In with the old

Pam Shepard had wanted to open a self-storage facility with a business center for the last five years. She's finally getting a chance to realize that goal, planning a soft opening for Guardian Self Storage-Business Center this week. Instead of building a facility from scratch, she chose to refurbish a 28,000-square-foot building on University Drive near Pulaski Pike that formerly housed Rhodes Furniture.

Shepard is among several entrepreneurs redeveloping commercial property in the Huntsville area, including some sites that have been on the market for months, even years.

One example that's visible to drivers in south Huntsville is the former Copeland's of New Orleans restaurant at South Memorial Parkway and Airport Road, which has been on the market for more than two years.

Mike Culbreath, chief operating officer of Breland Cos., a Huntsville residential and commercial developer, believes that more commercial and residential buildings in the area will be demolished and replaced by new structures or remodeled to capture a prime location.

Breland Cos., led by Louis Breland, developed the Commerce Center at South Parkway and Clinton Avenue. The company acquired the eight-story, 96,000-square-foot building - most recently the headquarters for SCI Systems, now Sanmina-SCI - in 2005 and started a two-year makeover. Breland also acquired the former Huntsville News property next door.

The location is convenient to downtown, offers easy access to the Parkway and Interstate 565, and is visible to more than 110,000 cars that pass by each day.

"You couldn't replace this location," Culbreath said.

Still, updating older buildings presents challenges.

For instance, Shepard had to make sure that her redevelopment plans met city zoning and building code requirements, put in a new HVAC system, install new sprinkler and fire alarm systems, and change the outside lighting, among other projects.

But the University Drive site was a plus.

"I bought it for the location," said Shepard, a Realtor with Keller Williams Realty who previously owned Pam's Gift Tree in Decatur for 26 years.

Also, "the structure fit what I was looking for." It's big enough to accommodate 160 storage units and still have space for a room to set up tables, a fax machine and copier, and another for vending machines and a kiosk where users can make payments or check out available units.

"I think the building has some character, some personality," she said.

The process has been "a challenge, an expensive challenge," said Shepard, although she didn't give a specific cost figure. But she expressed no regrets about the decision.

Copeland's building

Memphis-based Crye-Leike Realtors, ranked as the nation's fourth-largest residential real estate brokerage, was looking to enter the Huntsville market. Company executives found a highly visible location for their regional headquarters - the former Copeland's restaurant off Airport Road.

The building had been on the market since Copeland's closed in September 2005.

Crye-Leike, which recently closed on the sale, plans to demolish the restaurant and build a three-story, 24,000-square-foot office building. Of that space, 8,000 square feet will be available for lease.

"We think this is a good town for us," said Rob Hatchett, the company's regional vice president for Chattanooga, Atlanta and Huntsville. For a company such as Crye-Leike to enter a market, he said, "a city has to show a certain amount of stability and future growth."

And, "with a great location, people will know who we are immediately," he said.

Hatchett expects construction to start at the Copeland's site in early February.

The company also plans to build offices on Hughes Road in Madison and in the Hampton Cove area; the land acquisition and construction costs for the three sites combined is about $10.5 million, Hatchett said.

Crye-Leike is leasing space on Alabama 20 in Madison while the three buildings are under construction.

"We want the three buildings built when '09 starts," he said.

Using existing space

In opening Madison Lawn Center, Dwight Pilgrim also chose to move into existing space instead of building from scratch.

Pilgrim, who owns the Scotts Lawn Service franchise for North Alabama and a lawn service company in Florence, had kicked around the idea of opening a store for power equipment with a service department. He figured that the growing Madison area would be a good location.

During the summer, Pilgrim drove by a building on U.S. 72 in Madison that was occupied by Lawn Mower Plus until the business closed in late June. Pilgrim made some calls about the 7,500-square-foot building and found that it was available.

"The building was already set up for what we wanted to do, so we assumed the lease, restocked, hired new staff and opened" in mid-November, he said.

"I think it's a good, central location," he said. "I've been pleased so far."

At the grand opening late last year of the Commerce Center, Louis Breland said the project to restore the 1960s-era building may have been a financial risk, but "we saw it as a golden opportunity."

The investment at the Commerce Center so far has been $12 million, Culbreath said. Yet, he said, "we saved probably several million dollars" by redeveloping instead of building a new structure.

Announced tenants at the Commerce Center include First National Bank, the law firm Lanier Ford Shaver & Payne, Future Electronics and Systems Development Corp. Breland Cos. also will be based there.