Downtown Flora has been doing just fine for the last 10 to 15 years, with a near 100% capacity for shops along Main Street and an influx in new businesses and restaurants.
Having said that, the first serious commercial development for the town of 2,300 in nearly 60 years has the potential to elevate the Madison County hamlet’s downtown footprint.
The West Main project in Flora will be a two-phase development that will include nearly 30,000 square feet of retail and living space.
Phase 1 will include two separate buildings. They will be 12,000 square feet each and be near mirror image structures with regard to the footprint. They will be 6,000 square feet downstairs and 6,000 square feet upstairs.
The downstairs in both buildings will be commercial retail, and the upstairs in both buildings will be condominium units. The condo units will be sold to prospective buyers. There will be four per building, each being 1,500 square feet. They will come in both two-bedroom and one-bedroom configurations.
“We have been working on the project for some time,” said Ray Kinney, one of the partners and planners for the project. “Aaron Oliver started the project pre COVID and was getting financing together and had everything … and was ready to go close on the loan. Then COVID hit. So, he intelligently reeled back and tried to see what was coming next.”
Kinney and his partners struck a deal with Oliver through mutual contacts during that process. Long story short, the five are now equal partners.
The group hopes to break ground in late summer.
Beyond COVID, the group has had many hoops to jump through as the property is on 16th section land.
“We have had some red-tape-type hurdles. But it’s not been anyone’s fault,” Kinney said. “The school board and the Secretary of State both have been very willing to work with us and have given us the attention we needed and the audiences we requested.
“With residential leasing on 16th section land, we were trying to put a square peg in a round hole. But we were able to get over that hurdle. Everybody was great to work with. It just takes time to do these things.”
There were also hoops to jump through in a city that had not had any significant development since just after World War II. Kinney’s group has had to be patient with an aging infrastructure and 1950s-era governmental permitting in place.
“We have had a phenomenal relationship with the Town of Flora,” Kinney said. “Everybody has been working diligently. Our team has an immense amount of appreciation for all of the players from all of the administrations and boards and agencies and so forth. But it has taken a lot of time because we have a lot of moving parts.”
Then there are the unique complexities associated with building on a Main Street in a small town that hasn’t seen development in a long time that just so happens to be on 16th section land, and, oh, by the way, whose Main Street is also Hwy. 22.
“So, we have to deal with the Mississippi Department of Transportation for all of our right of way, parking, streetscapes and curb cuts. All of that had to have MDOT permits. All of it put together has made it a challenge, to say the least,” Kinney said.
“But it was a challenge we were willing to accept because we believe in the Town of Flora. We believe in this project, and we believe that the two will pair up nicely.”
The entire ownership group has skin in the game as they all own property in Flora and have Flora addresses.
Tracy Ward was brought on as the lead architect. While much of his work has been done in the North Atlanta area, he specializes in building new buildings and structures that look old.
“That’s what we are trying to accomplish here,” Kinney said. “We want to build a brand new development that will change the face of Flora while, at the same time, keeping the historical aspect. Hopefully, after the dust settles a year or two down the road, if you were none the wiser, you would drive down the road and think our buildings had been there since 1886 when the town was incorporated.”
While Kinney and his group want to recruit great businesses for their development, they also realize that there are already plenty of great businesses in place in Flora.
“We want to help bring traffic to the entire downtown corridor in Flora. We absolutely believe a rising tide lifts all ships,” Kinney said. “So, we are huge supporters of one another. We want everyone to be successful.
Kinney points to David Rains as a prime example of a successful business person already in Flora. He owns the Flora Butcher, Dave’s Triple-B barbecue restaurant and Rains’ Cellars.
“He’s the biggest cheerleader for all of his competitors in the area,” Kinney said. “He loves the pizza place. He loves the Blue Rooster restaurant. He wants Bill’s (Creole and Steak Depot) to be killing it. He knows that everyone can’t eat at those restaurants every night. He just wants folks coming out and enjoying Flora. The more traffic that comes out here, whether it is the pizza joint or Dave’s Triple B, they are still coming to Flora.”
To that end, the developers are mindful not to cannibalize any existing businesses in the Flora downtown district.
“We don’t want a new pizza place coming downtown. We don’t want a barbecue place. We already have one,” Kinney said. “We aren’t going to step on the toes of business owners that are already there in town.
“We want to make Flora a destination community.”
Ross Reily can be reached by email at [email protected] or at 601-573-2952. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenOkra1.
