Finding the right mix

Real estate professional Lochrane Smith was born and raised in the Birmingham area and remains proud of the Magic City.

“I love Birmingham,” Smith said. “I’ve always had a passion for making this city the best that it can be — both for current residents and to attract new people who are looking for great jobs and a wonderful, welcoming place to be.”

Smith’s day job allows her to pursue that passion. She’s director of leasing and business development at Sloss Real Estate, which manages Pepper Place, Sloss Docks and other properties, most of them renovated historic structures in the City Center.

Sloss, Smith said, is “keen to promote the walkability of neighborhoods,” and the company’s portfolio “promotes urban connectivity and activity.”

Smith’s role is an opportunity to indulge her long-held interest in city planning and development, using the right mix of retailers, creatives and entrepreneurs to reinvigorate and connect neighborhoods.

A Mountain Brook native, Smith now lives in Crestline Park. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history and classical civilization at the University of Richmond in 2010, and this liberal arts background — including a semester abroad in Rome — actually served as a “springboard” for her interest in real estate, she said.

“I loved studying how the Roman Empire developed,” Smith said.

“I can stare at a map of ancient Rome all day long, and that fascination translated into an interest in planning and development at a citywide level,” she said.

After about a decade in her industry, including stints at Red Rock Realty Group and Johnson Development, Smith joined Sloss in March 2018.

Pepper Place in Lakeview — site of the popular Pepper Place farmers market — is “emblematic” of the Sloss portfolio, according to Smith. Measuring about 350,000 square feet, the mixed-use facility once housed the Dr. Pepper bottling plant.

“It shows off our interests in urban planning and redevelopment and bringing together a mix of creative, design-oriented tenants,” Smith said.

The diverse Pepper Place tenants include designers, makers, local retailers, architects and “innovative restaurants who use locally sourced food in their wonderful menus,” Smith said.

Sloss looks for tenants “who are strong operators serving our local community,” Smith said.

The ideal tenants are people with “a cool vision and design for their business” and whose enterprises “promote the best of Birmingham,” she said.

There will be some new faces at Pepper Place this summer, according to Smith.

“We have a great restaurant on board, as well as a cool retailer that should open right around the time the Pepper Place Market kicks off,” she said.

A newer Sloss Realty project is Sloss Docks, a development with office and entertainment uses located east of Sloss Furnaces, near the First Avenue North viaduct and the Jones Valley Trail.

Gadsden-based Back Forty Beer Company opened its first-ever satellite brewery at Sloss Docks in July 2018 and is drawing visitors to its “fun beer garden,” Smith said. Steris Corporation — a health care and life science company that owns a large campus north of First Avenue — leases a warehouse at Sloss Docks.

And Sloss Realty is working on the project’s second phase, which will include 45,000 square feet of office space, as well as a coffee concept and an entertainment user, according to Smith.

One goal is to boost foot traffic at the development to encourage that connectivity she aims for, Smith said. “Every day I’m at Sloss Docks or Pepper Place, I see people walking or riding their bikes,” she said.

The company has worked hard to make Pepper Place an even more attractive urban hub, according to Smith. This includes working with the city to add more parking on Third Avenue South. Sloss Realty also supports plans to convert Second Avenue South into a “complete street” with bike lanes. 

These efforts by Sloss are driven in part by a need to make the company’s portfolio attractive. “More retailers and office tenants want a location in a vibrant, walkable area surrounded by apartments, great restaurants and cool companies,” Smith said.

This desire for urban spaces in the city isn’t going away, according to Smith.“Birmingham now has the critical massof business and young professionals and new talent that like urban neighborhoods,” she said.

The city is also blessed with “beautiful historic buildings that are prime for redevelopment, as opposed to new development,” Smith said.

The status of Pepper Place as a community gathering spot got a boost in mid-January when the City Council voted to designate Pepper Place as an entertainment district, similar to Uptown at the BJCC. The designation allows for open carry of alcoholic beverages in the area within certain hours and was set to take effect in February, according to Sloss Realty.

Becoming an entertainment district “will further enhance the walkability and connectivity” of Pepper Place, Smith said.

This will be especially true during the farmers markets, which attract about 10,000 people, according to Smith. And Pepper Place will continue to host other events, such as Breakin’ Bread and Dia De Los Muertos. “We love having great community-wide events that are open to the public,” Smith said.

And word of Birmingham’s ongoing transformation is spreading, in part because the city is promoting itself more effectively than ever before, according to Smith.

“People in other larger Southeastern cities are aware of the positive buzz coming out of Birmingham,” she said.