Flotte’s Notes on

Mobile/Baldwin Real Estate

An Unofficial Encyclopaedia of Mobile & Baldwin Counties

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Mobile/Baldwin Real Estate

Alabama Real Estate

Mobile Real Estate

Baldwin Real Estate

Baldwin Developments

Real Estate Companies

General Real Estate

  

  

 

 

   

 

University of South Alabama Mitchell College of Business Center for Real Estate Studies

The Alabama Real Estate Research and Education Center (AREREC)

Alabama Traffic Counts

USA’s CRES Mobile Market and Baldwin Submarket Stats and Baldwin Coastal Stats

Mobile Real Estate Investor’s Group (Mobile-RIG)

 

Alabama Real Estate

·         The Alabama Association of Realtors  has 14,821 Realtor members

·         Alabama Real Estate Commission

·         Eminent Domain: After a case where the U.S. Supreme Court said the Connecticut city of New London could take property to spur private development, the Alabama Legislature passed a law sharply curtailing the eminent domain powers of Alabama cities and counties. A proposed state constitutional amendment could further tie Mobile's hands, if it passes the Legislature and gets ratified by voters.

·         Under the 2004 International Building Code, buildings must be able to withstand 140 mph winds. Before, the requirement was 120 mph winds.

·         Alabama doesn't require sellers to disclose to potential purchasers of problems with a house that could hurt its sales-worthiness or desirability, except for health or safety concerns.  Alabama Supreme Court rulings have upheld the "caveat emptor" rule. Alabama was one of the last states in the nation to approve a law spelling out tenants' rights in disputes with landlords. – PR 12/27/07

·         Caveat emptor (let the buyer beware), as spelled out by the Alabama courts, means that sellers and their agents in used real estate transactions, as opposed to new construction, have no duty to disclose defects in the property. Law does not require a seller’s disclosure statement. Most real estate purchase agreements in Alabama specify that the property is sold “AS IS.” – Egan, Lagniappe, 6/17/08

 

Environmental Regulation

·         Wetlands

·         Alabama Beach Mouse

 

GO-Zone

·         Congress approved the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act of 2005 to boost economic recovery from Hurricane Katrina in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

·         The federal government allows certain projects to qualify for tax-exempt bonds, meaning that bond buyers do not have to pay federal or Alabama state taxes on the yield earned from the bond.

o   In its simplest form, financing through a GO Zone Bond can be compared to the tax-exempt funding normally available only to governmental borrowers and not-for- profit corporations. Interest on GOZBs is exempt from federal and State of Alabama income taxes; therefore the interest rate is lower than through conventional financing, historically saving a borrower 1.50% to 2.00%. Businesses in the GO Zone could get a variable rate loan at about 4.85 percent, while the prime interest rate charged to banks is now about 7.5 percent

o   The intent of such programs is to entice development by making it cheaper for businesses and municipalities to borrow money.

o   The bonds would be tax-exempt if 1.) 95 percent or more of the net proceeds are used for "qualified project costs" in the Zone, 2.) Governor Riley would designate the bonds as qualified for the purposes stated in the bill, and 3.) the bonds are issued prior to January 1, 2011.

o   Eligible projects include nonresidential real property (including buildings and their structural components and fixed improvements), qualified residential rental projects (multi-family housing, which requires a 20% affordable housing component), qualified mortgage issue projects (single-family housing, which requires that certain income tests be met), and public utility property.

o   Eligible projects may include, but are not limited to: retail stores, warehouses, manufacturing facilities, industrial plants, office buildings, bank branches, hotels and motels, restaurants, physician office buildings, medical hospitals and clinics.

o   The money cannot be used for residential homes or condos, although some rental properties might apply. Other uses that are not allowed under the act include, golf courses, tanning salons, hot tub businesses, movable equipment and businesses in which alcohol is sold or gambling is allowed.  Items that could later be moved out of the area, such as light equipment, are not eligible.

o   Alabama can approve up to $2.1 billion in tax-exempt "Go Zone" bonds over the next five years.

o   Because bonds will have to be arranged and issued for the loans, offering warrants for less than about $2 million would not be practical. Local businesses that need less than $2 million, however, will also be included in the financing. Local chambers of commerce and the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance will be developing pools of businesses that can join together on a bond issuance that would allow them to divide the funds.

o   The bonds would be attractive to investors because they would not be subject to alternative minimum tax.

·         Businesses are allowed to claim accelerated depreciation on new property investments.

o   People who restored or expanded commercial property for commercial use after Aug. 28, 2005, can claim a 50 percent depreciation. People who buy existing businesses cannot claim the purchase price, but if they spend money to repair or improve the building, those funds can be claimed under the depreciation act. The depreciation deduction would be exempt from AMT and applies to property placed in service prior to January 1, 2008, or January 1, 2009 for real property. Businesses or individuals that elect to claim the accelerated depreciation deduction under the Act will NOT be able to benefit from the tax-exempt financing outlined above.

·         The bill also doubles to $20,000 the deduction for reforesting for small timber owners, those owning less than 500 acres.  It also reduces their tax burden by spreading this year’s losses against previous tax filings.

·         Eligible counties in Alabama include Baldwin, Mobile, Washington, Choctaw, Clark, Greene, Hale, Marengo, Pickens and Sumter.  The zone also includes 50 counties in Mississippi and 20 parishes in Louisiana

Other incentives

·        Permitted under a 1999 state law, improvement districts, among other things, allow cities to extend their tax-exempt status to private developers as an incentive to build revenue-generating projects. Municipalities don't pay taxes, and in an improvement district that benefit is extended to landowners who pay for expensive infrastructure projects -- from installing sidewalks and parking lots to drainage, lighting and sewer work -- that might otherwise be funded by taxpayers.

·        More complex arrangements, called cooperative improvement districts, allow developers and municipalities to work out revenue-sharing deals and make it possible for developers to self-impose taxes on their projects -- an extra penny of sales tax, say, or an additional 2 percent levy on hotel rooms -- to help pay their bond debt

 

Alabama Tax Liens

·         Property-tax delinquent parcels are auctioned by the county tax collector at a tax sale.

·         Bidders may bid over the tax and cost to win the properties. Winning bidders are awarded a tax certificate.

·         Owners have to pay the tax and cost plus 12 percent interest on the bid amount to redeem the property.

·         The least attractive properties often attract no bids. The state Revenue Department assumes control of those leftovers, which are described as "sold to state" (a misnomer because no money changes hands). The parcels come off the local tax rolls, though 12 percent annual interest continues to pile up.

·         In Mobile, the state most commonly takes over small residential lots and decaying houses, often in troubled neighborhoods. Sometimes owners have died, and their children or grandchildren can't be bothered to pay taxes, in part because the property is worth so little.

·         After three years, the state can issue a tax deed, a somewhat stronger claim to the land. But even then, state courts have opened exceptions that could allow the old owner to return and reclaim land, even when the new owner has built a house or made other improvements. In general, the original owners can return and clear title at any time. It can take six years and two trips to court to clear title to the land.

·         In Alabama, title insurers may balk at covering properties that new users are trying to buy from the state. That makes it impossible to borrow money from a bank to buy such land or build a house. And thus sold-to-state property can be exceedingly difficult to get back into the hands of private owners. "Alabama apparently has a very lengthy, inefficient and ineffective property tax foreclosure system," said Frank Alexander, an Emory University professor and top expert on land banks.

·         The top academic study of Alabama's situation calls for legal reforms, but it's not clear if the Alabama Farmers Federation would be willing to loosen the reins on government's ability to take property. The federation, one of the state's top advocates of property rights, recently attempted to further restrict eminent domain powers.

·         Source: PR 11/20/07

 

 

 

 


Mobile Real Estate

 

·         Mobile Area Association of Realtors

·         In August 2006, a year after Katrina hit, prices stabilized at a new, higher price level. A house that sold at $100,000 now sold for $140,000, and a $150,000 house was selling for $200,000. Houses selling in the $120s per square foot is in the $150s now. The most dramatic price increases have come in the less expensive neighborhoods, rather than in high-priced developments – PR 8/27/06

·         Ben Tom Roberts, a Mobile Realtor whose seven-year stint on the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New Orleans ended in 2006, said that he believes the local real estate market has moved past a Katrina-related price spike, but will land somewhat softly at about 10 percent higher that pre-hurricane prices.

·         What local builders used to consider large -- 3,000-square-foot homes -- has been replaced in the last several years with 3,500- to 8,000-square-foot homes. That bucks a national trend that shows homes are getting smaller

o   In Spring Hill people are paying $200,000 for a house and tearing it down to build a $500,000 or $700,000 house.

o   There are more than 20 homes under construction in Stillwater in the 4,000- to 5,000-square-foot range, and future subdivisions that will have homes at 10,000 square feet or more.  Custom home buyers are looking for the same amenities: at least four bedrooms, a home office, bonus room, media room and lately, an exercise room. – PR 4/29/07

·         Mobile County doesn't require multifamily developments to meet subdivision regulations. Mobile County doesn't require multifamily developments to meet any type of design standards that relate to site plans and lot layout. In general, the county requires those projects in unzoned areas outside of municipal police jurisdictions to meet its building codes and other basic requirements that don't relate to the site's design, unless the drainage impacts the county right-of-way.

·         Mobile appreciated at an average 6.6 percent for the past three years, except for the time after Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 when the appreciation rate hit 18 to 20 percent, according to Don Epley at CRES – Kathy Jumper, PR, 10/28/07

·         Mobile saw a 1.63% increase in home values in the first quarter of 2008. Over the last year, house prices are up more than 6.7 percent in Mobile County, making the city among the nation's top 10 metropolitan areas in terms of price appreciation, according to the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight – PR 5/23/08

   

Mobile Land Bank

·         The Mobile City Council adopted a plan to create a land bank to seize abandoned, tax-delinquent property, clear up ownership questions surrounding the land, and sell it. A City Council committee approved the plan, agreeing the council would re-examine operations in a year and decide if the council should create an advisory board.  – PR 11/20/07

·         The concept has been strongly pushed by City Councilman William Carroll, whose district includes several distressed neighborhoods plagued by abandonment.

·         Ideally, some parcels will be attractive to for-profit developers. Others could provide a cheap source of land for nonprofit housing groups, including Habitat for Humanity, DASH for the Gulf Coast, the MLK Avenue Redevelopment Corp., and the Volunteers of America. New homes built by those groups might help revitalize areas such as Plateau and the neighborhood between Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue and Three Mile Creek.

·         The biggest risk would be that the city takes over land it can’t sell. Mobile Mayor Sam Jones has vowed that the city will only seize parcels when there is a new user lined up. Wettermark said city officials plan to sign contracts with buyers before condemning land and said those contracts would require buyers to complete their plans by a specified time or give the land back to the city.

·         The other big risk is that legal fees could exceed the value of the property. Birmingham gave up on clearing title to properties after trying a group of 20. The state is willing to sell tax-delinquent parcels to governments for a small sum, and then the city would file suit in Mobile County Probate Court to condemn anybody else's right to the land.

 

Mobile Developments

Mobile Commercial Development

·         The commercial market in Mobile and Baldwin counties had a record $157 billion invested in commercial real estate in the first four months of 2007, up from $97 billion during the same time last year. Office building transactions totaled a record $95 billion in the first four months of 2007, according to NAR reports. The other commercial sectors were industrial, $11.9 billion, down 13 percent from 2006; retail, $27.7 billion, double the amount during the same months in 2006; and multifamily, $23.2 billion, down 25 percent from the same time last year. The newer retail sites are leasing for up to $25 per square foot, compared with an average $12 to $18 per square foot for existing retail space. Office rental rates have not increased like the retail sector, but much of that can be blamed on a lack of Class A office buildings, leasing agents said. Rates average $15 to $16 per square foot for newer or updated Class A office space, while Class B space averages $12 to $15 per square foot, according to leasing agents. Lease rates for the RSA Battle House Tower, Mobile's newest Class A space, start at $20 per square foot and rise to $24 per square foot for upper floors. The office market is sporting an 85 to 90 percent occupancy rate overall, but that is expected to change when two major tenants in the AmSouth Bank building downtown relocate to RSA's 35-story office tower by the end of the year – PR 6/17/07

·         Springdale Plaza, an automobile oriented strip mall, opened in 1957 on I-65 at Airport Boulevard, anchored by Gayfers, Delchamps, and several local and national in-line tenants. It was developed by E.E. “Bill” Delaney. For a couple of years, it was the premiere shopping destination for the Gulf Coast. Throughout the late 1990s and early 2000s, much of the in-line retail space in both of Springdale's enclosed wings was converted to big box retail space, with some new tenants even featuring nominal rear entrances into the desolate mall corridor.

