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New Owner Making Good On Promise To Clean Up Century’s Alger Sullivan Mill Property

For the first time since it was ravaged by tornado five years ago, the former Alger Sullivan Lumber Mill property in Century is almost cleaned up.

The 38-acre abandoned industrial site was heavily damaged and was mostly untouched since EF-3 tornado winds of 150 mph on February 15, 2016.

The property was purchased March 1, 2021, by Creighton Sounds, LLC of Pensacola for an industrial project, the nature of which has not yet been announced. But the company is making good on a promise to clean up the property.

The principal owner of Creighton Sounds was involved in “Project Fusion” that in November 2020 canceled a pending contract with the Town of Century to purchase the former Helicopter Technology building and about 40 acres in the Century Industrial Park. The company had promised 80 new jobs and a $15.3 million capital investment during their first five years.

“We’re very excited that we’re in Century to help the fine folks of that town to bring jobs and to clean up an area that’s been devastated by a tornado since 2016 that ravished their neighborhood,” Creighton Sounds representative Kipp Anglin told NorthEscambia.com in March, when he appeared before an Escambia County Special Magistrate Robert O. Beasley to ask the county to put code enforcement violation fines on hold.

Environmental enforcement costs and fines of $50 a day had accumulated against the previous property owners since 2016 and stand at an estimated $85,000. Beasley ordered the fines on the property put on hold as of March 1, the date of the property purchase by Creighton Sounds. The previous owner, DMT Holdings LLC of Navarre, will still be responsible for the $85,000 and has placed the amount in a trust fund.

Creighton Sounds worked over the past few months to salvage about 60,000 square feet of one large building on the property. The structure has now been stripped to its metal skeleton, weeks in advance of the 90 days Anglin promised the code enforcement magistrate.

The magistrate said that the general cleanup is Escambia County Code Enforcement’s top priority The magistrate said if there are any unforeseen delays for engineering, permitting or other reasons and the building deficiencies cannot be corrected with 180 days, he would be willing to work with the developers.

“I think we would all like to see a clean site with all the debris and garbage cleaned out and the red iron (building framework) standing. That would put you in the best situation for success here,” Beasley said.

Escambia County received three bids for the demolition and cleanup of the mill in 2017, but bids ranged from $800,000 to $3 million — far in excess of the county’s entire 2017 cleanup budget of $463,425. Property records show the value of the property was $802,189 before the tornado, but the most recent assessment shows what remains was worth $226,535.

Pictured above and below: The current state of the former Alger Sullivan Lumber Mill property in Century. Pictured inset: A 2019 view of the building as seen from an adjacent neighborhood on Front Street. NorthEscambia.com photos, click to enlarge.