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As of late last week, the former Brewton Heights Shopping Center has a new owner, and he’s already working on revitalizing this key retail property in the heart of the city.
“This would be an ideal site for a restaurant, steakhouse or something similar,” said local entrepreneur Steve Creamer, who signed the final paperwork on Thursday last week. “We start demo on the back section where Sears was next.”
With plans to rebuild and renovate other salvageable buildings, Creamer said the 7.4 acres is another project sure to demonstrate excitement.
For more than a decade, Brewton residents have listed this area as a place that needed attention, a liability for Brewton. Because it was purchased by an absentee landowner based in New York, there was little local leaders could do. The city levied fines and penalties but got little action from owners as the property continued to decline and become even more dilapidated and blighted. The shopping center was built in stages starting in 1957 with additional buildings added through 1969. City council members voted to demolish the oldest building in 2021, but legal wrangling stalled the process.
“The city council has been working on this project for years,” Creamer said, “and Mayor Lovelace put me in contact with the owners, at first in a discussion about demolition, but then I learned they were interested in selling it outright.” Creamer said Mayor Lovelace had been a big part of the development project.
“I cannot put into words how glad I am to see this property become the retail center the city needs and deserves,” Lovelace said on Monday. “We had worked for years to push the former owner to act, but state law leaves us little choice that would not put the city in an expensive bind. I am truly grateful to have entrepreneurs like Mr. Creamer who are actively investing in our city. That’s why we are indeed the place to grow.”
Creamer is the owner of Creamer Dozer Service, and recently expanded to open an oil-change store, equipment sales company and is developing an industrial park along CSX Railroad that earned a silver industrial site rating with the rail line. Another recent project is renovation of Brewton’s iconic Bracken’s restaurant to be opened soon. Creamer said he will continue to start projects that make sense as investments and as positive development for the city.