Business Is Booming

Episode 10 - Jerry Clifton on Investing in Your Community

Narrator: [00:00:02] Business is booming, from the small mom and pops to the big industries. Our local businesses drive our economy and provide the products, services, and jobs we depend on. Our host, Jennifer McCurdy, brings us these stories as she visits with the business owners and leaders of Fort Payne and DeKalb County, Alabama. And now here's Jennifer.

Jennifer McCurdy: [00:00:26] Welcome back to Business Is Booming. Today we're going to talk about investing in your community. What does that look like? How can you invest in your community? Why is that important? To help me explore this topic is my friend Jerry Clifton and local real estate developer. Thank you so much, Jerry, for joining us. And this is a topic that I've been so excited to discuss. We have so many people in our community that are always suggesting new things in the community. And why don't we have this? And it really boils down to your city can't do everything, and some things you have to have local investors most times involved in those initiatives. And Jerry, you have come into Fort Payne with a bang and really made a difference and motivated so many other people to invest in their properties and, and really become more engaged in their community. So I'm thrilled to have you today. And I want you to kind of share with us your inspiration and why it's important to invest in your community and what led you to do so.

Jerry Clifton: [00:01:23] Oh, okay. Well, thanks first, Jennifer, for asking me to be on this podcast. And this actually is my first podcast.

Jennifer: [00:01:32] Well, welcome. But we do know from our previous conversation you were the voice of Sand Mountain previously, which was very interesting.

Jerry: [00:01:40] Well, I do appreciate that and again, appreciate being on the podcast. Well you know, when I started looking into Fort Payne, you know, I had built a lot of new homes for folks. I had bought a lot of homes and done redos on those. And so I decided one day, I got to thinking that, you know, I'd like to do something more from a commercial standpoint. And then, you know, I got to thinking, ok, what exactly, what would that look like? And so, you know, I kind of equate it to like a, like a family. And how to grow a family, because actually, you know, see, we take family and that equals community. We take our children, we want our children to be successful. We want our community to be successful.

Jennifer: [00:02:53] That's right.

Jerry: [00:02:54] And so that's kind of the reason why I actually started in with the commercial side of it.

Jennifer: [00:03:05] So you're trying to leave a little something back for the rest of the community.

Jerry: right. [00:03:06]

Jennifer: [00:03:07] All right. So there's a lot of different aspects of investing in your community. And you've been through several of them. One of them is historical preservation, which I know that was part of your project with The Spot and the Lofts on Gault. And I do want to touch on that a little bit. And commercial development and then nonprofit support. Those are near and dear to your heart. So if you're looking at the historical preservation aspect, give us an example of specifically downtown, kind of what that looks like and how, how that works.

Jerry: [00:03:45] The first property that I, that I purchased here was some property on First Street, and I had had a friend of mine, Alice Pettyjohn, I know you know Alice very well.

Jennifer: [00:03:48] Yes, love Alice.

Jerry: [00:03:49] You know, Alice has started in Rainsville and was very successful there, and I kind of helped Alice a little bit when she first started out years ago. And so one day, well, actually, I actually had already bought The Spot building when, when Alice approached me about something else. So I had bought The Spot building and I was already starting to do some work there. And Alice calls me one day and she says, “Hey, do you have anything in Fort Payne that I could rent?” And I said, “Well, if you're going to move to Fort Payne, I'll buy something, because I know what you can do would be great.”

Jennifer: [00:04:48] And that, that's an example of an investor investing into an entrepreneur.

Jerry: [00:04:50] Right.

Jennifer: [00:04:51] And that's something that our community needs to look at a little, a little more closely.

Jerry: [00:04:53] Right.

Jennifer: [00:04:54] You had someone approach you and you, you took a chance on them because you knew her and you knew she could do it. And it's paying off. I mean, she's doing great. And you've helped your community.

Jerry: [00:04:59] Right.