·         Bel Air Mall opened in 1967 across Airport Blvd from Springdale. It was developed by Jay Altmayer, Kenneth Giddens, and Billy Lyons. Bel-Air was anchored by Himmel's (now Dillards) and Sears. Birmingham-based Colonial Realty LP acquired Bel Air Mall from Atlanta-based Lend Lease Real Estate Investments Inc. in 1999. The mall is currently 98 percent leased. Bel Air's new property management firm is Jones Lang LaSalle of Atlanta.

·         Chris White of Southeast Real Estate owns shopping centers in 12 states including McGregor Square Shopping Center at Airport Boulevard and McGregor Avenue

·         Legacy Village at Spring Hill on Du Rhu Drive off Dauphin Street opened in 2006, and features several stores new to Mobile: Ann Taylor Loft, JoS. A. Bank, J. Jill, Alabama Outdoors and Zoe's Kitchen. The Mitchell Company is leasing the property which is located behind the four-story Colonial Bank Centre, which was developed by Mitchell in 1997 at Dauphin Street and I-65. Under construction nearby is Legacy at Spring Hill, Mitchell's 138-unit apartment project. The two- and three-bedroom apartments will be built on 14 acres leased from Spring Hill College.

·         An out-of-town developer wants to build a retail complex on 60 of the 90 acres available in McGowin Park at Hank Aaron Stadium off U.S. 90 and Interstate 65, according to Joe Little III of Roberts Brothers CPM. The developer's "letter of intent" to purchase the land expires in early 2008.  He and the developers plan to meet with the city in a few weeks to discuss a possible public-private partnership on the project. Mobile City Council President Reggie Copeland said he was told by developers that they intend Target to move from Bel Air Mall to the new development. – PR 9/30/07

o   Three years ago Realtors tried unsuccessfully to get outdoor retail giant Bass Pro Shops to locate on the McGowin land. Typically, Bass wants the developer or a city to provide incentives to land a store. That could include building the store and even stocking it, according to developers.

o   McGowin Properties is seeking state and federal permits to allow developers to build a shopping center on 62 acres near Hank Aaron Stadium, which has wetlands, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers . The developers want to put two anchor stores and six smaller tenants there, according to the application and are looking at relocating the Target store from Bel Air Mall to the new center – PR 3/9/08

 

Mobile Office Development

Downtown Office Development

·         In 2006, there was an estimated 3 million square feet of office space, half of that downtown and half in west Mobile. The occupancy rate for downtown buildings was 85 percent, and in west Mobile, it' was between 80 percent and 85 percent – PR 10/1/06

·         RSA Tower

o   The RSA Battle House Tower has 500,000 square feet of office space.  It had many in the community wondering how the County  would recruit new  tenants from outside the Mobile market and avoid moving tenants from existing offices in Mobile

o   AmSouth Bank and the Hand Arendall law firm, each of whom leased 40,000 square feet of space in the AmSouth Building, planned to move to the RSA Tower.  International Shipholding moved from New Orleans and leased space in RSA. – PR 10/1/06

o   The lease rates for RSA's office tower start at $19 per square foot and go up to $22 per square foot. That's a jump from the average $15 to $16 per square foot charged for newer, updated Class A office space in Mobile. Class B space in the Mobile area averages $12 to $15 per square foot.– PR 10/1/06

·         Amsouth Building

·         Merchants Bank Building

·         Waterman/Southtrust/Wachovia Building

West Mobile Office Development

·         The Colonial Bank building was built in 1997 and charges an average $22 per square foot. – PR 10/1/06

·         The Real Estate Center on West I-65 Service Road North is a 24,000-square-foot building that opened in 2006. Four of the owners are tenants: Greg Saad and Vallas of Saad & Vallas Realty Group; Dan Elcan of Elcan & Associates, Johnny Roberts of Roberts Brothers and Jerry Gibbons of Gibbons Company. The fifth tenant is the law firm of Partridge, Smith. – PR 10/1/06

o   The same group of developers is planning a six-story office building on 4 acres near the Real Estate Center.

 

Mobile Residential Developments

Downtown Development

·         John Hunter, who has developed several condo complexes on Dauphin Island, and John Peebles, a commercial broker, are partners in 250 St. Francis Street, a 32-unit condominium.

·         Contractor Tilmon Brown just finished St. Emanuel Place, an 11-unit apartment complex he owns at 127 Dauphin St. The units rented so quickly that he plans to build 28 apartments in the Buick building or the former Turner Motor building on St. Louis Street.

·         Tilmon Brown has partnered with Todd Drummond, a commercial broker, and former state Sen. Ann Bedsole to renovate the O'Gwynn building at Conti and Conception streets into 10 condo units. The units will start at $191,000.

·         Carriage Works at 701 and 709 Dauphin St., is a joint project of Drummond and Bedsole.

Midtown/ Springhill Development

·         Summerville Court, the 1930s complex at 214 Upham St. in Midtown was purchased the Wellington Group, based in San Clemente, California, for $3 million in 2006 and converted from 80 apartments into condominium units. The one- and two-bedroom units are priced from $90,200 to $152,200 for 800 square feet to 1,100 square feet. The owners plan to invest almost $2.5 million in renovations to the units, grounds and the clubhouse. – PR 8/6/06

·         Spanish Villa at 4009 Old Shell Road was converted from 96 apartments to 88 condo units in November 2004. The units in the 1960s buildings were priced from $124,000 to $150,000

·         Bender Real Estate Group and Randall Investments plan to build The Preserves at Midtown, a 77-unit townhome complex on 12 acres they have under contract on the Graf property. – PR 5/18/08

West Mobile Development

·         Isle of Palms, off Sollie Road in Mobile, contains primarily luxury homes. Lots average $125,000 or more and the homes are almost $1 million. It was developed in 1997 by the late Larry Givens.

·         Snowden Place is a proposed development on the site of the home of Jim Busby on the north side of Cottage Hill Road between Knollwood and Hillcrest, just west of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church. The developer was planning to tear down the "Busby mansion," as neighbors call it, and build 15 single-family homes and 36 condominiums. Although the project was approved by the Mobile Planning Commission in March, the developer recently decided to add garages to about half the condo units, requiring a visit back to the planning commission. The 2400-square-foot homes are expected to be priced in the $400Ks. – Egan, Lagniappe, 8/28/07

North Mobile Development

·         Cypress Landing on Steele Creek in Satsuma is being developed by Clayton Williams

·         Brett-Robinson has two new phases in its Spanish Trace subdivision off Celeste Road in Saraland, with homes from $178,000 to $300,000. Brett-Robinson has plans to build homes in a variety of price ranges on 300 acres off Lafitte Road. – PR 8/27/07

Fowl River Development

·         With at least six or seven residential projects in the works, some Fowl River residents have tried to put some controls on development in the 32-square-mile area around the mouth of Fowl River. A referendum to create a zoning district for the area was defeated in 2006. – PR 9/24/06

·         The Town of SaltAire project on Mobile Bay will be a planned community on 510 acres off Salt Aire Road with its own ZIP code and post office, according to developers. The town will include 526 single-family homes, 584 condominium units, 90 townhomes, a marina, two lakes, a shopping district, restaurants, nature preserves and a nature center.  – PR 9/24/06

o   Plans for SaltAire are similar to those of Seaside, Watercolors and Watersound on Scenic Highway 30-A in Santa Rosa County, Fla., according to Jim Wilkie, general manager of the development. The $50 million-plus development should be built out in six to eight years.  SaltAire will be open to the public, but there will be some separate amenities for the homeowners such as six pools, Bear Lake and a boat house and canoe/kayak launch. A golf course was included in one of the master plans, but the developers decided not to build it.

o   Local developer Logan Gewin and his investor partners, including broker Rick Collins and Bay Haas, have formed SaltAire Development Group with Wilkie and former St. Joe Company developer George Jones of Destin, Fla. Gewin spent several years putting together the 510 acres, including some of his family's property, with plans to develop or sell it. The land is on the north and south sides of Salt Aire Road, and has 2,589-front feet on Mobile Bay. 

o   The developers worked with Mobile County Commissioner Mike Dean to make the project the county's first capital improvement district. That allows the developers to purchase a bond that would be repaid with extra taxes assessed to properties and sales within the development.

o   SaltAire is also bringing a long-awaited sewer connection to the area. The developers have a $1 million contract with the Mobile Area Water & Sewer Services and the work is under way, according to the developers. That has prompted other residential developers to pay to extend the system. The new sewer line in the Bellefontaine area will run south from Degussa Road to about two miles north of Fowl River.

o   Presales are under way on SaltAire's first 40 single-family homes, and a total of 100 should be built within the first two years. The homes are priced from $299,000 to $699,000. Construction could start by October.  Presales on 80 condo units are scehduled to start in late summer with construction planned in 2008.  There will be 10 local builders who will work in SaltAire, and they each plan to start construction on a spec home this fall, according to Kym Trest of Roberts Brothers Inc., who helped bring the builders on board. So far, the builder list includes David Rowe Fine Homes; Martina Construction; Hamilton Homes & Construction Co.; Kenney-Moise; Mark Swanson Builders; Lewis Homes; Jim Williams Construction Co.; Twilley Brothers Builders; and M.D. Price Builder.

o   SaltAire could have a $1 billion economic impact on the area through 2016 according to a study by economist Semoon Chang – PR 8/17/08

·         Steve Greene, Steve Sheridan and Larry Tew are developing The Gates of Fowl River, 41 lots off Dauphin Island Parkway next to Fowl River Marina. The Developers paid $3.2 million in 2007 for almost 9 acres with 463 front feet on the river The lots are priced from $225,000 to $400,000, and each lot has a boat slip. So far about 15 lots have presold. Greene says 50 percent to 60 percent of his project will be sold before Salt- Aire gets its roads in.  – PR 4/12/08

o   The Gates of Fowl River developers and investors have invested $5 million so far in the land and infrastructure, according to Greene and Tew. The local investors in the Gates include Stephen and Connie Daughdrill, Mike Hollis, Dennis Langan, David Lindsey, Bendt Peterson, Calvin Weaver, James West and Donald Williams.

·         Local developers are waiting for sewer to be installed before they start construction on a subdivision with a 62-slip marina on Fowl River near Byrnewood Road, according to B.T. Roberts of Roberts Brothers. He and several partners plan to build townhouses and single-family homes, as well as commercial space, on the land fronting Dauphin Island Parkway. The group has already talked to MAWSS about extending the sewer service from Gewin's project. – PR 9/24/06

·         Plans for new roads and sewer hookup have made Fowl River attractive to developers, according to Ron Johnson, who has developed at least six projects on Fowl River and plans to do more. He is also working on the third phase of Riverwood on Rabbit Creek, which will have a total of 200 homes. Johnson's Riverbend off Pioneer Road will have seven houses on 4 acres, with four of the houses clustered on Fowl River's waterfront. – PR 9/24/06

·         Mon Louis Landing is a 32-lot subdivision Alabama 188 on west Fowl River in Coden, according to builder Julie Kenney of Kenney-Moise, who is developing the project with her husband, Steve Kenney. The lots are priced at $125,000. – PR 10/29/06

Dauphin Island Residental

·         2007 home sales on Dauphin Island are down 72 percent from 2005 and down 31 percent from 2006. A Bienville Boulevard home on the island's west end sold for $110,000 in July 2007 that had sold for $265,000 in October of 2005. – 7/29/2007

Mobile Apartments

·         Today's rental occupancy rate typically remains strong at 95 percent or more, and some of the more popular apartment locations have waiting lists, according to rental agents. There are 13,806 apartment units represented in the Mobile Bay Area Apartment Association, which includes Mobile and Baldwin counties, according to the group. An estimated 1,000 to 1,500 additional units are held by others not in the association. – PR 9/9/07

Mobile County Timberland

·         As of 2008, undeveloped land in southwest Alabama averages $2,000 to $3,000 per acre; an agricultural field averages $4,500 per acre – PR 11/9/08

·         1998 The University of South Alabama Foundation purchased timber land from Kimberley-Clark.

