Shipping container to kickstart a new business in Marion

The empty lot next to the Marion Times-Standard office on Washington Street will soon be occupied by a structure. More specifically, a shipping container.

The shipping container will be what Main Street Marion President Donald Bennett called an incubator for start-up businesses that can’t yet afford to rent a building. Bennett said other cities are repurposing shipping containers to help kick-start new businesses.

“The problem we have – and Main Street is trying to address it – is that there isn’t a lot of developed space where people can open a business and move right in,” Bennett said. “The buildings are old. They’re leaking water, they need a lot of repair, and the plumbing is old and bad. What we’re trying to do it get [a new business] started out in an incubator while we work on some of the buildings.”

The empty lot is owned by the city, so at the Jan. 20 Marion City Council meeting, Bennett asked the city if they would allow Main Street to place the structure on the site. He explained to the council that Main Street Alabama is ready to deliver the container, complete with heat and air conditioning and ready for a business to move in. Main Street Marion will have the power pole and any other utilities set up.

Although all of the council members were not physically present at the meeting, there was a quorum, so they were able to vote on allowing Main Street to set up the container building. After some discussion, Councilman Jeremy Arrington made a motion to allow Main Street to move forward. Councilman Joseph Pearson said he would second if there was the stipulation that it was on a one-year trial bases. Arrington amended his motion, Pearson seconded, and they both voted yes. Councilman Jefferson Nail voted no. The motion passed.

During the council’s deliberations, Nail questioned the need for the project when there are so many empty buildings downtown. Bennett replied that many of the buildings are privately owned, and the owners do not have the means to repair them at this point. He also said that Main Street’s efforts to get grants and do repairs on the buildings they own has been slowed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Like in the city of Wetumpka and others, this would be a way for a business to get established and begin generating revenue.

Nail also asked if the city would get any rent. Bennett said that lot is generating nothing right now. With the low rent incubator building, a startup business can begin generating revenue for the city in the form of taxes, and all the rent collected by Main Street Marion, a nonprofit, would be put back in to the community. That rent could be as low as $200 per month, according to Bennett. He added there will be no cost or expense to the city.

Bennett explained that Main Street would oversee what businesses locate in the building.

“I would not want someone to come in and set up a temporary bar right on main street and attract the wrong type of crowd,” Bennett said. “Or a beauty and wig shop. We have plenty of those. We want a place that when tourists go by, they say that’s a place they want to go.”

Bennett said he envisions “some type of retail business, maybe a start-up men’s clothing store, or a uniform store, maybe a souvenir shop.” Main Street would be sure it is a business that will fit in the downtown area.

After the building is in place, Bennett said Main Street will landscape the area and set up some tables and chairs where people can sit and eat. He reminded the council a new coffee shop will open up in the area in a matter of months.

The office should be set up by mid-February.