Jerry: [00:05:10] Yeah, she, you know, so I told her, I said, let me, I'll buy something. So, you know, Dr. Steven Brewer, who I bought The Spot building from, you know, I said, look, let's look and see what else you got that I can buy. So it just so happened that, you know, the building, the first building after The Spot, I bought the building there on the first, First Street. And so, you know, I carried Alice there. We looked at it, made sure that she thought it would work for her. And it did. And she has just been tremendously successful from that. And then, you know, as she was getting into that, then I had Cresta Taylor, you know, Cresta she started calling me and saying, “Hey, you know, I'd like to have a bake shop. I've always dreamed of having, like a French bistro type thing.” And I said, “Well, you know, I actually have you know, I can get another building right here and we can do that.” And so, you know, Cresta started out with that. And so it's just progressed down that street. And then, of course, you know, over there where The Spot building was at, you know, India and Colton Penrod, you know, they ended up buying that business. You know, as I bought The Spot building, they, they bought the business that the previous owner had been renting from me. And they have done a tremendous job with that.

Jennifer: [00:05:50] Yes.

Jerry: [00:05:51] And then, of course, you know, we had Courtney Wilson. And Courtney had already asked me about a place to start a clothing store, children's clothing store in. Now, this is really interesting about Courtney, because Courtney actually approached me with this during the year of COVID. And, and I actually tried to discourage her. I said, “Courtney, I don't know, with COVID, if now is actually a good time to actually start a business.” And she said, “Well,” she said, “I know it might be slow getting started, but I'd really like to try to do it.” And I said ok. So we found her a spot. She started renting, and to my surprise, even during COVID, she did really well and she has had enough imagination that she started doing stuff online. And so then.

Jennifer: [00:07:45] I think that's what helped her so much, too. She was forward thinking. She knew that probably especially during COVID, she wouldn't have a lot of foot traffic. So she, and she still does a lot of online sales. But her store is fantastic and she has it's nice to go in and be able to see things in person. But I mean, she's versatile and I love that about her.

Jerry: [00:08:07] Well, and see that's, that's right. As her building, as her business grew, she actually comes to me and says, “Hey, look, I need another place that's bigger.” Well, the art shop that I had in one of the buildings beside The Spot, she had bought another building on First on, on Gault Avenue, and she was moving. So I said, “Hey, look, I got the perfect spot for you.” So she moved into it. Her business has continued to grow. And then, of course, you know, next door to that, there's Valley Nutrition. Valley Nutrition has been there now going on three years. And again, when you look at Valley Nutrition, you may say, well, what do they sell? Well, they sell tea. Well, how can you make a business selling tea? Well, you know, she's very imaginative in the type of teas that she does and how she mixes them and all of that. She has a tremendous business there. I mean, she does really, really well.

Jennifer: [00:09:09] Ok. And we'll go back to The Spot for just a second. And in your, we've got to talk about the Lofts on Gault, because those are gorgeous. That process, you tapped into some historical tax credits, correct?

Jerry: [00:09:11] Correct.
Jennifer: [00:09:16] Ok, I know that that's two, that's a whole episode in itself. Can you tell us a little bit about how that works? Historical tax credits, just briefly?

Jerry: [00:09:31] Ok well, you know, basically historical tax credits, you know, number one, the building’s got to qualify for being an historical property. Then there is a long application process of filing for that. Now, of course, again, it makes really good if it's an historical building that is on the National Registry of Historical Properties and also…

Jennifer: [00:09:58] This one was, correct?

Jerry: [00:09:59] Yes, this one was and also on the state. So that way you get double tax credits, you get a tax credit from the federal government, you get tax credit from the state. It is a long process. It's an expensive process to do. And there is strict very, very strict guidelines on how you have to do an historical building. I mean, you can't as an example, you cannot move any walls. You can build a wall, but you can't move a wall and you have to leave the existing doors, the existing windows. And, you know, just all of that. The, where you have leeway is like for the bathrooms. And because of the fact that The Lofts, they’re apartments, so you know, I had to have kitchens. Well again you know, I had to do kitchens to code for the city and obviously the bathrooms had to be to code. So, you know, that way I had leeway that I could use some of the imagination that I like to use when I, you know, design something that I could get by with because of the fact that I could do it because it had to be up to code.