·         Joshua Timberlands was a private company controlled by ex-Worldcom CEO Bernie Ebbers. Ebbers set up Joshua Timberlands in 1999 to buy 460,000 acres of timber property from Kimberly Clark, including some in Mobile County, for $400 million -- units of Citigroup lent him $134 million for the acquisitions. The sale was due to the closure of the company's pulp mill in Mobile, Ala.

·         Land Heritage Properties in Saraland and two investor partners paid more than $12 million for 4,100 acres of timberland in north Mobile County in 2007. About 2,700 acres are along Radcliff Road in the county and Creola. Sandy Howard is a partner in Land Heritage with John Goodloe of Mobile. The remaining land is scattered along U.S. 43 and Interstate 65 in Satsuma and Alabama 158 in Saraland and Citronelle. The property was sold by Creola Investments Corp., which had owned the land for 50 years. – PR 8/5/07

·         ThyssenKrupp bought 3,565 acres near Mount Vernon for $29.5 million in one of the biggest land deals in state history. Tensaw Land and Timber Co., based in Mobile, sold the largest tract of land -- 2,500 acres for $14.8 million. Tensaw's mineral rights were sold separately for $2.5 million. Dow Chemical Co. sold about 950 acres along the Tombigbee for more than $5.9 million. The state paid about $6,700 per acre. Raw land costs in Washington County had averaged $1,000 to $1,200 per acre, while in Mobile County the land along U.S. 43 had averaged about $4,000 per acre. Tensaw owns nearly 30,000 acres around the site, including a couple of miles of frontage on U.S. 43 near the plant entrance, according to Riley Boykin Smith, president of the company. – PR 8/23/07

 

 

 

 


Baldwin Real Estate

·         Baldwin County Association of Realtors

·         Baldwin County Homebuilders Association

·         Baldwin County Tax Records

 

·         2007: Median price: $211,250 (-8.2%). Homes sold: 2,378 (compared to 3,471 in 2006 and 4,952 in 2005). Average days on market: 165.

·         First quarter of 2008, the median home price fell $183,000, off 3.7 per cent from 2006.

  • Spanish Fort: Median price $245,000 (-2.5%). Homes sold 23. Days on the market 142.
  • Daphne/Montrose: Median price $215,900 (-5.3%). Homes sold 75. Days on the market 144.
  • Fairhope/Point Clear: Median price $240,000 (-8.4%). Homes sold 61. Days on the market 181.
  • Lake Forest subdivision: Median price $158,950 (-3.5%). Homes sold 12. Days on the market 183.

 

2001-2005 Real Estate Boom

·         From 2000 to 2005 Baldwin's housing units increased by nearly 20 percent or 14,961 units, more than all other counties in the state.

·         In 2003, the value of Gulf view condos rose an average of 30-35 percent.

o   In 2003 it took less than an hour for the 66 units of the 26-story Island Tower on West Beach Boulevard to sell for an average price of about $430,000.

o   The 251 condominium units at The Lighthouse in Gulf Shores presold within 24 hours in August 2003 at prices from $215,000 to $485,000.  Some units flipped, or were sold several times at ever-increasing prices, with totals reaching the high $600,000s and into $700,000s. – PR 7/2/06

·         In September 2004 Hurricane Ivan knocked most of the older beach properties out of the rental competition. Developers were scrambling to buy old units and replace them with bigger, better and more expensive condos

o   About 6 percent of the 13,757 condo or hotel units in the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach area were taken out of the rental inventory after Hurricane Ivan

·         In early 2005 the presale price for a two-bedroom, two-bath condo unit on the Gulf exceeded $500,000, when in 2003 it was $300,000 to $400,000

·         In 2005 prices for Gulf-front land averaged $550 to $575 per square foot, and on Little Lagoon in West Beach and Old River in Perdido Key the waterfront sold for almost $400 per square foot. In 2003, the gulf property was averaging $450 to $500 per square foot and the backwater sites averaged $200 to $250 per square foot.

·         By 2005 thousands of people were on data bases wanting to buy presales.

o   It took over two years to sell Marseilles I. Marseilles II sold out in three weeks, all over a million dollars. La Belle Maison, the third building, sold out in two days.

·         Baldwin County issued 1,826 building permits in 2004. Foley’s building permits and values in 2004 were double what was reported in 2003, with 441 building permits and $52.7 million in construction values, a 59.2 percent jump Most of builders were having to tell people that they can’t get started on anything for six months to a year. – PR 1/3/05

·         Fractional condo sales - selling one condominium unit to up to eight owners caught on in 2005 when there are not enough condo units on the market to meet demand. Each owner would get a deed for one-eighth ownership in the unit and each would get to use the unit for six weeks out of the year. Time shares were also tried in the early 1980s, but only a few condo complexes signed on. However, in 2003 Escapes bought 45 of the 100 units in Palm Beach at Orange Beach, then converted those units to time shares. Tom Stanton, broker and owner of Exit Realty Gulf Shores, said the high price tags on condo units will spur more fractional ownership purchases. "By the summer of 2007, you won't be able to buy something for under $1 million. I think fractional ownership is a great way to go."

·         In 2005, a state law was passed allowing builders to use up to 50% of buyers’ preconstruction deposits towards building costs.

·         Condo prices began leveling off by July 2005

·         The demand for waterfront property was fueled in part by investors who found the Gulf Coast prices cheaper than other resort areas, such as Destin, where gulf-front land goes for $800 or more per square foot

·         From July 2004 to July 2005 the number of dwelling units in Baldwin County increased by 5.3 percent to 89,900. Baldwin was 38th in the nation in housing stock growth, and was the only county in the state on the top 100 list.

·         In 2003-2004, homes were moved off the beach by barge and truck to non-Gulf-front lots, hotels were demolished and, in one case, an entire low-rise condominium, Sandy Shores West, was carted across Alabama 182 on equipment that typically transports industrial-sized loads. In their place were signs heralding planned condo towers. – PR 7/4/04

·         Micah Wright of REMAX Partners in Mobile said he has a network of California investors who routinely buy new homes in Mobile and Baldwin counties due to their good appreciation rate. His investors buy the houses for long-term value and do not "flip" properties for a quick profit. – PR 1/9/05

·         “Unlike a false market in the 1980s that led to a bust, this one is driven by a real demand that stems from the desire of millions to own a well-appointed, waterfront home.” – Bob Shallow PR 7/4/04

·         "If we've got all speculators, then we're going to have a problem. Somebody's got to buy them, somebody's got to rent it, live in it, or use it as a second home." – Chuck Norwood, a REMAX associate broker in Gulf Shores, PR 7/4/04

2006-2007 Slowdown

·         2006: Property sales at the Gulf are at a stop because of major hurricanes, rising material costs and a tight labor market.

·         In July 2005, just prior to Katrina, there were 72 condo units listed for sale in Baldwin County. In July 2006, there were 3,380 condo units on the market.

·         Developers are now waiting for demand to meet the supply before releasing presales on preconstruction units.

·         The market may never be as hot as it was before Hurricane Ivan hit in September 2004, according to developer Rick Phillips. – PR 2/19/06

·         "Lower Alabama is in good shape, although I have no numbers to verify it," Len Zumpano, director of the Alabama Real Estate Research & Education Center at the University of Alabama, said. "The local economy in Mobile and Baldwin counties is healthy. There are still buyers moving there as a result of Katrina." Still, he said it could take six months to a year for condo sales to rebound at the Gulf. "The condo prices grew at a rate too fast for people to afford, and speculators have been driven out of the market," he said. "Eventually that supply will be absorbed, and the market will be strong again." – PR 4/2/06

·         The hurricane fallout left developers scrambling to replace subcontractors who left for higher-paying hurricane repair jobs in Mississippi and New Orleans.

·         More auctions are expected to hit the Gulf Coast as resort sales continue to be slow and the inventory high. And condo prices have dropped 10 to 25 percent or more from those seen during the pre-Hurricane Ivan buying frenzy in 2004. Then, units sold at full price in a couple of days, and there were three back-up offers, according to Realtors. Now, there are about 3,000 units for sale at the Gulf. – PR 3/4/07

·         Builders say the market is saturated with homes priced in the $350,000 to $500,000 range, particularly in the Daphne and Fairhope areas. It will take time to absorb that inventory, and builders say they are limiting the number of homes in that price range that they build as speculative ventures - PR 4/9/07.

·         In 2006, the inventory of condo units for sale increased to 5,000 units in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. Many condo owners have taken their units off the market. This drop in inventory has helped the market to recover.

·         Condominium/townhome sales declined 15 percent in 2006, dropping from more than 3,200 units sold in 2005 to less than 2,750 units sold in 2006. However, the sale of units in new developments nearly doubled from 700 units sold in 2005 to nearly 1,300 in 2006. Purchasing activity started to rebound in late 2006.

·         Waterfront prices in Gulf Shores and Orange Beach averaged $10,000 to $12,000 a front foot in the spring of 2005, and agents estimate those prices have dropped about 20 percent as of January 2007. A75-front-foot beachfront lot on Fort Morgan was purchased for $800,000 in December -- similar lots sold for $1.675 million in June 2005. A two-bedroom, two-bath unit directly on the Gulf that is in good condition used to sell for $650,000 to $750,000, was selling for $550,000 to $625,000.

·         The home prices on Ono Island have dropped about 25 percent since Hurricane Katrina hit in August 2005. The average price for homes on the main waters of the island range from $1.6 million to $2.2 million, and homes on the canals average $1 million to $1.2 million

·         In 2006 a builder unloaded a bunch of houses at a 20 percent discount in Fairhope

·         Creative methods to sell at the beach have included: Auctions; Selling bonuses of $5,000 or more for agents; Owner financing by developers; Gulf Opportunity Zone tax incentives; Price reductions for buyers willing to pay cash within 30 days; Waiving homeowner's association dues for a year; cars or other luxury items (see Vista Bella). – PR 6/10/07

·         Condo inventories have been hovering at 3,000 units in Baldwin County for more than a year. There were 2,546 condo units for sale south of the Intracoastal Waterway in June 2007: 1,311 units in Orange Beach; 1,003 units in Gulf Shores, and 232 units on Fort Morgan. The average sales price was $541,000, compared to $800,000 to more than $1 million in August 2005. The waterfront inventory located south of the Intracoastal Waterway has been dropping: In April, there were 1,770 units listed for sale in that area compared to 2,300 units in January. Price changes or reductions on waterfront units has also declined, Forrest said. In February there were 298 price changes and in April there 38.

·         Sales of condominiums and townhomes in Baldwin County dropped 15 percent in 2006, from more than 3,200 units sold in 2005 to fewer than 2,750 units in 2006.

·         San Carlos Condominiums was among several projects, either built or planned, that got caught in the post-Katrina meltdown at the Gulf. Its units presold in 2004 at prices between $475,000 and $1.2 million. By the time the units were ready to close last fall, a glut of inventory and rising insurance prices made for a stagnant sales market. Condo prices dropped, and the developers struggled to close on the units.

