Stockbroker and his artistic friend join forces to revamp area
John E. Lynch moved with his wife and four children from the Mississippi Capital City to Brookhaven in 1995 and opened a stock brokerage office. At the time, vacant commercial buildings in small southern downtown communities were commonplace as the fast-food boulevards and big box stores along interstates that all but killed downtown retail. Little remained in Brookhaven beyond main branch bank offices, law and insurance offices, run down dollar stores and the occasional family retail store.
Lynch moved to Brookhaven seeking a small-town lifestyle and atmosphere. As he settled into the new routine, he became interested in seeing what he could do to help revive the downtown.
“I needed an office and ended up buying a building, renovating it, and leasing it out to other one-man offices kind of like mine,” Lynch said. “This was 25 years ago. Each year since I’ve taken on two or three buildings by purchasing them, renovating them and leasing or selling them to others. We have about 45 to 50 renovated buildings now in the Central Business District. I’ve been involved in about 25 of them. The nice part is others have joined. Some I have renovated and sold to the operator, which is great. They are committed. They own their own building. The downtown community is a lot more stable with a diversified ownership of people who are building equity. That is what is fantastic about it.”
About 15 years ago Lynch stayed in a bed and breakfast in downtown Ripley in North Mississippi. Inspired by the possibilities, he decided to bring the concept of upscale tourist lodging to Brookhaven. It seemed a bit ambitious at the time, if not risky. He and a few investment partners purchased the historic early 1900’s building that previously housed Progressive Men’s Store for 20 years.
“We bought the 12,000-square-foot, two-story building and converted it into a 14-room bed and breakfast that was very well received,” Lynch said. “It has been phenomenal how people love to stay there. We have hotels on the interstate. But more and more visitors, especially those with family history in Brookhaven, enjoy staying downtown. That success led me to convert the upstairs of some other buildings to the extended stay market for people who need to stay for a week or a month. The concept has been well received and we now have 25 apartments.”
Currently every building downtown is occupied, all conceived, designed and constructed without any grants or incentives from the city or state.
“It has been organic,” Lynch said. “We have an authentic downtown with daytime businesses and nightlife in the evenings. It’s not a university town like Oxford or Hattiesburg but has its own character.”
The latest project is converting a 12,500-square-foot former funeral home downtown to the Brookhaven City Hall. The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.
“We, as city officials, are excited about this project,” said Mayor Joe Cox. “It will be an asset to the city and the downtown area. We are repurposing another building in our beautiful city, and look forward to providing improved accessibility, enhanced efficiency, a more functional facility and ensuring the city is prepared to meet future needs.”
Lynch gives a lot of credit to Dr. Kim Sessums, a local gynecologist and highly-lauded artist, for help with the design and furnishings of the buildings.
“Every project I do, he is my right-hand man,” Lynch said. “I am a numbers guy and his focus, interest and ability are in design. He makes the projects look fantastic. Kim’s artwork is nationally known. He is currently creating a sculpture design submission for a monumental bronze statue for the State of Tennessee to be installed in front of the State Capital building. He has created national monuments in both the Vicksburg Military Park and the Shiloh National Park. He has also sculpted several monumental sculptures for the University of Mississippi and other college campuses. Many of his experimental works in various mediums can be found in our rescue/renovation projects.”
Sessums loves design. He started in architecture school but migrated to medical school before finishing and moved to Brookhaven to open a new OB-GYN practice in 1988. Lynch said Sessums is incredibly talented, and so good at design because it seems he is an architect at heart.
“The downtown revitalization has really changed how many people interact and socialize at night,” Sessums said. “My design philosophy is to make spaces that people walk into and feel good–even if they aren’t sure why. They sense it and they share that feeling with other people. Though a bit surprising, our small, cool downtown even attracts people traveling cross country. They search for alternative accommodations, discover a small boutique hotel, show up, stay a couple of nights, enjoy the community, and usually give good reports about it when they leave. Some even make return visits.”
Sessums said he has come to understand Lynch not so much as a real estate businessman but rather as a visionary who sees underperforming historic buildings as challenges, stoking his desire to rescue them, improve them, and find ways to make them an integral piece of a larger downtown renovation/revitalization puzzle. To this artist’s mind, his friend isn’t driven by some enrichment goal.
“I have decided that John isn’t doing this solely to make money, but to preserve these buildings,” Sessums said. “He gets a great thrill out of doing it. It is really great to see the downtown come alive. We have done banks, restaurants, hotels, law offices and insurance agencies. All have a touch of my design aesthetic while remaining practical and functional from John’s perspective. We try to make each project unique while trying to figure out what the client is trying to accomplish. Thus far it seems to be working well. It has really just been a lot of fun.”
Sessums said he once suggested to Lynch when it seemed the stress level was growing that he couldn’t save every building to which his friend responded, “Why not?”
“I’ve designed furnishings and artwork for some of these projects that were not necessarily in the budget,” Sessums noted. “John usually says, ‘Go ahead. We’ll find a way to make it work’.”
That collaboration and trust work well as the projects have thus far made an impact.
Lynch calls his downtown renovations a side hobby. “My wife calls it a disease,” he said. “I believe that everyone has some part inside of them that likes to create, to make something. This is the way that I create. It comes from seeing a building that is worn out and, for some reason, I just want to improve it.”
Lynch also took over the Brookhaven Country Club about four years ago when it was in bankruptcy. The facility includes an 18-hole golf course, eight tennis courts, a swimming pool and a clubhouse for events. It is an important part of Brookhaven.
“Membership now has never been higher and the facilities never better,” Lynch said. We have a great staff in place that make it happen.”
Lynch teamed with Sessums to create eight modern cottages at the golf course. While they initially expected mostly golfers, the cottages are popular with other visitors, as well.
Brookhaven, population about 13,000, has a railroad going through downtown that many people find charming. Amtrak travelers as well as highway travelers are more and more finding this little Southwest Mississippi town on I-55 charming as well.
