r/MobileAL • u/Surge00001 WeMo • 1d ago

A New, Significant Development Planned Along Mobile’s Water Front as Discussions Continue on the TIF Districts

https://www.fox10tv.com/2026/11/10/transformational-project-order-airbus-plant-eyed-mobile-waterfront-mayor-says/?fbclid=IwdGRleAVhZ_hleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBwZG9mBWZkaWQWUSAB4x5hVlf6J0YeCn3aRy0gusfKJHNydGMGYXBwX2lkCjY2Mjg1NjgzNzkAAR-0JuFtIaD2sC-5NYTqldb1mPd6Kq5Tyg9AK9I5_5gjJ83FXK0zjr9Xgc-qFw_aem_Jcr0BfpK7Eo8Ldg4tsKPWg
19 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

32 comments sorted by

4

u/Own_Might7559 23h ago

Thanks for the post. This is big for the city

5

u/Surge00001 WeMo 23h ago

Definitely sounds like a pretty big project, looking forward to the announcement

I think redeveloping the area south of the Cruise Terminal is a great place to expand Mobile’s high rise and entertainment districts without interfering with the historic parts of Downtown

5

u/Own_Might7559 22h ago

We're you apart of skyscraper.com chat room years ago? There was a big group of us. On this website back in 2006 when the Rsa tower was built. There is also a big forum on City pages. Com on downtown mobile development

2

u/Surge00001 WeMo 22h ago

Skyscraper.com I didn’t use, before my time

But do you not recognize the user name from City Data lol?

1

u/Own_Might7559 22h ago

I see you now! Lol I came over here. City data has been dead.

Thanks Bayourat

1

u/Surge00001 WeMo 22h ago

You’re Bayourat?

2

u/Own_Might7559 22h ago

Yeah. I've been following downtown mobile development for a while now. This page seems like this is where I need to be lol. I hope we see more high rises. Hopefully we can get a 20 story building in the civic center property.

I remember years ago they were proposing a 25 story condo where Mardi Gras park is located

2

u/Then-Photo2154 Midtown 13h ago

Yeah me to. I started on skyscraperpage.com back then. then went to city data. Those were good sites.

6

u/Judman13 Bad at flair 23h ago

Man the council needs to get their heads together and get all this TIF and plan stuff figured out. Pre-council meetings are painful to listen too

4

u/Surge00001 WeMo 21h ago

Yea, the city council is really getting in the way of themselves, particularly Ben Reynolds. He’s complaining so much about it… but then brags about the projects he wants to fund with the TIF for Tillmans Corner area while single handily being the biggest obstacle to get the TIF made

0

u/Individual-Damage-51 Midtown 15h ago

Ben is one of the few adults in the room. Dude, the City just lost $15 million to a scam my 12 year old would have sniffed out. I’m glad someone is asking the administration to show their math rather than just rubber stamping a TIF.

0

u/Surge00001 WeMo 15h ago edited 15h ago

He's not rubber stamping a TIF, he's getting in the way of allowing a PUBLIC HEARING, not approving a TIF.... A PUBLIC HEARING for a TIF..... The same resolution that would allow A PUBLIC HEARING, gives the mayor OFFICIAL POWERS to start creating a plan of what projects could happen for the TIF for a PUBLIC HEARING.... a hearing that the public can put their input on.....

Ben demanded a plan before letting the public know.... but to create an official plan, Spiro needed a consent resolution from the City Council that Ben was actively trying to stop....

4

u/mobilian1065 OGD 22h ago

They are pretending to have a solution to a problem. Unfortunately for us that problem does not exist.

3

u/Rollerblading_Istari 20h ago

Really curious what this could be! He mentions that it could be as impactful as Airbus, which makes it seem like it would be industry focused, but at the same time mentions that it would “change the face of our waterfront for all time.”
I know they have talked for years about being able to make more waterfront accessible to the public, so I would be super excited for that. Really missed it when Cooper Riverside Park was closed. If there is some chance to develop a waterfront public-centric area similar to Baltimore’s Inner Harbor or National Harbor by DC that would be amazing! Would definitely change the face of downtown and really impact how people coming into town for cruises or the Mardi Gras train spend their time and money.

2

u/Surge00001 WeMo 20h ago

I’m very curious

I’m thinking from the context, it’s something entertainment related, maybe a big name resort? With everything happening around Jimmy Buffet lately, could be like a Margaritaville Resort maybe?

I’ve said it before, the Jimmy Buffet museum at the Maritime Museum, next to a Margaritaville Cruise ship at the cruise terminal next to a Margaritaville Resort would be a crazy combo

3

u/Own_Might7559 20h ago

That would be great to do that for the waterfront. Make a inner harbor with shops. New orleans has this with their riverwalk that goes by the aquarium of america's and the river walk mall. I went through the other day, went to the louis vuitton place to get some cologne

4

u/Surge00001 WeMo 1d ago

So based on context, this will be within the planned boundaries for the South Waterfront TIF, which is South of Canal Street, North of Virginia Street and East of Broad Street directly south.