·         Foreclosures have hit the condominium market at the Gulf. Mobile County has more foreclosed properties than any of the state's other metropolitan areas, according to Realtytrac.com. There were 1,317 foreclosures listed in Mobile County as of July 27. There were 501 properties to be auctioned in Mobile, according to Realtytrac.com. In Baldwin County, there were 160 foreclosures and seven properties to be auctioned. – PR 7/29/07

·         Though condo sales have been slow, the resort rental market has seen occupancy rates in the high 90s in 2007. Taxable lodging rentals reached $57.1 million for spring 2007, a $1.3 million increase over 2004's $55.8 million during the same months. The taxable lodging rentals in June were 30 percent higher than in the same month last year, and up 24 percent over June 2004 – PR 8/5/07

·         Investors paid $825,000 for a 65.5-front foot Gulf-front lot on Fort Morgan in January 2004, and this past week, after 900 days on the market, it sold for $850,000, Realtors said. The listing price for the lot on Ponce de Leon Court started out at $1.9 million – PR 8/19/07

·         The Baldwin County Association of Realtors has lost 320 members – PR 9/2/07

·         Financial broker at Global Capital Solutions in Birmingham Arthur Hood's clients are working on bulk buyouts at three Gulf condominium projects where developers want to get rid of their inventory. "I think it's going to be an investor market for the next 12 months, and we're going to see some pretty serious bottom feeding," predicted Hood.  Two years of slow sales have killed many new condo development plans and put others on hold. The inventory glut -- almost 3,000 units for sale on Alabama's Gulf Coast -- has kept bankers away and Realtors hunting for buyers. In Gulf Shores, developers of 10 approved condo projects have been allowed to push back their start dates because of the sluggish market. – PR 9/30/07

·         Mothballed Projects (2007-2008)

 

 

·         January to April is when thousands of Northern retirees, known in the local parlance as snowbirds, arrive to wait out the coldest months. In a good year, number about 16,000 pump around $30 million into the local economy. Snowbirds help beach businesses stay open year-round and maintain at least their core staff through the winter – PR 1/1/07

·         The Intracoastal Canal has been rebranded as The Waterway

 

 

Alabama Gulf Coast Property Insurance

·         The Alabama Insurance Underwriting Association (AIUA), also known as the “Beach Pool”, was established in 1971 to provide insurance coverage to the beach area in Mobile and Baldwin Counties. Originally, the office was located in Montgomery, Alabama, and in 1983 was relocated to Foley. As of 2001, AIUA now provides wind/hail only coverage in the beach area and the seacoast area.

o   In April 2007 the Beach Pool asked state regulators for permission to increase the rates on its riskiest policies on the Gulf waterfront.

o   76 percent, or about $912 million, of the Pool's total insured value of $1.2 billion is on the waterfront in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach and Dauphin Island. While most of the Pool's policies are on or near the beach, it is a significant insurer in Foley, Fairhope and Daphne -- where policies constitute 8.3 percent of total premiums -- and Mobile, where the Pool writes 7.1 percent of its business.

o   According to Beach Pool data, its average annual residential premium for full coverage is $2,393, while equivalent commercial premiums average $8,871.

o   The association's board of directors, composed of executives from participating insurance companies, voted to increase the coverage limit on residential policies from $350,000 to $500,000

·         There’s still a question of how much of a deterrent high insurance premiums will be to the condo market.

·         The state's top three insurers of property -- State Farm, Allstate and Alfa -- have announced since 2004 that they would discontinue hurricane coverage for more than 17,000 policyholders. State Farm canceled coverage to 2,600 policyholders who reside within 1,000 feet of a shoreline in Baldwin and Mobile counties. Alfa Insurance and Allstate have either dropped coastal policies or announced an intention to do so.

·         Insurance premiums have doubled in the past two years.

·         Florida passed laws to help lower insurance premiums. Ragan Ingram, assistant commissioner with the Alabama Insurance Department, said Alabama likely won’t become involved in a push for lowered rates because it only has two coastal counties.

·         State Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile, and Bradley Byrne mentioned prohibiting or restricting redlining, the practice of insurance companies not selling policies in certain geographic areas, and the possibility of expanding the "beach pool," which was created by the state to provide insurance for those who cannot get it in the private market. They have also proposed a bill in the current legislative session that would remove prohibitions against captive insurance companies offering homeowner and automobile liability coverage.

·         The South Alabama Regional Planning Commission Executive Director Russ Wimberly and former Foley Mayor Tim Russell are urging Mobile and Baldwin counties, along with coastal cities, to invest a total of at least $20 million to set up a "captive" that could effectively cover the risk for commercial properties in the area. 

o   A captive insurance company is one formed by like entities that pool their resources to negotiate with the worldwide reinsurance market.

o   Alabama law requires that captive insurance companies be for-profit entities. They may insure commercial and institutional properties only.

o   The captive itself would be financed through premiums. It would use the money provided by the governments as startup capital and to help pay off claims. A reinsurer, such as Lloyd's of London, would assume part of the risk and help the captive stay afloat in the case of catastrophes. – PR 2/19/07

·         While most property owners deal with primary insurers, such as Nationwide, Farmers and Alfa, the international reinsurers that back those companies -- Lloyds of London syndicates, Lexington, Munich Re -- are in the driver's seat when it comes to coverage availability and cost

·         Gov. Bob Riley met with an executive with one of the U.S.' largest insurance companies recently to ask him to reconsider some policy cancellations. After a firm discussion, Riley asked the executive what the company would do if he mandated that it insure 10 percent of the coastal exposure in Alabama. "The executive looked him right in the eye and said 'We would pull out of your state,'" – PR 2/19/07

·         The National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP), administered by FEMA, provides low cost flood insurance to communities which map their Special Flood Hazard Areas (SFHAs) and by enforce floodplain management ordinances. These ordinances specify certain zoning, subdivision, and building requirements, which mitigate flood damage.

o   SFHAs are defined as areas that would be inundated by a flood with a one percent probability of occurrence in any given year.

o   FEMA defines a flood as "the inundation of two or more acres of normally dry land area or of two or more properties (at least one of which is an NFIP policyholder's property)."

o   Certain coastal property owners are unable to purchase NFIP insurance, even if their communities are NFIP program members. For example, coastal owners with properties located within the Coastal Barriers Resource System cannot purchase NFIP insurance, if their homes were built after 1982.

o   NFIP average residential policy costs $400 per year for $100,000 of coverage.

·         The state Senate killed a bill expanding the beach pool. sponsored by Sen. Ben Brooks, R-Mobile. – PR 5/2/08

o   Senate Sen. E.B. McClain, D-Midfield, blocked transmission of the beach pool bill. McClain said afterward that he "didn't like the bill" but did not elaborate. Brooks accused him of working for "special interests" in the insurance industry. Brooks' bill did run into opposition from Alfa, the No. 2 insurer in the state.

o   Alfa had "no problem" with a bill sponsored by state Sen. Roger Bedford, D-Russellville, which codifies language defining the beach pool. Unlike Brooks' bill, it does not specifically expand the number of people in Mobile and Baldwin counties who qualify to get insurance through the beach pool. Bedford's bill won approval and was sent to the House. Brooks said he will continue to ask Gov. Bob Riley for a special session on insurance later this summer.

o   The Senate approved another bill sponsored by Brooks, which would allow so-called captive insurers to sell homeowners policies.

 

Baldwin Housing Shortage

·         Baldwin County will need housing for 30,000 or more new workers in the next several years and many of them will not be able to afford the houses now being built in the area, the Baldwin County Affordable Housing Task Force said in January 2006

o   The task force, which consists of volunteers from county and city government agencies, business members and relief agency representatives, was set up by the Baldwin County Commission in 2005

o   The Baldwin County Commission's Affordable Housing Task Force recommends: creating an "overlay district" to allow higher-density subdivisions and apartment complexes that use "smart growth" principles such as narrower streets and smaller lots, speeding up the construction approval process, and appointing a county staff member to exclusively deal with housing issues.

·         Orange Beach's and Gulf Shores' lack of planning for affordable housing for workers has resulted in development pressure in Loxley

 

Baldwin County Infrastructure

Baldwin County Planning & Zoning

·         Balwin County Planning & Zoning website

·         In 1991, the Alabama State Legislature passed the Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Act authorizing the Planning and Zoning Commission and the Boards of Adjustment, and the creation of planning districts in unincorporated areas and zoning within planning districts that vote to come under County planning and zoning authority.

·         The Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission holds two meetings each month at 6 p.m. at the Baldwin County Central Annex Building in Robertsdale. The first Thursday is reserved for the Planning & Zoning Department and the third Thursday is reserved for the Subdivision Department.

o   Planning Commission Members: Greg Barnhill, District 12; Arthur Dyas, Vice-Chair, District 16; Jim Elliott Jr.,  District 10; John Furman, District 12; Douglas Holton, District 15; Jerome Knaebel, District 32; Arthur Oken, District 4; George Price, District 33; George Roberds, Chair, District 17; Cara Stallman, District 3; George E. Williams, District 5; Thomas Williams, Legal Council, District 5.

o   Jim Elliott resigned from the Planning and Zoning Commission in June 2008. He described the planning commission as a "developer appreciation society" and the zoning district process as an "exercise in futility", and that his”goals were unattainable due to the stranglehold that the developers hold on the county and the Planning and Zoning Commission." He questioned the board's longtime Chairman George Roberds' association with the county's Home Builder's Association.  – PR 6/29/08

·         The Boards of Adjustment  are arranged by the four County Commission Districts and responsibilities include variance and special exception cases and each holds a separate meeting each month as necessary.

·         The Baldwin County Planning & Zoning Department administers the County's land development regulations and various environmental, community development and economic development programs. It provides staff support for the Planning and Zoning Commission and Boards of Adjustment as well as the Baldwin County Environmental Advisory Board.

·         Planning Districts

o   Thirty planning districts are spread throughout Baldwin County, and 16 of them have zoning regulations

o   A zoning referendum is vote in a Planning District to institute County zoning. Another zoning referendum cannot be held for one year after an unsuccessful referendum.

o   If the zoning referendum passes, the County Commission will then appoint a 5 person Advisory Committee to work with the Planning Commission to create a zoning map and regulations. The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed zoning map. Once the Planning Commission accepts the map they will then make a recommendation to the County Commission. The County Commission will also hold a public hearing before any action is taken on the proposed zoning map. Once the County Commission adopts the zoning map and regulations, zoning is officially in place.

·         Zoning Ordinances

o   Proposed developments in zoned areas, which have to meet zoning regulations, require the planning commission to make a recommendation to the County Commission, which grants or denies the final approval.

o   In January 2007, the Planning and Zoning Commission endorsed allowing all 26 zoning designations to be available in each of the county's zoned districts, regardless of restrictions set by local residents. Previously, if someone wanted to apply for a rezoning to a designation that isn't available in a district, that person would have to seek an amendment to the regulations.

o   Planned unit developments allow smaller lot sizes and requires at least 20 percent of the subdivision be set aside as open space

o   Approved projects or existing buildings that conflict with zoning regulations can be constructed, continue to exist or be sold to a second owner, as long as the conflicting use doesn't cease for one year. If the structure, however, was damaged 50 percent or more by a natural disaster, the owner would then need approval from a county board of appeals or the planning commission before the structure could be rebuilt.

·         Subdivision Regulations

o   Baldwin County Subdivision regulations underwent a major overhaul in December 2007.

§  One major change requires planned developments occupying at least 200 acres or having more than 400 housing units to receive final approval from the Baldwin County Commission and a positive recommendation by the planning commission before it is placed on the County Commission's agenda for consideration. Current regulations require only planning commission approval for developments on less than 1,000 acres in unzoned areas. For developments on more than 1,000 acres, the proposal would go before the County Commission, regardless of whether the planning commission recommended approval or denial. The amended rules also increase drainage systems to handle stormwater flows from at least a 100-year storm event. Current regulations require systems to meet 25-year storm standards.

o   Historically, the planning commission has allowed a maximum density of six residential units per acre. Three developments approved in November 2006 had between 6.4 units and 11.7 residential units per acre.