Jennifer: [00:11:19] Jerry’s style is phenomenal. If you know Jerry, you know this, if you've seen any of his work, you know this. Would you recommend historical tax credits, going that route if it's a possibility for the business, having already gone through it, would that be something that you would say is worth it?

Jerry: [00:11:37] It is worth it if you do, again, if your building is one that's on both registries, the national and the state, the federal government will give you 20% back on what you spend. The state will give you 25% back, so you can get a total of 45% back. Now, again, you know, there's a lot of regulations and everything that you've got to do. I was actually, because of the fact that this was a 14-month process for us, I became first-name basis with these folks because of the fact that I talked to them so much.

Jennifer: [00:12:23] The historical tax credit qualifying folks, is that correct?

Jerry: [00:12:26] That's right. And I was actually telling somebody the other night, I never, of all the process, of all the questions that I asked them if I could do something, I never did get them to tell me yes on anything. It was always no, no, no, no, no.

Jennifer: [00:12:50] But your persistence, you just kept thinking, I'm going to.

Jerry: [00:12:53] You know, I mean, it was just, it was just the fact of what it was. And, you know, the fact that they had guidelines and they would say to me, you know, because sometimes, you know, I remember one of the things that I wanted to leave was exposed brick, you know on the walls, because, you know, there’d been a fire, as you know, and the upstairs of this building, there’d been a fire back about 30 years ago. So there was a lot of the plaster that was off because of that fire. And I wanted to leave that brick exposed because, I mean, that's just a beautiful look. And, you know, they would say, no, no, no, you cannot, you know. And so one day I was up there and I was looking and I noticed over the windows that there was an arch over each one of the windows. Now, I knew that they'd already seen those pictures because that's one of the things you have to do first when you do your application is you have to take multiple pictures, lots of pictures. We probably took 400 pictures of the inside of that building before we did the first thing to it. And so I'm thinking, oh, I know they saw those pictures, but maybe they didn't really look at these pictures. So I took pictures of these archways and I sent them down to them. I emailed them to them and then I called them and I said, “Look,” I said, “you know, look at these arches. I mean, this wasn't just the brick that they put up there. I said, they actually did these arches. And they said, “Jerry, have you ever heard the expression talk till you’re blue in the face?” And I said, “Yes, I have.” And they said, “Well, that's kind of where you're at.” And then they said this: “If you want our money, then you're going to have to do it our way.” Plain and simple.

Jennifer: [00:14:55] I can see you shaking your head now.

Jerry: [00:14:57] Yeah. I mean, you know, so I mean, that's kind of where we was at. I mean.

Jennifer: [00:15:03] Did you kind of walk away all defeated like shoulders down?

Jerry: [00:15:05] Well, no. I mean, I've been told no so many times.

Jennifer: [00:15:07] You were used to it. You were expecting it. Right.

Jerry: [00:15:08] It was another no.

Jennifer: [00:15:11] One more in the bank of no’s. But you just trudged on through and pushed on through. Gosh, they're gorgeous.

Jerry: [00:15:19] Thank you.

Jennifer: [00:15:19] Gorgeous. And you've also, I just want to make sure we get everything in because you've got so much knowledge and experience piled into investing in the community. Commercial investments. You've done that as well, not just historical tax preservation, but you have purchased buildings and redone those and leased those out. Is that, do you see yourself doing more of that in Fort Payne?

