As Richard Patton, Rob Slocumb and Chandler Jones sit around the table at an Opelika coffee shop, they talk of their plans and vision for the budding downtown area.
For now, a passerby through the historic Southern town may see quaint antique stores, growing restaurants, dated city government buildings and an antiquated railroad track that runs the length of the downtown.
But for these three creative visionaries and others on their team, their dream for Opelika is much bigger.
"We believe that to really change our area and our city, we need to make ourselves the next great art capital of the south," Patton said, previous owner of the venue Eighth & Rail and now owner of the Railyard, a recently-opened recycled cotton warehouse used as a venue for art, music, food and film.
Patton opened the Railyard summer of 2012 after spending about five years gradually buying some old cotton warehouses that sat across the tracks from his old venue, Eighth & Rail, he said.
Patton now owns close to two city blocks of the historic warehouses which he said date to between 1870 \0xAD-1910.
Patton and his team have studied other successful cities like Greenville, S.C., Asheville, N.C. and Florence, and reported a pattern of city life and culture spreading out from cities who have a foundation of an art culture, Patton said.
"If you have a dream list of what you want in your city, they would have that," Patton said. "I don't care what the dream list is: whether it's night life, food, restaurants, good schools, bike paths, green spaces, safe, whatever- they would all have that."
Their dream is to have places for people to create and live and work, whether that is a rooftop or garden or studio warehouse Patton said.
Patton said he is opening another warehouse this week which will act as an incubator studio for local artists to come and create and have community.
Patton said he hopes the space will be a launching pad for local artists who need somewhere to begin.
For Chandler Jones, junior in radio, television and film and lead singer of the local band Adventure the Great, the incubator will act not only as a much-needed space for band practice opportunities, but as a collaborative space, Jones said.
"At the same time, there may be a band having practice and there may be a painter over there painting and so again, it all feeds off of one another and it's about, sort of restoring creative energy into those warehouses that have just been sitting there for so long," Jones said.
For their dream to happen, it is essential that some of the creatively-inspired settle in the Opelika area and invest their lives in that community.
"More and more are wanting to stay here, as opposed to them moving to Nashville or Atlanta where art communities are already planted, and it'd be difficult to sort of jump right in, but in this case, it's just starting and so these creatives have the opportunity to really put their hand print on it and shape it to how they want it to be," Jones said.
Rob Slocumb is one such musician who believed in the vision of Opelika when he moved here eight years ago from Canada with his wife. Slocumb and his band, Martha's Trouble toured the Southeast frequently before moving here and even a few years ago he saw the potential in Opelika he said.
"Right now, we're on the verge of something special happening," Slocumb said.
Not only has the team been dreaming, but Patton and Slocumb have spent the past two months making presentations city-wide to local task forces and city groups to spread the vision and gain support.
Both said they have had overwhelming support.
Along with the Railyard and the incubator, the group will soon be launching Cotton Seed Studios, another creative nucleus that will serve as a film and recording studio as well as a venue, Slocumb said.
While the movement will affect the art community of Opelika, their hope is that it would ultimately bring life and vitality to all different parts of the city, including families and couples.
"They all need things to do, they all need things that they enjoy," Patton said. "For people to want to stay here, there's got to be activity, there's got to be life. And there are a lot of people that want more than what we have to offer at this point, whatever that is- whether it's art studios or more music or better restaurants or more restaurants."
Patton said the group is a movement of creatives, not a board or task force.
"This can't happen alone," Patton said. "It's going to be a lot of people using their gifts to put it together and make it happen."
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