·         Planning & Zoning Maps

·         Planning Map Viewer

·         Single-family subdivisions in planning jurisdictions are reviewed by both city and county officials, and are held to the stricter of the two subdivision requirements.

·         1994 Strategic Plan: In 1994, the Baldwin County Commission adopted a strategic plan and land-use plan. The strategic plan, which projects up to 2010, included an ongoing review process. The strategic plan was last updated in 1997. In 2006 a new 10-year plan was approved.

o   The plan calls for land-use planning in unincorporated areas of the county, protecting wetlands and open spaces, and having 75 percent of the county's residents wired to the Internet with broadband technology by 2016.

·         The Baldwin County Planning and Zoning Commission stopped reviewing multi-family residential projects as subdivisions in 2006. – PR 12/17/06, 6/12/07

o   Baldwin County Highway Department officials said they will no longer require multifamily developments in unzoned, unincorporated areas within a municipality's planning jurisdiction to meet county development standards. County legal officials cited the Bay John case as a reason for the change.

o   The county's highway department reviews the proposed lot sizes and engineering designs for access, streets and drainage for all developments occurring in Baldwin's unzoned areas.

o   Bay John Developers II submitted plans to the county for a 45-unit condominium tower in an unzoned, unincorporated area off Baldwin County 6, and within the police jurisdiction of Gulf Shores. County planners responded by telling the developer that the project required an approved variance, since it did not meet the "required acreage" of the county's subdivision regulations. 

o   The developer's attorney argued that his client's condominium project did not meet the county's definition of a subdivision and was not subject to review by the county planning commission. Bay John's representatives contend that the county is overstepping its authority by trying to regulate items associated with zoning, such as land use and density, in its subdivision regulations.

o   Baldwin Circuit Court Judge Robert Wilters ruled in favor of the developer and barred the county from interfering with its condominium project. The county is appealing the decision.  

o   Wilters' decision was reversed by the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals in May 2007. Daniel Blackburn, attorney for Bay John Development, filed a request for a rehearing before the appeals court. If the court refuses, then the company will probably appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court.

·         In May 2007, Baldwin Chief Counsel Scott Barnett said that under state law, Baldwin doesn't have authority to require multifamily subdivisions in planning jurisdictions to meet county site design standards. – PR 5/14/07

o   The initial controversy centered on whether an foreign-worker housing project on US 98 outside Fairhope city limits, but within its planning jurisdiction, required county approval, as did previous developments with multiple buildings and five or more housing units. On advice from the county's attorney, the Baldwin County Highway Department engineers withdrew a letter ordering a developer to stop construction because it didn't receive the county's approval. When Baldwin decided it didn't have authority to review the project in a planning jurisdiction, it set a new county precedent. That decision could mean that the review for multifamily projects outside cities but within planning territories will be limited to building codes, and would not include standards for site design, such as lot layout and comprehensive drainage plans. 

o   Before the decision, county engineers required projects to meet development standards pertaining to a site's design, drainage and transportation. Those standards included stormwater management, building setbacks, lot layout and a requirement that 20 percent of the property's acreage be open space. Under the new standard, in addition to building codes, Baldwin engineers would review projects connected to county roads only to ensure that they are not negatively affected by traffic or drainage. If the project connects to a state or municipal road, then those agencies would handle the reviews.

o   Multifamily developments outside a municipality's corporate limits -- but within an up to three-mile area in which it can exercise police powers and issue building permits -- will still have to meet some city standards.

o   County officials said they have reviewed multifamily projects in Baldwin cities' planning jurisdictions for years. In November 2006, the county did downgrade its oversight due to a recent court ruling and conflicts over a development in Bay Minette's planning jurisdiction, but it was still a requirement. Before November, Baldwin County's Planning and Zoning Commission approved those projects, which were required to meet county subdivision regulations.

o   At the heart of the problem are confusing and separate codes that define subdivisions for counties and for cities, and oversight of those entities in planning jurisdictions. Varying interpretations of whether entities can include multifamily in the subdivision category create another layer of confusion, along with different laws that relate to condominiums.

·         Building Codes: The Baldwin County Commission voted to require future construction to meet the 2006 International Building Code series, starting Sept. 2007. The new standards will apply to all new construction, renovations or repairs on structures in unincorporated Baldwin and the municipalities of Elberta and Magnolia Springs. – PR 7/4/07

o   A report from Insurance Services Office Inc. stated that if the county didn't adopt the newer codes, its rating for homes in rural Baldwin would tumble from a 6 to a 10 -- the lowest score possible.

·         Condos: Under Alabama law, the sale of condo complexes built after 1991 requires the approval of at least 80 percent of the owners.

·         Wetlands: A zoning rule that applies to development plans submitted after Jan. 1, 2007 cuts in half the number of housing units allowed on wetlands and requires buildings to be built at least 30 feet from all wetlands (the previous standard called for 5-foot setbacks from wetlands).

·         Flood-Prone Zoning: The Baldwin County Commission has postponed a vote on a moratorium on new subdivisions, commercial and other developments for up to six months or until the commission adopts zoning regulations for about 1,016 square miles of unincorporated land, or 60% of the unincorporated county, deemed flood-prone by federal maps. Single-family home construction would not be affected, nor would projects that applied for building or land-use permits before the moratorium began. – PR 10/10/07, 10/17/07, 12/19/07, 1/16/08

o   Commissioners said that they want the state’s attorney general's opinion on the method used to establish the boundaries for the areas subject to the regulations.  County officials divided the county into 40-acre sections. If any of these intersect with flood-prone areas identified by federal maps, the entire area would be subject to the regulations. Attorney general opinions are advisory in nature and not legally binding. County officials used the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Federal Emergency Management Agency maps to define the flood-prone areas. Opponents of the regulations, however, have contended that the regulations can only apply to areas identified by FEMA's 100-year-flood maps. 

o   In the past, zoning regulations have been imposed only after a majority vote supporting them in one of 30 unincorporated districts. But the 1971 act gives the county the authority to establish zoning regulations to combat flooding risks, county officials have said.

o   A group organized by Bay Minette lawyer Dan Blackburn called the Baldwin County Property Owners Alliance described the proposal in a full-page ad in the Baldwin Register as an effort to impose zoning without a vote of the people. The Friends of Baldwin, a new environmental group with about 5,000 members, supports the proposed regulations.

o   The Baldwin County Commission  voted 2-2 on whether to seek an attorney general's opinion, resulting in the motion failing and indicating that flood-prone zoning doesn't have enough support to move forward in its current form, and possibly not at all. Commissioners Wayne Gruenloh and Skip Gruber voted in favor of seeking the opinion , while Commissioners Frank Burt and Ed Bishop expressed concern about moving forward with a process described by Bishop as a "shortcut" to zoning. Bishop said, however, that he would support narrowing the area that would be zoned to only include property that Federal Emergency Management Agency maps indicate are subject to flooding once every 100 years.

 

Municipal Regulation

·         Municipalities can establish an agreement with the Baldwin County Commission to enact some development oversight within five miles of their corporate limits. Baldwin municipalities enacting oversight over their planning jurisdictions include Fairhope, Daphne, Foley, Gulf Shores, Elberta, Robertsdale, Loxley, Bay Minette, Magnolia Springs and Summerdale.

·         A new state law allows Baldwin County and its 13 municipalities to assess as much as a 1 percent (of market value) impact fee to pay for the impact that new development has on government services including police and fire protection, roads and bridges, parks and library needs.  It forces cities to spend the collected revenue in a two-year window.

o   Orange Beach, Gulf Shores and Fairhope have already passed ordinances to enact impact fees. Baldwin County Commission, Robertsdale and Daphne are studying the possibility of levying impact fees.

o    The impact fees would most likely be paid by a developer or builder. Ultimately, however, the extra cost will be passed on to the home buyer.

o   The collected fees must fund expected construction, expansion and improvements to buildings, roads and other needed services created by new development within a municipality or unincorporated areas. The money collected from the fees cannot be used for current operations and maintenance, according to the law.  The law also requires that the fee be based on the current level of services, meaning an impact fee cannot be used to increase services in a municipality.

Fairhope Regulations

·         Fairhope's planning jurisdiction extends 1½ miles outside the city limits under a 1991 agreement with the county. Recent flood-prone zoning proposals by the county have concerned the city council regarding this authority. -PR1/16/08

·         Fairhope Planning Director Gregg Mims said the city needs more regulatory control over condominium and apartment developments proposed in unzoned areas of the city's planning jurisdiction.  – PR 12/17/06

o   Mims plans to ask the City Council to send a question to Attorney General Troy King as to whether condominiums or apartment complexes constitute a "subdivision."

o   Fairhope officials also need to know whether they can regulate multi-family residential developments as subdivisions in unzoned areas of its planning jurisdiction, he said. Right now, a developer need only obtain a building permit from the city to construct high-rise condos or apartment complexes in unzoned areas just outside Fairhope, but within its five-mile planning jurisdiction. Attorneys for the county said the definition of a subdivision in state and local law also needs clarification.

Foley Regulations

·         Controlling growth has been an issue in Foley, which is the state's fasting-growing city of more than 10,000.

·         In June 2006, the Foley City Council approved an indefinite moratorium on apartment construction.

o   The Foley City Council has hired Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon Inc. of Montgomery to design a strategy to guide growth in the community for the next five years.

o   In June 2006, the Fairhope City Council imposed a six-month moratorium on new subdivision applications within the city limits and its planning jurisdiction to allow leaders to update the city's 5-year-old comprehensive plan, while also studying drainage and traffic.

Gulf Shores Regulations

·         KPS Group Inc., an architecture and design firm with offices in Atlanta and Birmingham, was hired by the City Council in August to rewrite the Gulf Shores zoning ordinance and comprehensive plan from its 1998 plan. KPS is working strictly with city planners on the zoning ordinance rewrite but will eventually bring the matter to public hearings. The comprehensive plan will also incorporate previous planning efforts including, the Envision Gulf Shores plan, which aims to create a walkable downtown beach area, and land use studies for the Fort Morgan peninsula and the Plash Island area.

·         Gulf Shores city leaders said they may seek a court ruling to determine the extent to which condominiums on the north side of Alabama 182 can use surfside lots along West Beach Boulevard as Gulf access for their owners and guests. – PR 4/17/07

o   The City Council approved an ordinance in 2006 that restricts the practice, forcing condo developers to seek a "conditional use permit" before using residential property for beach access. But former district attorney David Whetstone said that the three condominiums -- Bel Sole, Lagoon Tower and Mustique -- were already far enough along in their planning when the law was passed to be exempted.

·         The city of Gulf Shores set a deadline of Oct. 10, 2008, for developers of 10 approved condo projects to begin construction or recast their designs under new zoning rules that limit density and building height on the beach. The developers have sought extensions since late 2005, saying the market is so soft it's hard to find financing for the projects or presell the units.

·         A 1996 court decision set the northern border of Gulf Shores and the southern boundary of Foley at Baldwin County 10, which, if stretched east beyond the Foley Beach Express, would become Russian Road. Roscoe Road is the boundary between Gulf Shores and Orange Beach agreed to in 2000.

·         The impact fee, or development fee, was adopted by the city of Gulf Shores in 2005. It requires that developers pay an upfront fee of $5,000 per condo unit to help offset city expenses for infrastructure. The fee is separate from the cost of a building permit.

·         Landowners must have at least 10 acres to qualify for planned unit development status.

·         The city adopted a land-use plan for Plash Island and the surrounding area. It allows developers with 10 or more acres to build up to 25 units per acre on up to 22 livable floors.

Orange Beach Regulations

·         Orange Beach does not have an impact fee.

