Lumpkin Development has purchased a defunct shopping mall in Birmingham, Ala., with the intent to convert it to mixed-use property that will include self-storage inside a former Sears store. The company acquired the 65-acre Century Plaza on Crestwood Boulevard for $3 million from Howard Hughes Corp., according to the source.

Despite being vacant for nine years, the Sears store is still structurally sound, according to Eddie Lumpkin, owner of Lumpkin Development. The company plans to lease the remaining property, with rates beginning at $5 per square foot.

Built in 1975, the shopping center closed in 2009. In addition to the Sears, it once included anchor stores such as JCPenney, Loveman's and Rich’s. When it closed, fewer than 40 stores were still open. Other uses considered for the site over the years have included apartments, a church, private school, a Costco and a federal prison, the source reported.

Last summer, Lumpkin Development faced opposition in its quest to build a five-story self-storage facility on a former McDonald’s site in Birmingham. The variance request for shorter setbacks on the property was denied, as was an appeal for a reduction of the landscape buffer between the property and the residential neighborhood behind it.

Based in Pelham, Ala., Lumpkin Development owns more than 2 million square feet of commercial space in Atlanta and Central Alabama.

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