Jerry: [00:15:47] Well, I mean, you know, honestly, Jennifer, I have people all the time asking me if I have any other buildings in Fort Payne that they can come and move into. People are wanting, you know, I think that you and the Chamber and, you know, everyone that's involved down here, I think you all are doing a great job as far as mobilizing folks. I mean, you know, you look at Mater's coming in one of these days when they get open and and of course, what Mary Reed did with her building up there, you know, and then then you just look, you know, off on one of the streets, You know, you got Myrtle Jane’s, you know, they've redone their building. There's a lot of that going on. And so people are wanting to be downtown, There's no question about that. And I actually, you know, I have people all the time. I have more people ask me if they can move downtown, if I have a spot, than I have. I mean, I have a person who has an existing business they’re probably a year and a half old, maybe somewhere in that neighborhood, and they're in one spot of town. They want to move downtown. And I've got one building left on First Street and they want to move into that building. And I have been putting them off over and over and over again just simply because I can't get it renovated. And as a matter of fact, I felt so bad the other day. I actually went to their store and just walked in and I just said, “Look, I just didn't want to call you. I wanted to come in here and look at you and just tell you, I don't know when I can ever get this building renovated, because I've got so much stuff going on.”

Jennifer: [00:17:42] And because you're also doing the Leith House, which is a residential, historical residential property.

Jerry: [00:17:46] Right.

Jennifer: [00:17:47] Are you also doing the historical tax preservation on that house as well?

Jerry: [00:17:48] Yes.

Jennifer: [00:17:49] It's a gorgeous house. Thank goodness someone like you took the initiative to reinvest back into that house so that it's not just dilapidated and fallen in. It is too pretty for that. So thank you for that.

Jerry: [00:18:05] Well, you know, I had looked at that Leith House for, oh, I don't know, three or four years, you know, maybe even, it’d even been longer than that. Been looking at trying to buy it, and it had fell into such disrepair. I mean, it was just I mean, there was a hole in the roof and, you know, it was raining in there and it was just, it was just a sad situation. But every time that I would drive by that house, you know, I would think, oh, my gosh, I would love to have that house because usually when I buy something I will have something that'll make me want to buy it, is I can actually have a vision of what it's going to look like. And like, I knew what The Lofts was going to look like the day I went up there and looked at it and, and there were just bare walls where the fire had damaged everything. I knew what those lofts would look like when I got through. I knew what Alice was going to do. I could see, see that. And, and it was the same way with this Leith House. I mean, I could see exactly what that house would look like when I got through with it, and I didn't realize it was going to take me as long to do it as what it has. I mean, because we're still probably two or three months away on finishing it, but it is going to be something that the city is going to be very proud of once it gets finished.

Jennifer: [00:19:41] I can't wait. I know you've talked about some special revealing ideas for the Leith House, and I'm excited for that. Now, there are people who have money that could invest in their communities, such as yourself. So many don't. So why is it important to you to invest back in your community?

Jerry: [00:20:04] Well, we have an obligation to continue the work that others have started. You know, you just think about it. The building where The Spot is now where is now The Lofts on Gault, was built in 1914 by Judge Haralson. And through 100 years, that building has provided space for several businesses to operate and serve the public, a hardware store, law offices, a seamstress, gymnastics studio.

Jennifer: [00:20:36] And now I want to interject. I took gymnastics in the gymnastics studio. And I actually broke the nose of the instructor.

Jerry: [00:20:44] Oh, my gosh.

Jennifer: [00:20:45] I mean, talent right here. Talent. Sorry. Go ahead. Continue on, Jerry.

Jerry: [00:20:52] But, but, you know, I'm sure that Judge Haralson, he never envisioned when he built that building, that wasn't what he was thinking.

Jennifer: [00:21:01] No.