·         Though building height limits have been exceeded in nearly every part of Orange Beach, the 50-foot limit has been long standing on the north side of Alabama 182 between the city's western edge and Alabama 161. St. Thomas-by-the-Sea Catholic Church was forced to lower its steeple to conform with the height limit.

·         The Orange Beach City Council adopted new guidelines for elected officials to follow when they meet with developers after the iondictment of Mayor Steve Russo. Among the requirements of the policy are that the meetings be held during normal business hours -- weekdays from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. -- either on the proposed project site or at municipal facilities, such as City Hall or the Community Development office. Also, the rules require elected officials to be accompanied by a peer or a city employee.

Baldwin County Property Tax

·         Baldwin County property owners can expect to pay an average of 30 percent more in property taxes this year. Reports from the state Department of Revenue that show Baldwin had more inconsistent assessments than any in the state. Officials have said that has resulted in Baldwin forfeiting more than $10 million in state and local revenue. -
PR 8/2/07

 

 

 

 


Baldwin County Developments

 

Commercial

Mixed-Use

Residential

Condominium/Hotel

 

Baldwin Commercial Development

Spanish Fort Commercial Development

·         Eastern Shore Centre is a 500,000-square-foot "lifestyle center" filled with upscale tenants which opened in 2004. It is Alabama's second-largest such development, behind The Summit in Birmingham. The Eastern Shore Center was annexed into Spanish Fort.

o   The 200 acre site was developed by Charlie Trotman of Montgomery, David Foshee of Foshee Realty in Mobile, The MGHerring Group of Dallas, and Stephens Property Group of Atlanta. Herring leases and manages the property.

o   Anchor tenants include Dillards and Belk.  Junior anchors are Barnes & Noble and Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

o   Eastern Shore Centre also includes the 250,000 square foot Eastern Shore Plaza power center component, tenanted with big box stores such as Best Buy, PetSmart, Old Navy, and Ross.

·         Spanish Fort Town Center is a 800,000 square-foot retail center planned at I-10 and U.S. 98, anchored by a 140,000-square-foot Bass Pro Shop. – PR 11/26/06, PR 4/3/07

o   Cypress Equities in Atlanta, an affiliate of Staubach Retail paid about $10.8 million for almost 250 acres at the northeast corner of Interstate 10 and U.S. 90 in January 2005. The land was owned by 18 individuals. – PR 2/6/05

o   Cypress pulled construction workers from the site in November 2005 when it couldn't meet lease obligations required to free up construction loans. To access an $80 million construction loan, Cypress had to secure leases with companies that would represent 60 percent of the projected sales. Contracts with Toyota and Honda dealerships -- worth an estimated $200 million -- fell through when the two dealerships decided to move to a development south of I-10 and along Alabama 181 in Daphne. In January 2007, Cypress inked an agreement for a Terry Thompson Chevrolet dealership and two months later signed a deal for a Chris Myers AutoMall. Work resumed in April 2007

o   The latest plans for Town Center now include two phases. The first will include 650,000 square feet of retail space, as well as an apartment complex. The second phase will provide another 130,000 square feet of retail space. The plans were scaled back by about 20 percent from the original 1-million-square-foot level.

o   Cypress wants $32.5 million from a capital improvement district, instead of the $30 million originally planned, to help pay for roads, bridges, utilities and drainage.  In return, Cypress promises to donate $921,000 for a fire engine and $1 million to athletic facilities at Spanish Fort High School. A special cooperative improvement district -- created to help pay for streets, lights and drainage at the site – will add a sales tax of 1.5 percent.

o   Cypress hired Auburn University-Montgomery economics professor Keivan Deravi to perform an economic impact analysis. He projected net retail sales of $207.3 million in the first year, climbing to $264.1 million by the fifth year, and that 760 people would work at the center in the first year and 1,150 by the fifth year.

Daphne Commercial Development

·         Eastern Shore Park is an 80-acre shopping center at the northwest corner of Alabama 181 and U.S. 90 anchored by Sam's Club warehouse, Lowe's Home Improvement and Tameron Honda Eastern Shore.  It was developed by Montgomery-based Aronov Property Management.

o   Aronov Property Management's agreement with Daphne, approved in April 2006, called for Aronov to accept $8.8 million from Daphne for infrastructure.

·         The Renaissance Center is 69-acre retail center adjacent to the Eastern Shore Park. It is the latest development planned using improvement bonds in a special-tax district. Charles Peterson is an owner of the Renaissance land. It is being marketed by J. Barrons Commercial Property.

o   The city's Planning and Zoning Commission recently denied a Value Place hotel from building at the Renaissance site, and that company has sued because of it.

o   The Daphne City Council approved economic development agreement that commits the city to backing a bond issue -- likely about $8 million -- to construct roads and infrastructure for the Renaissance Center, adjacent to Eastern Shore Park, which was built with similar funding. Developers get the money using the city's bond rating and then repay the bonds using tax revenue from the development.

·         Magnolia Place Shopping Center, an 80,000-square-foot center on U.S. 98 in Daphne, was purchased by an Atlanta investor from a California investor for $6.3 million. – PR 6/17/07

Foley Commercial Development

·         The Tanger Outlet Center on Alabama 59 in Foley was built in 1988 with 37 tenants.  It was known as the Riviera Centre until 2003 when North Carolina-based Tanger Outlets and an affiliate of Blackstone Real Estate Advisors teamed up in a joint venture and bought it for $86.8 million from Charter Oak Group Ltd., a subsidiary of Rothschild Realty Inc. It now has 125 tenants and 560,000 square feet of leasable space, and is halfway through a two-year, $30 million renovation. – PR 12/25/07

·         Foley Retail Center, a 32,170-square-foot center next to the Wal-Mart Supercenter on Hwy 59 was purchased by investors for $4.2 million in March 2007.

Gulf Shores Commercial Development

·         Colonial Pinnacle Craft Farms, a lifestyle center on Alabama 59 in Gulf Shores developed by Birmingham-based Colonial Properties Trust, is a 425,000-square-foot development is scheduled to open in the summer of 2007. Bed, Bath & Beyond and Books-A-Million will join the existing Cobb Theatres' 14-screen megaplex and a Target store.

o   In 2004, the Gulf Shores City Council negotiated a deal with the developers of Colonial Pinnacle in which Gulf Shores is buying 42 of the 66 acres the 270,000-square-foot outdoor mall is being built upon. The purchase price -- half paid up front and half to be paid when the mall is built -- is $10 million. Approved by Baldwin County Circuit Judge Robert Wilters in 2005, the agreement essentially allows publicly traded Colonial Properties Trust to pay the rent it will owe Gulf Shores with the sales and use tax its shops will generate until the city's bond debt is retired. The mall deal also includes provisions in which the developers can lease the land long term or buy it back from the city, and provides ad valorem tax savings to the Colonial Properties Trust.

o   Lifestyle centers have an open-air design, and tenants include upscale retail chains, local specialty stores and one or more big-box retailers. The lifestyle center differs from a mall in that shoppers can drive up to the storefront where they want to shop.

o   Colonial Properties Trust sold most of its interest in the mall for $53.8 million. It will retain a 15 percent stake, and will continue to manage and lease the space. Langley Properties Co., a private Kentucky concern, is the buyer and will hold a controlling interest through a joint venture with Colonial Properties.

o   Colonial also has an 8-acre parcel at the corner of Alabama 59 and Baldwin County 4, which the company calls Colonial Pinnacle at Craft Farms II, as well as 37 acres on the south side of Baldwin County 4 where it plans to build more retail in a second agreement with Gulf Shores. The council in May agreed in principle to a $20 million revenue-sharing deal with the company that will prompt construction of a 255,000-square-foot retail center, called Colonial Promenade, and a 60,000-square-foot medical center on the 37 acres.

·         The Gulf Shores City Council approved a $20 million revenue-sharing agreement that will lead to development of a medical center and outdoor mall on a tract north of the Intracoastal Waterway. The deal with Colonial Properties Trust calls for a 60,000-square-foot medical complex and 255,000-square-foot shopping center. – PR 5/17/07

o   Gulf Shores will allow Colonial Properties to recoup up to $20 million of the sales tax generated by the proposed mall, called Colonial Promenade. Starting as soon as the first retailer opens, the company will be refunded 75 percent of the sales tax the development creates annually up to $2 million a year. The deal will expire when either 10 years have elapsed or Colonial has recouped $20 million.

o   The property, 37.5 acres arranged in a backward "L" shape at the southeast corner of Baldwin County 4 and Alabama 59, sits at the nexus of northern Gulf Shores. The medical center is planned for a four-acre parcel at the tract's middle while retailers will be arranged around it. Colonial Properties sold the four acres to Birmingham's Johnson Development, which will build the $15 million medical center and lease the facility to Sacred Heart Health System, which plans to open it early 2008. And if Sacred Heart wins state approval, the facility will also include an 8,000-square-foot outpatient surgery center.

·         The office market at the Gulf has been scarce, but it is starting to emerge, according to Leonard Kaiser. He couldn't find an existing building for his new office, so he bought the land on Gulf Shores parkway in downtown Gulf Shores and built a 27,000-square-foot office. Kaiser plans to focus on reviving the city's business district and has purchased land for more office buildings on West Commerce Avenue off Alabama 59. The individual offices would be sold as commercial condo space. He also sold 2 acres to developers to build a Holiday Inn Express downtown. – PR 10/1/06

·         Small businesses have had trouble staying open along Fort Morgan Road, where seasonal populations fluctuate widely.

Orange Beach Commercial Development

·         Louisiana investors bought 3 acres on Canal Road at the foot of the Foley Beach Express in Orange Beach for $3.1 million, and plan to build Island Business Center, a four-story office-retail building to sell as commercial condo space – PR10/1/06

 

Baldwin Mixed-Use Developments

Spanish Fort Mixed-Use Developments

·         The Highlands of Spanish Fort is an 11,000-acre development on land owned by International Paper Realty. Plans include 26 residential neighborhoods, three multi-family areas, 10 spots for churches, six school sites, four public parks and three emergency services centers. – PR 8/20/07, 9/16/07, 11/22/07, 1/6/08

o   Each neighborhood contains spots for shopping and parks within a half-mile of every home. The landowners envision 9.7 miles of new roads, 168 acres of parks and pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly pathways. The entire project could take as many as 50 years to complete.

o   IP will build the roads and infrastructure, and will sell the land in 70- to 1,200-acre tracts to developers who will construct the homes, churches, schools and commercial space.

o   There are 2,248 acres of wetlands on the property, and IP plans to protect more than that by requiring a 20-foot buffer between all the home sites and wetlands.

o   Developers for each subdivision would first approach an International Paper architectural group, known as the Development Review Committee, with rules that meet the city's standards, and then present those plans to the city.

o   The landowners envision a new 9.6-mile main traffic artery, called Highlands Trace, that would run towards Bay Minette.

o   Commercial is priced at $80,000 per acre and residential land is $25,000 per upland acre. A wetlands acre is priced at $1,100 per acre.

o   Developer Jeff Thompson's Stone Brook 250-lot subdivision will be the first of 26 to be built in The Highlands of Spanish Fort. He paid $2 million for 80 acres.

o   University of South Alabama economics professor Semoon Chang predicted that the development would create about 162,000 jobs during construction, the total output of construction is expected to be about $8.5 billion, and could generate wages as much as $4.5 billion. He predicted that at the height of the project, in 2022, The Highlands would provide jobs for about 7,000 people. Infrastructure could cost more than $40 million. Chang said that the average price of a home built in The Highlands would be roughly $200,000 and he expected that most of the people living at The Highlands would be those employed by the new ThyssenKrupp steel plant, EADS-Northrop Grumman air tankers and Interstate 10 construction workers. – PR 5/22/08, 5/31/08

Loxley Mixed-Use Developments

·         Golden Triangle residential community on 3,900 acres in Loxley is slated to have home construction start in early 2008. The community -- billed as affordable housing -- will also include schools, retail and homes for active adults aged 55 and up. Atlanta-based PEC Development Group designs the planned community, builds the infrastructure and amenities, and sells lots or parcels of land to builders like Adams Homes, Mitchell Company and D.R. Horton. The group paid more than $35 million for the property. The land is shaped like a triangle and bounded west by U.S. 31, on the east by Alabama 59 and on the south by Interstate 10. PEC has received zoning approval for the master plan, which includes single-family, multi-family residences, retail, commercial, office and light industrial space. The developers have talked with Baldwin County school officials and plan to make land available for them to build the schools. – PR 2/25/07, 9/16/07

·         Roan’s Creek: International Paper is planning a mixed-use community on 5,600 acres in Loxley between Alabama 59 and Steelwood Lake with up to 29,000 residents. – PR 6/30/08

Fairhope Mixed-Use Developments

·         Battle of the Triangle: The “Dyas Triangle” versus the “Corte Rectangle”. The "Corte Rectangle" is owned by members of the Corte family, while the "Dyas Triangle" is owned by their cousins, the Dyas family. The competing properties are both zoned within the city as "planned unit developments" -- mixed-use projects including both commercial and residential components.

