote and have that hometown spirit and have that pride in community. The vision of City Hall is for you to get off the interstate and realize you’re somewhere different. You’re not in a cookie-cutter town. It’s clean, it’s vibrant, it’s secure and it’s safe and it’s different. Our stores look a little different and have a hometown feel. I think we have done a good job at creating that. With intersection improvements and roadway improvements in the retail trade corridor on Cobbs Ford Road you will continue to see that.
CABJ: Getting back to the office park. Will we see Montgomery companies moving to Prattville?
Byard: You will. AIDT and ATN are combining and coming to Prattville. ATN’s headquarters is in Birmingham and AIDT’s is in Montgomery. They have 45-50 jobs in Montgomery and 10-15 jobs in Birmingham. I think we have something out there (The Legends office park) that other communities don’t have.
CABJ: What is it?
Byard: We have Legends conference center that is a great asset for training and they have the amenity of the golf course, which is a great place for recreation.
CABJ: What’s the latest with Legends Park, the office complex at HomePlace?
Byard: The corporate headquarters for River Bank and Trust will be built out there. Courtyard by Marriott is under construction there. The AIDT/ATN center is expected to open in spring ’08. The attractiveness of being close to the interstate, close to the state capital, The Legends is known throughout the state, the golf course is known throughout the state and when you combine that with the location, the office park will be a natural success. The Legends also offers a heliport. You laugh at that, but there are clients who view our area. We have taken a lot of the retail prospects in the helicopter and showed them the sights and the proximity we are to Montgomery and EastChase. That heliport is just a part of the economic development toolkit that Connie can pull out. If somebody needs that we have one and that’s a big deal.
CABJ: Let’s talk about industry. At one point, Prattville landed Venture Industries, a tier one supplier for the Hyundai manufacturing plant in Montgomery, which would have brought 600 jobs to the city. But the company went bankrupt and Prattville did not attract a Hyundai supplier. Now Kia is planning to build a manufacturing plant near the border with Georgia. Could Prattville still land a supplier?
Byard: We are out there every day vying for industrial job creation. We are a little different than other communities. We invite companies into our community; we are not going to take just anybody that comes along. Sometimes we are a victim of our success. Our average manufacturing wage is higher than some counties around us.
CABJ: How much is it?
Byard: The average is $10.48 an hour. If a company comes in and says our average is $9.50 an hour, we say that’s good but you need to look elsewhere. We are not going to (give incentives) to anybody lower than that $10.48. I heard some criticism that we lost the Hyundai supplier, but I’m one that always is going to think that the glass is half full. I’m always going to be an optimist. As the No. 1 cheerleader for Prattville – in retrospect with Venture going away, it worked in Prattville’s favor. I don’t know if we could have afforded to pay the incentives that we were paying Venture and to have money to lure the retailers. There are people who are going to say you need to have industrial jobs and we do. I think our focus has moved toward tourism and retail development. We are a service economy. Those incentives that you pay retail pay back quicker than a pure industrial incentive.
CABJ: Your saying retail development gives you more bang for the buck.
Byard: I have a lot of friends all over this state that are mayors and there are a lot of them who would love to trade some of their heavy industrials for the retail we’re getting because it does pay the bills. We are a tax-based economy. We have a great number of management and front-line workers at Hyundai and the tier one and tier two suppliers who live in our community, recreate in our community, educate their children in our community. We want to give them opportunities to spend more money in their hometown.
CABJ: At one time, a majority of people in Prattville left town to go to work. With all the jobs being created, there will be fewer commuters and perhaps more Montgomery residents coming to work in Prattville.
Byard: About 45 percent (of the workers in Prattville) commute every day out of this county to work. My mom has driven our whole life to a job every day in Montgomery. If she wants to shop at Parisian right now she will shop after work. If there is a Parisian close to her home, she’s going to come home. We are also going to have the folks who work in the office park hopefully shop on their way home. We compete every day for jobs, for retail, for rooftops. We are never going to be as big as Montgomery. We don’t want to be as big as Montgomery. Our goal is not to be bigger than anybody. Our goal is to offer quality, premiere city services to our residents. We do that by bringing in sales taxes so that they can pay for the (city) employees and pay our employees a good, decent living wage and offer amenities to our citizens. That’s what we’re about
: quality of life. Every penny that the city spends is quality of life whether it’s straightening street signs, picking up litter, resurfacing the streets, good fire department, good police department, good wastewater department. I actually had one supplier tell me he is not interested in quality of life. If somebody tells me that then I’m not interested in them coming to our community because quality of life is important to our citizens.
CABJ: Business executives will say success breeds success. Is that what is happening to Prattville right now? Are there businesses now looking at Prattville that before the recent wave of retail development didn’t know the city existed?
Byard: We are known around the state as a progressive city, we are known as a can-do community. If you have an issue, we are going to work with you.
CABJ: What was the city’s image?
Byard: I grew up here when some of our neighbors to the south thought Prattville was a little country community and we probably were. Some of those same neighbors who said that probably wished they had bought land (here) when they could have afforded it. We are right now a hot area. That’s a fact. Auburn-Opelika that’s a hot area. Madison and Pelham are hot areas across our state. The city of Prattville was quoted on the front page of the International Council Shopping Center’s magazine – Shopping Center Today. People that normally did not look (at Prattville) are looking at us. Economic development, whether it’s retail or pure industry is all about relationships. You don’t just call Red Lobster or Carrabba’s or Target and say I’m the mayor of Prattville or wherever and say you need to be in our city. You have to have some relationship and our civic leadership has worked real hard and tried to make those relationships and foster those relationships.
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, drove downtown today to pay the power bill, and get a Chris' hot dog. Noticed that they are starting on the facade for the Intermodal facility. I was afraid it was going to be just the exposed pre-cast elements (which would've been really ugly and looked nothing like the render). 
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