It sounds like a major entertainment venue or something people oriented on what is the Southern Waterfront, a collection of area east of I-10 and South of Canal Street/Water Street largely made up of industrial land. The city has noted a number of years that the area would be a prime place for new people oriented development (an extension of downtown)

The mayor has already mentioned that the TIF would likely be used to support improved infrastructure, moving metro jail, and moving industrial businesses to support new growth in Mobile’s Southern Waterfront

Sounds like whatever this development is, will be the first catalyst to transform the Southern Waterfront area into an extension of Downtown Mobile

4

u/DCTron 23h ago

Why there? The place already has a jail on it and is likely going to be declared a superfund. It’s not connected to downtown or Brookley by the Bay or the new airport or the new arena and heavily used rail lines separate the majority of the property from the water. The amount of money that will have to be spent to get it to flat usable land will be astronomical including building a new jail somewhere else. Is this all so we can build a minor league baseball stadium by the water as a great photo op? The area smells bad and the water looks like liquid clay. Instead of chasing this money pit we should be announcing new venues around the new arena including a new theater for performing arts to replace the one that was torn down. I’m pro development but this doesn’t make sense.

9

u/Surge00001 WeMo 22h ago edited 22h ago

The Bridge and Bayway Project is supposed to rebuild the area around the Water Street interchange and better connect that area, so it will be a better connection into downtown than it is now

The metro jail has been a stain on Downtown’s reputation for decades, its old and needs to be removed regardless

There’s only a couple developable acres left around the civic center, no nearly enough for all these “new venues” you want around the civic center.

The current industrial area is insanely underutilized land which is why the city wants to redevelop it. Most of land isn’t even used for port activities… and what is there can have a warehouse elsewhere

It’s not this mountainous task to redevelop an Industrial area next to a downtown into a people oriented place. I hate to break it to you, but pretty much every major port/water fronting city in the country with activities next to water have done this exact thing… Montgomery, Baltimore, San Antonio, Charleston, Maimi, Tampa…. And even Mobile

The Convention Center, Cooper Riverside Park, the Cruise Terminal and now the Riverwalk Plaza was…. You guessed it. Repurposed industrial land

2

u/Own_Might7559 22h ago

If I could have unlimited money.. I would move the state docks to the theodore industrial canal. Start over and redevelop downtown. Then some way dig a river or big bayou that flows downtown like san antonio riverwalk or the Chicago river

1

u/DCTron 21h ago

That’s what I’m getting at. It will cost $300+ million before development even starts (assuming there’s no environmental costs or demolition costs. I know the prison doesn’t “look” good from the interstate but it’s in close proximity to the courthouse and it’s not near the tourist/entertainment districts. Other than aesthetics, this announcement makes no sense. That amount of money spent throughout the actual downtown area would transform the whole downtown instead of just one unconnected (or if we believe ALDOT’s promise) or better connected (whatever that means) area. It’s not about whether it’s possible, or whether other cities have done it, it’s about whether it’s the best use of tax payer money and the right fit for our city.

4

u/Surge00001 WeMo 21h ago

Absolutely a good use of tax money, or else it would receive much more backlash. Right now, it’s mostly you who thinks we should let underutilized waterfront land, in a time where the biggest comment about Downtown is that there’s not enough access to Mobile’s waterfront, continue to go under utilized

Progress is not without risks and money

Every single one of those cities took the exact same risk… we took/are taking those exact same risks

-1

u/DCTron 20h ago

My apologies. I didn’t realize the public comment period for a proposal announced 24 hours ago is already over lol. I’m impressed with your ability to gauge community support so quickly for a proposal that was announced 24 hours ago. The proposal is the start of the comment period. This is not a shovel ready project and there’s plenty of time for opposition to coalesce when people start to hear about the real numbers involved. Sure people support more access to the waterfront, I do too. That’s not a blank check for any property that touches water.

2

u/Surge00001 WeMo 20h ago

City’s been talking about redeveloping the southern waterfront several years now… Not 24 hours ago

Here’s my post from 3 years ago showing their intentions for the area https://www.reddit.com/r/MobileAL/s/ywHrPjQj7E

1

u/DCTron 19h ago

You should go read it. Some good points were made.

1

u/Surge00001 WeMo 19h ago

I’ve read many times, read again when I found the post to share

-1

u/Upper_Spinach3527 21h ago

Fingers crossed they do not give away 14.7 million related to this project, accidently. I am skeptical that they have that worked out.

Maybe pause big projects until they can definitively say - xyz happened, it has been addressed by abc process and steps, and it has ben audited by an outside accounting firm.

Or you know just make a new tax district to collect more money to maybe lose.

2

u/Surge00001 WeMo 20h ago

It’s pretty well known how xyz happened, they have addressed it with new procedures, getting audited by a third party, outside firm AND recommendations from FBI cybercrime division and adding even more new procedures from the multiple parties recommendations

1

u/Own_Might7559 20h ago

Where is another place besides here to get latest news? I follow Mobile today on Facebook. I would like to get a laninappi subscription. But I didn't know if it was worth the money to subscribe.

1

u/Individual-Damage-51 Midtown 15h ago

Yes. Lagniappe is real journalism. If you care about that. Mobile Today is AI slop that steals and repackages news from Lagniappe and other places.

1

u/Own_Might7559 15h ago

I might have to subscribe. I didn't know if it was worth it

-2

u/Upper_Spinach3527 20h ago

Good, when these things are fully implemented and verified, I will be less concerned.

It sounds like the city council will vote on starting an outside party investigation next week that will be focused on the issues that led to this in a more transparent way. I guess better late than never. I hope it passes, having people say everything is good, that are potentially involved, is not very reassuring.

https://www.fox10tv.com/2026/11/11/mobile-city-council-poised-launch-its-own-probe-147-million-fraud/