·         Village North is a 108-acre development in Fairhope that includes 46 acres known as the "Triangle," which is bounded by U.S. 98, Section Street and Alabama 104. Atlanta-based Wallace Real Estate is leading the development.

o   The Triangle tract has been the subject of a legal and political battle between the city and the Dyas family since Charles Dyas first attempted to develop it in 1972. The city sought to prevent commercial development on Fairhope's north side.

o   The council approved a planned unit development arrangement in 2002, clearing the way for the Village North development. The lawsuits were either dismissed by a judge or rendered moot by the council's rezoning approval.

o   In December 2007, Fairhope’s Planning and Zoning Commission denied the developer's request for a 46,000-square-foot Publix grocery store as an exception to the city's present cap of 30,000 square feet. The Dyases later withdrew a request for a 54,000 sq-ft Publix grocery store – PR 12/4/07

o   The Dyases are suing the city of Fairhope and Mayor Tim Kant for violating the 2002 Village North multi-use development agreement – PR 4/8/08, 4/13/08

o   Village North Schematic (PR)

·         Fly Creek is a planned 835 unit development at US 98 and Parker Road by developer Arthur Corte on 213 acres owned by his family with a mix of single family homes, condos, townhomes, street-level retail units with second-floor apartments, smaller retailers and possibly a Publix grocery store – PR 10/11/06

o    When Arthur Corte applied for annexation into Fairhope of Fly Creek, he asked for zoning that would permit a shopping center with a big traditional supermarket. He needed no exception to land use ordinances to accommodate Publix at his site. – Pete Glezer, Lagniappe, 12/4/07

o   Jacksonville, Fla.-based Regency Centers acquired 11 acres at Fly Creek to develop the 85,000-square-foot Shoppes at Fairhope Village anchored by a 54,000-square-foot Publix Super Market. It is slated to open in early summer of 2009. – PR 4/25/08

Point Clear Mixed-Use Developments

·         The Colony at the Grand in Point Clear first 56-unit condominium building is Bayview on 175 wooded acres starting at the northwest corner of Section Street and Old Battles Road. The building overlooks a 13-acre, fish-stocked lake. The Daniel Corp. partnered with the Retirement Systems of Alabama to develop the $540 million project. An RSA affiliate, PCH Hotels & Resorts, owns the nearby Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa, which includes Lakewood golf course. The partnership paid $8 million for the property in 2004.  – PR 1/14/07

Foley Mixed-Use Developments

·         The Palms at Foley is a planned $175 million mixed-use development by Nashville-based Woerner Holdings on 120 acres on Highway 59. The project will contain 400,000 square feet of retail, a restaurant row, a hotel, and 425 condominiums and 425 apartments, all under a Mediterranean theme. Grand opening for the project was tentatively scheduled for May 2009.  – Southeast Real Estate Business, 9/06

Intracoastal Waterway Mixed-Use

·         The Wharf at Orange Beach is a 220-acre development with a mix of more than 1 million square feet of retail and restaurant space, 1,600 condos, a hotel, a 208-slip marina, a 10,200-seat amphitheater and a 112-foot Ferris wheel. The resort is anchored by a private clubhouse and will include pools and nature trails.

o   AIG Baker Shopping Center Properties is the Birmingham developer behind Patton Creek, Wildwood and other shopping centers. President Alex Baker has a partnership with AIG Global Real Estate Investment Corp., a subsidiary of American International Group, Inc.

o   The Orange Beach city council agreed to enter a partnership with AIG Baker in which the firm will be refunded up to $25 million of the tax revenue created by The Wharf. In exchange, AIG Baker has agreed to develop $40 million in public improvements -- roads, parking decks, boardwalks -- which will become public property once its $25 million is retrieved by the company. The city also has deals with the bridge's developers, the Baldwin County Bridge Co., and Joe Raley Builders of Bama Bayou.

o   In the 190-unit Levin's Bend tower at The Wharf, 33 buyers had filed lawsuits in either state or federal court seeking to get out of deals to buy 37 condo units worth $20.7 million. When the Levin's Bend condos were first offered in 2004, each unit was quickly purchased. Since then, higher interest rates, a glut of inventory and soaring coastal insurance rates have cooled the market and made the quick profits of flipping a rarity on Baldwin County's beaches.  120 of the 210 units in the next condo building, Boggy Point, have been reserved. – PR 7/7/2007

o   Baker purchased the Gulf Shores Golf Club in downtown Gulf Shores for almost $6 million, and will shuttle The Wharf guests to the course.

o   AIG Baker has purchased 3.5 acres on the Gulf of Mexico, just west of Phoenix West in Orange Beach, and plans to build The Beach Club of The Wharf. The Wharf's condo owners and their guests will be shuttled from their resort on the Intracoastal Waterway to the Beach Club, which should be open by next spring. The property has 100 front feet on the Gulf, and Baker paid an estimated $4 million, or $40,000 per front foot. – PR 8/5/07

o   A group of former and existing tenants at The Wharf's shopping district on the Intracoastal Waterway in Orange Beach have filed suit against the development, alleging fraudulent lease tactics. In a counterclaim filed earlier this month, Baker alleges several of the retailers are past due on rent payments. – PR 2/17/08

·         Bama Bayou is a $300 million development on the north shore of the Intracoastal Waterway, will span the Foley Beach Express with five condotel buildings on the west side and on the east a separate 650-unit resort, a 68,000-square-foot convention center, a Gulf World Marine Park, shops and a marina. – PR 9/7/06

o   Joe Raley Builders and The Mitchell Company are partners in the project, formerly called RiverWalk Orange Beach

o   It will include 440 units that are individually owned like condos but rented daily like hotels.

o   The development's water park will be built along the western edge of the Foley Beach Express.

o    The developers agreed to buy the 144-acre site from the city. The land was originally purchased by Orange Beach in 1999 for $5 million. In a 2002 agreement with Joe Raley Builders the city agreed to sell them 42 acres on the western side of the expressway for about $1.7 million, and lease them 97 acres on the eastern side of the road for $1 per year for 50 years, provided the builders follow through with plans to construct a tax-revenue-generating tourist attraction. The company paid the city $78,000 for the rights to develop the land but later decided to buy all of the property. In three separate deals Orange Beach sold off portions to Raley for a total of more than $12 million. – PR 11/24/05

o   The developers of Bama Bayou have asked the City Council to help them finance a $35 million convention center and hotel planned for the property by creating a special district that will allow them to collect an extra 2 percent sales and lodgings tax and then rebate to them 2 percent of the sales and lodgings taxes generated by the project. That $35 million would be part of the $200 million in tax-free bonds allocated to Bama Bayou by the state through the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act – PR 9/30/07

·         Blackwater, also developed by AIG Baker, will be a 3,400-acre development on woodlands about a dozen miles north of The Wharf. The property will have retail, restaurant and hotel projects along with some small office buildings, and 1,600 homes that will range from $200,000 to $2 million. The Perdido and Blackwater rivers come together at the site, giving access to the Gulf. Reeder Lake and another lake on the site combined with planned manmade lakes to be added to the property will give it 15 miles of waterfront sites.

·         East of the Dr. W.C. Holmes Bridge on Alabama 59 is Lulu's Landing, a 6,000-square-foot restaurant owned by Lucy Buffett, sister of singer Jimmy Buffett. Adjacent is the 27-acre site for Homeport Marina. A few dozen condos are also planned for the property, which is owned by former Krispy Kreme executive Joseph A. "Mac" McAleer Jr., city officials said.

·         Colonial Traditions is a mixed-use development which will include 25 acres of commercial development and as many as seven residential villages. It is on the site of the former 188-acre Woodlands golf course off Alabama 59 in Gulf Shores which was purchased in 2005 by Birmingham-based Colonial Properties Trust from Robert Craft for an estimated $12 million.

Orange Beach Mixed-Use Developments

·         Orange Beach city officials are contemplating an offer to buy San Roc Cay from Robin Wade Jr., the mixed-use marina property that sits on the southern shore of Cotton Bayou near Perdido Pass and fronts Alabama 182. In the meantime, plans to build a municipal marina on Terry Cove for fare-carrying vessels, such as charter fishing and sight-seeing boats, have been put on hold. – PR 12/18/06

Gulf Shores Mixed-Use Developments

·         Envision Gulf Shores calls for a pedestrian-friendly business district centered on the municipal beach. The plan, developed after hurricane Ivan, envisions city block-sized resorts that combine condos, hotel rooms, restaurants, shops and hidden parking lots interspersed with public spaces and wide promenades.  – PR 10/3/07

·         Developer Shaul Zislin and his business partners, working as Beach Place Development LLC, bought the 2.3-acre block of businesses on the beach side of Alabama 182 and Alabama 59 in Gulf Shores for $17.6 million in January 2005, of which they borrowed $13.1 million.

·         The site, a city block known as Gulf Place, has 460 front feet on the Gulf and included Gulf Shores Motel, The Spot and the Barefoot Bar. Those businesses, wrecked by Hurricane Ivan, were torn down in 2005 and the land has sat empty since.

·         Plans call for The Beach, a commercial district with shops, restaurants and condominium units. Zislin had planned to build a 32-story tower there with bottom floors filled with 90,000 square feet of retail and eateries, five levels of parking and upper floors holding 225 condo units.

·         Zislin told the Gulf Shores City Council in October 2007 that he plans to wait on building a mixed-use tower and put a restaurant there until the market improves. Zislin said it may be up to five years before the real estate market will support such an endeavor.

·         Park Place is a partnership of local lawyers and Missouri investors that secured a deal with the City Council to build the first mixed-use project in the planned city center.

o   The developers, HSK Properties LLC, plans include a 20-story hotel tower on a three-story base of restaurants, spas, shops, and public parking. 

o   Park Place will include nearly 304,000 square feet -- space far beyond what would otherwise be allowed on the 2.4-acre property. After months of negotiations, city officials and HSK eventually settled on terms that allow Park Place to include nearly 200,000 square feet more than would be typically allowed on the developer's property.

o   Ray Hix and Haymes Snedeker, who is also Fairhope's municipal judge, are partners in HSK Properties with three people from St. Louis.

o   Park Place will also kick start another component of the Envision plan by forcing closure of part of East Second Avenue, which runs down the middle of the project site. In exchange, the developers will give the city an equal amount of property to the north of the resort on which to reroute Alabama 182 traffic around the proposed downtown. The Alabama Department of Transportation will build the new road north of Park Place and the residential neighborhood to the east and the city is slated to take control of the beach highway, reducing it to a landscaped two-lane boulevard, Duke said.

·         Colonial Properties Trust is building a mixed-use community on the former Woodlands golf course at Alabama 59 and Baldwin County 6 in Gulf Shores.

