Bart Stephens is deep in conversation about his new multi-business Birmingham development, Lakeview Marina, when he suddenly notices that the background music at the establishment has stopped. “Excuse me,” he says. “I need to go flip the record.”
That is an example of just how hands-on Stephens is with this venture, which opened last year. Covering half a city block in Birmingham’s Lakeview district, the development currently consists of several retail stores and services, an outdoor concert area with permanent food trucks, and a restaurant/bar/music venue called the High Dive HiFi Lounge, with room to add more.
Much of the early buzz regarding Lakeview Marina (a humorous play on the area’s name, which has no lake and not much of a view) has been about High Dive, a vinyl record listening lounge specifically designed to produce high-quality acoustics. That’s where Stephens was recently when he took a break from his lunch discussion to briefly become a record DJ.
Stephens is owner of the overall Lakeview Marina development as well as High Dive. So, in a sense, he is both a landlord and a tenant. And he wants those types of lines to remain blurry for all the businesses that call Lakeview Marina home.
“We’re not a traditional development, and I don’t want to be a traditional landlord, where we’re just leasing space and walking away and being involved as little as possible,” Stephens says. “We’re doing everything we can to support our tenants and retailers, to help make them as successful as we can.”
This is the first time Stephens has been directly involved in such a business development, even though his family background certainly could have paved a path in that direction. After all, his grandfather was Elton B. Stephens, who founded EBSCO Industries in 1944 and is in the Alabama Business Hall of Fame. One of the divisions of the family-owned conglomerate is EBSCO Real Estate, which has helped develop planned communities in Alabama and Florida.
“I’m from a multi-generational business family. I grew up talking about how you can use business to solve problems and make positive change occur,” Stephens says. “I had a front-row seat through my connection with EBSCO and my family to watch how these things can be done. How to hire and manage, and develop lasting relationships with vendors, suppliers and customers. I learned about the importance of developing a culture within a business.
“I also was able to watch closely the development of (planned communities) Mount Laurel (in Shelby County) and Alys Beach (in the Florida Panhandle), and our office developments. I was able to sit in on meetings about the design of those developments. I saw how architects and town planners work. So, I’ve been exposed to that world.”
Still, during his 17 years working at EBSCO, Stephens primarily was involved with the company’s publishing division, working in general management, product development, marketing and sales. The closest he came to structural design was through his wife, Hampton Stephens, who is an independent architect.
“I lived vicariously through her,” Stephens says. “We’ve renovated houses together. That’s been my weekend hobby. I love home improvement and fixing things.”
Stephens also loves downtown Birmingham. As a child growing up in the suburbs, Stephens says he was “always a little entranced” whenever his family brought him downtown.
“It was exciting, with all the big buildings,” Stephens says. “But back then, there were a lot of abandoned storefronts. It didn’t look healthy. It was a source of both fascination and shame seeing the state of downtown.”
So, Stephens has cheered from the sidelines in recent years as many parts of Birmingham’s downtown have experienced a revival. Then, following the COVID-19 pandemic, Stephens decided he was ready for a career change, and an opportunity to be part of that revival.
“I’ve always been fascinated with urban planning and design and community building. It was just something I paid a lot of attention to,” Stephens says. “I began to have a desire to play a hand in this downtown rebirth. So, I wanted to see if I could build a second career in real estate.”
In 2023, Stephens purchased the property for his development. It is located a few blocks from the heart of Lakeview’s entertainment district, in an area dominated by commercial businesses. A car repair and tire shop sits across the street, with a bank and a healthcare facility nearby. But within his half-block, Stephens sought to create an area dominated by public interaction and music.
“I have a really deep passion for music and community,” Stephens says. “It was always in my mind for this to be a music hub, with other local businesses as well. We want to lease it out to independent, community, culture-based tenants.”
Not long after he began working on the development, Stephens discovered that one of Birmingham’s few vinyl record stores, Seasick Records, was looking to expand into a larger space. So, Stephens approached Seasick owner Dan Drinkard about moving into Lakeview Marina. Drinkard says he was impressed by Stephens’ vision for the development.
As Drinkard recalls, Stephens’ pitch went something like this: “I’m not a property developer. This is the first time I’ve done this. There are a lot of people who have told me I have to do it a certain way. But I don’t care about that. I want to do it the way I want to do it. I want all the tenants to work together to bring people to the development. I want us to all have communication and be on the same page. If there are issues, we’re going to work it out and move on.”
“Having someone who is interested and engaged in making our business successful in the space we’re renting from him, that goes a long way,” Drinkard says. “It’s more of a collaborative thing, rather than just paying rent for space in a building.”
That was evident this past April during the annual Record Store Day event that is recognized worldwide. While Seasick had its own special events and sales to mark the day, there also were bands playing in the nearby outdoor concert area and vendors selling a variety of goods. High Dive was open as well, providing food and drink and its own musical selection. The entire atmosphere felt more like a festival than a retail development.
“We’re very happy with our move (to Lakeview Marina),” Drinkard says. “It’s been a dream scenario. We couldn’t have planned this. It just fell into our lap and came together, and we’ve really thrived since we’ve been here.”
Stephens also is pleased with the way his first foray into business development is going. Though there is still retail space that needs to be leased, he says the existing businesses — which include a barbershop and a family dental office — are all doing well. In addition, local independent station Birmingham Mountain Radio recently moved its studios to Lakeview Marina.
“I am sort of a paranoid realist bordering on pessimist. I’m always focused on what could be better,” Stephens says with a smile. “But the community has been very supportive.
“I’ve always worked for other people. Then I had this opportunity to strike out on my own, and I’ve really been enjoying it. And we’re only scratching the surface on what we can do here. The goal is for there to be events happening here all the time. We want to use these spaces to bring interesting art and music to the community.”
And with that, Stephens gets up to change the record again. So, the music never stops.
Cary Estes and Joe De Sciose are Birmingham-based freelance contributors to Business Alabama.
This article appears in the June 2026 issue of Business Alabama.