Jerry: [00:21:02] And so we're actually kind of standing on, on Judge Haralson’s shoulders and others like him. And I just believe it's our obligation to work to build on those that have gone before us. I really do, so that our community can continue to prosper for another generation. You know the Hitching Post. You know, when I bought it at Mentone, that was an historical building. And I've never had anything affect me more emotionally. When we lost that building a couple of weeks ago, I've actually used the illustration. My mother passed away when she was 32. Excuse me. When I was 32. My dad passed away when I was 37. I still remember the emotions I had losing both my parents. That was the same kind of emotion that I had when we lost the Hitching Post. And unless you've ever done an historical building, if you've never done that, you cannot understand it. I mean, you can sympathize with me. I mean, it's kind of like, you know, when maybe a person loses a parent. If you still have both your parents, you can't, you can't understand what they're going through because you don't have ever experienced it yourself. And that's the same way you know, when. When you renovate an historical building, you're preserving that history of that building. Now you have those memories. But to have that property preserved is, is just something that you just can't understand unless you've done it. And that's one of the things that I, you know, I just enjoy.

Jennifer: [00:23:18] Well, the Hitching post, there's a photo of you standing out when it's, when it's burning. And I mean, I think that touched everyone's heart. We all, anyone that knows you and knows how much you pour into projects that you do, we, we didn't really understand, but we did know you were hurting because of that. You, when you go into a project, you delve in from the very beginning of that building or that project, you know the history and your goal is truly to make it better than it was even before. And I know you had big plans for the Hitching Post and for that community as a whole. And I hope that maybe you will continue that, not with the Hitching Post necessarily, because it's no longer there, but just that community needs a place like the Hitching Post still. Jerry, not only are you investing in your community through projects such as The Lofts on Gault and the Leith House and First Street pretty much, you also are passionate about investing in nonprofits as well. Tell us a little bit about some of your projects that you've poured your heart and soul into when it comes to nonprofits.

Jerry: [00:24:31] Well, this is something that, that really, really I get the satisfaction from. And 15 years ago, the church that I was attending at that time, Rainsville First Baptist, they had approached me because I was a runner, and so they had approached me about maybe doing a 5k run to help raise money for missions. And so, you know, I was all over that. So I said, “Yeah, let's do it.” So anyway, we started what was called the Rainsville Freedom Run 15 years ago and it was a 5k and we had 175 people in it. And we raised, the money we raised, went to the church to help them do overseas mission work. And then some stateside. We did that for three years, and then the church came to me and they said, “Hey, look, you know, you're doing a lot of this work yourself. Why don't you, if you want to, just keep going. Maybe you could find some charities that you could give to and just just do that.” And I said ok. So we continued to grow the the run. We added a 10k run to it. We started adding prize money to it. And you know, this past year being our 14th year, we had right at 1,000 runners and walkers in it.

Jennifer: [00:26:08] That's amazing.

Jerry: [00:26:09] From 15 different states.

Jennifer: [00:26:12] And you have from other countries.

Jerry: [00:26:13] And other countries. We had them actually from five different foreign countries this past year. And in the 14 years now that we've been doing, we've given over $450,000 to local charity. And, you know, and the reason I say local charity, you know, I don't have any problem with the United Cancer or Heart, Heart or anything like that. But, you know, I just think that people are more motivated to help you if they can actually see where your money's going. And, you know, and we have some great ministries here in our area that we support who do great work. You know, the Summit is an example. You know, they help bring women back out of addiction and help them get clean and get their life straightened up and they get them a job again and get housing for them if they need it. I mean, they do tremendous work. And then, you know, another one that we give a lot to is Rainsville Community Church. Now, what they do, you know, they actually do go overseas to Uganda and help dig fresh water wells over there for those people. So even though it is in Uganda, it is still local because of the fact that it's locals here in DeKalb County that are going to Uganda to help dig these wells. And this past year, we actually gave enough money to where the Rainsville Freedom Run has our own well over there that they dug.

Jennifer: [00:27:58] That's wonderful.

Jerry: [00:27:59] And, you know, in honor of the Rainsville Freedom Room, which was very exciting because that was one of the things that I always wanted to be able to do, was to be able to give them enough money to where they could dig a well.

