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University of Alabama Center for Real Estate
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ACRE Data Analytics Coordinator Stuart Norton discusses economic development with Don Erwin, former economic development manager for the Alabama Power Company and vice president of corporate development for Barber Companies.
Erwin earned his bachelor of science in economics at the University of Alabama in 1978 and also studied business and German at UAB. He began working for Alabama Power as a writer and editor for training manuals while in college and began working in IT technical support in 1980. He joined the company’s economic development department in 1990 and helped expand the utility’s efforts to recruit businesses from Europe, including its coordination with the state in landing Mercedes-Benz US International in 1993.
Erwin’s role in securing George Barber’s Barber Motorsports Park led to him moving to Barber Companies as a member of the executive board with responsibilities for corporate development and government relations in 2002, after almost two years with the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama. While working for Barber’s commercial real estate operation, they did a deal in 2005 that resulted in the Innovation Depot, a 140,000 sq. ft. international award-winning incubator that currently houses more than a hundred companies and 1,300 employees in downtown Birmingham. Erwin retired in 2020.
Erwin’s first novel, Buffalo Hunting in Alabama, draws from his experiences as a corporate recruiter. The book was self-published in 2020.
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21 Book Recommendations for 2021
Development Counsellors International
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Review: Economic development thriller set in Alabama designed to entertain, educate
It’s 2014 and even though it’s the largest city in Alabama, Birmingham does not have a mega project like other cities in the state. The governor of Alabama is a former college football hero who chafes at providing tax incentives to major biotech or luxury carmakers since his fish lure business and popular fishing TV show were never incentivized.
Ezra Drake is a young professional enjoying his life on Wall Street when a fellow Alabamian in New York City recommends him for a job in Birmingham. The state’s largest utility, DG&L — formerly known as Dixie Gas & Light before rebranding in the 1980s, wants to hire an Alabama native who has a prestigious college degree and international business experience. Drake had left Alabama after high school to go to Harvard University and Deutsche Bank and never looked back.
“Alabama wasn’t even flyover country,” says the narrator, “it was flyaway from country.”
DG&L does a good job presenting the best Birmingham has to offer, but a chance encounter in Avondale with an economic development professional redirects Ezra to the Atmani Foundation, a nonprofit organization in Birmingham founded by an Egyptian immigrant.
Buffalo Hunting in Alabama by Don Erwin is an economic development thriller.
Bluff Park Press
That’s the setup for “Buffalo Hunting,” the debut novel by Don Erwin, the longtime commercial real estate pro who recently retired from Barber Cos.
The novel is a thriller that brings the world of economic development to the popular reader.
With years of experience in economic and commercial development in Birmingham and the state, Don Erwin is uniquely qualified to produce this book, which provides plenty of exciting twists and turns as well as deep insights into how economic development works.
Known as Buffalo Hunting, the effort to attract and incentivize large companies to locate in an area, the fictitious Atmani Foundation in the book does its part to quietly work behind the scenes to drive economic development in the state.
“The gut decision to move Microsoft to Seattle fundamentally changed the city forever,” a member of the Atmani Foundation tells Ezra. “We want to swing some gut decisions for Alabama.”
At the foundation, Ezra learns the other half of the story DG&L had left out, finding Alabama’s scattershot efforts at economic development are highly politicized with bureaucratic gatekeepers maintaining control with a combination of incompetence and ruthlessness to the point of death.
In the meantime, Milltown, a small suburb of Birmingham is reckoning with stagnant population and job growth. A young economic developer out of Auburn University identifies a good site in town for a tech park and mega site. He convinces the leadership of Milltown and Birmingham to acquire the site for potential projects.
Author Don Erwin has years of experience in economic and commercial development in Birmingham and Alabama.
Bluff Park Press
Running concurrently with the action is the story of Billy Bob Jenkins, a hardworking man struggling to support his young family after the medical tech manufacturer he worked for in Birmingham goes bankrupt. Jenkins, who gets his old trucking job back, represents the many Alabamians who are underemployed in low-wage jobs.
At the Atmani Foundation, Ezra is tasked with influencing decisionmakers to have a more favorable view of Alabama and consider the state for their potential projects, but a prospective company that only wants to engage Alabama’s leadership through Ezra sets the stage for a major conflict between the state’s economic development officials and the small foundation.
The novel could easily serve as a primer on the subject as well as a charming but honest introduction to the strengths and challenges facing Birmingham and Alabama.
I would wager there is plenty in the book that lifelong Alabamians never knew about their state and will gain a newfound appreciation for its beauty and diversity. Any fan of the Magic City also will enjoy reading about familiar places and people and will long for the day when Highlands Bar and Grill reopens.
Economic development industry professionals likewise will glean a lot from the pages of the novel if for nothing else but to reconnect with the importance of attracting good paying jobs to local communities. And any Alabamian who cares about the future and the quality of life in the state will learn that, if we want to move forward, things cannot stay the same.