Jennifer: [00:28:09] Thank you for doing that and giving back in the community, pouring back into the community yet again.

Jerry: [00:28:13] Well, I appreciate it.

Jennifer: [00:28:15] So some things you, if you're sitting around thinking, hmm, I would like to invest back into the community, we're going to include some notes, some show notes for you that can give you a link to the historical tax credit preservation link and also the Freedom Run. If you're interested in participating in that or learning about just the charities that you give to and some local charities as well, which you can find those on our Chamber website as well. We have several nonprofit members that we try to help through grant writing workshops and such so that they can continue to do the good work that they're doing. And commercial development is also an option and preservation of old houses. So I think there's plenty of opportunities for you to get involved in your community. Or maybe you want, you're an entrepreneur or you want to start a business you need investors to connect with. But please come to the investors with a solid idea and an understanding that they're only going to invest in you if you can prove that you're, you've got a great plan and that it will make money and do well.

Jerry: [00:29:23] Right.

Jennifer: [00:29:24] Do you have any final words, Jerry?

Jerry: [00:29:25] Well, I mean, you know, I just think that, you know, we're, we're all a lot of people don't think about this, but we're all here for a purpose. Whether we want to admit it or not. We're all here for a purpose. And the key is, is knowing what our purpose is. What is our purpose? So I would just encourage people to think about something that they're passionate about and then do something with it. And, you know, I have, you know, folks ask me all the time, you know, about this or that. And I tell them, I say, hey, look, I just believe that we're supposed to give back. And so a lot of times, you know, people, when you talk about giving, they say this well they they might think this, that it's always monetarily something. But there's ways to give that's not monetarily. You know, I'll tell folks, I'll say, “Hey, take your phone, look at your contact list, find somebody on there that you've not talked to in a pretty good while. Send them a text. “Hey, Jennifer, just thinking about you today. Hope everything's great.” Just say that. You'd be surprised at what that does. So basically what I tell folks. Do something that matters every day. Just do something that matters every day.

Jennifer: [00:31:05] No matter what kind of mood you're in. Do something that matters.

Jerry: [00:31:08] That's exactly right.

Jennifer: [00:31:10] So, Jerry, in closing, I need you to give us some motivation for people who are kind of on the edge thinking about investing in their community. Why? Why should they really invest in their community?

Jerry: [00:31:22] Well, you know, the old saying, a rising tide floats all boats. That's true. And when people make improvements in business districts and in neighborhoods, everybody wins. It improves property values, makes the area more attractive to shoppers, tourists, residents, and just generally makes it a better place to live, to work, and to raise a family. That's really what it's all about.

Jennifer: [00:31:46] And just making sure that the people in your lives that you love and care about have a better future.

Jerry: [00:31:51] Absolutely.

Jennifer: [00:31:53] Jerry, thank you so much for coming today. It's been a pleasure. And I know I'll have you back because I have so much enjoyed this.

Jerry: [00:31:59] Well, thanks a bunch, Jennifer. Thank you for asking me.

Jennifer: [00:32:01] Sure thing. Have a great day.

Jerry: [00:32:02] All right. Thank you.

Jennifer: [00:32:04] Thanks, everyone, for listening to Business Is Booming today with our guest speaker Jerry Clifton. Be sure to check out our social media, Facebook and Instagram, for upcoming events for the Chamber and just happenings in general and also our website. We have a great website with lots of resources on there for you, and all of our past Business is Booming episodes are housed on our website, and that's Fort Payne Chamber dot com. Thanks again for listening, and we'll see you next episode.

Narrator: [00:32:35] You've been listening to Business Is Booming, a podcast brought to you by Fort Payne Chamber of Commerce. The host is Chamber Director Jennifer McCurdy, Executive Producer Stephen V. Smith with assistant producer Emily Kirby. Our engineer is Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound Studios. Business Is Booming is a production of Rare Life Media.