 

 

Baldwin Residential Developments

·         Production has slowed for most builders in Baldwin County after a rush that followed hurricanes Ivan and Katrina. Home prices have increased as a result of higher land costs. While Baldwin County's home sales market is going through an adjustment period, the demand has shifted to Mobile County.

·         As of January 2007 more than 2,340 residential lots are set to be developed in Gulf Shores north of the Intercoastal Waterway. There are more than 21 single-family subdivisions and nine condominium complexes under construction or in the land-clearing stage on Baldwin County 4, 6 and 8 in Gulf Shores. – PR 1/22/07

·         In 2006, the Foley Planning Commission gave preliminary approval for subdivisions that included 2,227 lots on 723 acres. Many of those lots have not been developed, with city officials saying that developers are waiting for the market to improve.

·         The glut of condo units for sale at the Gulf has caused some subdivision developers and builders to pull back, slow down or just stop until the inventory is sold, agents said. – PR 1/22/07

o   An unused building permit expires after one year in Gulf Shores, according to Steve Foote, city planner for Gulf Shores. "Some developers have asked for an extension, and the City Council has been pretty responsive about granting those," he said. – PR 1/22/07

o   Baas had sold almost 25 lots in Crimson Ridge on Baldwin 8 in Gulf Shores to various builders who later backed out. The lots average $92,500. She's marketing 20 homes in the $155,000 range in the Kendall Brook subdivision on Baldwin County Road 12 in Foley.

o   For the Gulf Shores school district, and County Road 8 is the cut-off.

o   All 106 new-home lots in the first phase of Craft Farms on Baldwin County 6 were sold within 24 hours in December 2005. But some of the builders who bought in the second addition have canceled, saying they have such a huge inventory of lots

o   The developers of Vintage Oaks, a 246-unit condo complex on the Foley Beach Express south of U.S. 98 in Foley, sold enough units to start construction, but they recently put a hold on building until some of the inventory is absorbed.

Stapleton Residential Development

·         Old Towne Commons, will be on the east side of U.S. 31, about 1½ miles north of Stapleton. Housing is expected to sell for below $150,000 each. It is proposed by Baldwin Ventures of Orlando, Fla., and includes 1,416 housing units on 413 acres, including 383 apartments, 774 single-family homes and 47 acres set aside for retail and professional offices.

Bay Minette Residential Development

·         Dauer Walden, on the east and west sides of Baldwin County 40 or White House Fork Road, is a conservation community. Tommy Swearingen plans to preserve his family's farm near Bay Minette by selling 22 homesites on the property and keeping the rest of the 1,050 acres undeveloped. About 160 acres is already in conservation easements, he said, and eventually all the 1,000-plus acres will be permanently protected. – PR 2/12/06

Stockton

·         Live Oak Landing on Tensaw River in Stockton is a planned residential community on 600 acres and one mile of frontage on Tensaw River near the boat landing off Alabama 225, according to Bestor Ward of Ward Properties, one of the developers. Homes will range from $200,000 to more than $1 million.

Loxley Residential Development

·         Steelwood is a 1460-acre private development and country club, which includes a Jerry Pate-designed golf course and a 200-acre lake.

o   Steelwood opened in 1997, developed by Brewton timber magnate and developer Richard Miller who had bought the property in 1992 from International Paper, which used it as its corporate hunting and fishing lodge (and was owned by US Steel in 1954). The Miller Family also developed TimberCreek and own T.R. Miller Mill Co., a timber company in Brewton.

o   Most of the 114 single-family lots in the community were sold shortly after the development opened. In 2004, Miller opened the development to builders and realtors.

o   In 2006, Miller and his wife, Carol, informed members and property owners of Steelwood Country Club of their plans to sell their majority interest in the development.

Malbis Residential Development

·         Mitchell Homes’ Landsdown, on Alabama 181 about 2 miles from Interstate 10's Malbis exit, has 62 lots with homes priced in the $250,000s to $350,000. The one- and two-story homes range from 2,100 to 3,000 square feet.

·         Adams Homes' 40-lot Rileywood subdivision is adjacent to Landsdown on Alabama 181. Its homes are 2,100 to 3,100 square feet and priced from $253,900 to $276,900. 

Spanish Fort Residential Development

·         Spanish Fort Estates on Alabama 225 is in its 24th phase. It was developed by the Fuller family beginning in the 1950s, according to David Fuller of Fuller Brothers Real Estate.

·         In Stillwater on Alabama 225 lots range from $45,000 to $125,000. Stillwater's interior lots average $85,000, while lake lots start at $175,000, according to James Ray, a home builder and one of Stillwater's developers. Homes average $650,000 and up. Stillwater has several lakes, pools, a clubhouse, tennis courts, a pier and a dock. A fourth phase of the development is on the drawing board and will feature a new entrance off Alabama 225

·         Whitehouse Creek subdivision off Alabama 225 outside Spanish Fort is a joint venture of Birmingham-based Colonial Properties Trust and UCO Development in Orange Beach. The group owns 1,400 acres of timberland. The partners will develop the land in stages, starting with 355 acres and 47 single-family lots. Seventeen of those lots have sold at prices ranging from $66,000 to $75,000, Dees said. The lots average 100 feet by 180 feet.

 

·         Other Spanish Fort Subdivisions: Blakley ForestBlakely Ridge; Saluda Ridge; Westminster Gates; Blakely Oaks; Falls Church; Stratford Glen; Woodlands Spanish Fort; Wilson Heights has 1960s-era houses; Spanish Village; Oakridge, Wakefield; the Lakes of Spanish Fort; Shenandoah, Girdletree.

Daphne Residential Development

·         Developer Trae Corte is developing the Bellaton subdivision on Alabama 181 in Daphne. The 59 lots in the first phase of Bellaton have sold, and last fall seven homes sold, all in the $500,000 range. He's getting ready to release for sale 69 more lots in Bellaton, at prices from $90,000 up to $140,000 for lakefront lots.  – PR 2/11/07

·         TimberCreek golf course and subdivision were developed by the Miller family of Brewton and Allen Cox. It was annexed into Daphne in the 1990s.

·         Oldfield: Four homes are under construction and lot sales are under way in the 151-lot first phase of this development on Alabama 181 between Baldwin County 64 and 104 in Daphne. The land was formerly owned by Julio and Mary Anne Corte, and their circa 1924 home now serves as the subdivision's clubhouse. There will be 550 homes when all four phases are developed. The lot prices range from $60,000 to $130,000. The homes are expected to range from the $300s to $800,000 or more. The amenities will include 75 acres of parks and lakes, including a stocked, 10-acre lake, swimming pools and tennis courts. – PR 7/29/07

·         St. Charles Village on Pollard Road, near the southeast corner of Baldwin County 64, is a factory-built, 144-unit four-plex townhome community aimed at first-time home buyers with prices from $135,000 to $169,000. Jeff Posey of Rome, Ga., and his south Florida partners in Samaritan Development have developed 11 similar projects. They have four more planned, including the Daphne four-plexes and a single-family subdivision on Baldwin County 12 in Foley. The modular homes were designed by WHL Architecture based in Baton Rouge, La.  – PR 5/21/06

Fairhope Residential Development

·         Rock Creek

o   In 1876, A. A. Corte, an Italian immigrant working as a miner in Minnesota, purchased 40 acres of land in Baldwin County, Alabama, sight unseen. He then moved his family south to farm the land, using Rock Creek as its main water source. As time passed, Mr. Corte and his seven sons and daughter built a thriving farming business and continued to acquire land in Baldwin County. After A. A. Corte's death, his granddaughter, Olympia Corte-Dyas, came into possession of the land on which Rock Creek now exists. It is believed this site once had a lumber mill with a paddle wheel on the creek.

o   The land remained in the Dyas family until 1992, at which time it was sold to David Head. Mr. Head and Kenny McLean developed the Rock Creek subdivision as a planned unit development centered around a golf course designed by Earl Stone. The first lots were sold in 1993.

o   In the late 1990's, Jim Tanner purchased the development company, Rock Creek Properties, LLC from Head and McLean. The golf course was sold to Honours, Inc. in the late 1990's. The tennis, swim and fitness club was sold to John and Beth Dotson in 2003.

o   Control of Phases 1-4, was turned over to the homeowners in 1998 as Rock Creek Property Owners Association, Inc. Phases 5-7 were turned over to the homeowners in 2004 as the Eastern Rock Creek Property Owners Association.

·         Quail Creek is off Alabama 181 (formerly Baldwin County 27) in Fairhope and next to Quail Creek Golf Course

·         Stone Creek is under construction on 330 acres off Alabama 181. It is Fairhope's first village concept and will include estate-size homes, villas and condominiums, as well as a village center with retail and service-oriented businesses.  The amenities feature three lakes with waterfalls, a lodge/clubhouse that overlooks a pool and fish-stocked lake, tennis courts and an outdoor amphitheater.  Builders Bobby Clark, Pat Achee, Jimmy Pickering and James Ray, and Realtors Rance Reehl and Chason Wachter are developers.  The 78 lots in the first phase have sold to builders at prices ranging from $60,000 to $95,000. The homes in the community are expected to range from the low $400,000s to more than $1 million.  The village center or commercial space will front Alabama 181 at the entrance.  A sister project, Stone Creek North will be built adjacent to the center. The North project will include 10,000 square feet of office space; 100,000 square feet of climate-controlled, mini storage units and boat storage; 110 condominium units and a lake.  Cowpen Creek divides the two developments, and developers will place 26 acres into a conservation easement.  There is enough land in Stone Creek for 400 homes. Eighteen builders from Baldwin and Mobile counties will build homes there. – PR 2/11/07

·         The Waters at Fairhope on Alabama 181 near Baldwin County 104 has 89 lots, of which 43 had sold in December 2007, with three lakes and two waterfalls on 95 acres. The lot prices range from $139,500 to $350,000, Rance Reehl of Coldwell Banker Reehl Properties and custom builders Pat Achee and Robert Clark purchased the property in April 2005. Home prices are expected to range from $700,000 on the cottage lots to $2 million or more on the estate lots. Only 10 of the 43 sold lots have been purchased by builders, according to Reehl. Most were purchased by individuals who plan to secure their own builders for personal homes. Reehl said developers did not want The Waters to compete with Stone Creek. He, Clark, Achee and builder James Ray are partners in that subdivision also off Alabama 181 in Fairhope. – PR 12/23/07

·         Benchmark's 82-lot Woodlawn on Baldwin County 44 in Fairhope has homes starting at $169,500. The amenities include a two-car garage, a screened porch, 9-foot ceilings, stainless steel appliances and garden tub.

·         Fairfield Pointe Village: Presales are under way in this 37-lot subdivision at Booth Road and Baldwin County 44 in Fairhope – PR 7/29/07

Magnolia Springs Residential Development

·         SweetBay, would sit along Baldwin County 49 about five miles south of Magnolia Springs. SweetBay's factory-built modular housing units would range in price from $95,000 to $145,000, according to Walter Bolton, president and chief executive officer of BES Inc., which designed the development. The SweetBay development has 2,324 residential units on 280 acres. Those units include 792 multi-family units, 416 duplexes and 949 single-family residences. The development also includes about 100,000 square feet for commercial and office space. Samaritan Development, of Rome, Ga., is backing the project. Samaritan would own the one- and two-bedroom apartments and rent them for $400 to $600 a month. The overall development plan has more than eight residential units per acre with a minimum lot size of 3,500 square feet. Developers have described the development as a "village concept" that would include a church and town hall. The developers of SweetBay paid $5.3 million for 240 of its 280 acres.

·         Live Oak Farms is a 120-lot subdivision that has received preliminary county approval – PR 7/22/07

Marlow Residential Development

·         A development with nearly 630 residential units, winding walking trails, and commercial businesses may become the first major development in Marlow by Gooden Homes on 229 acres on the northeast corner of Baldwin County 9 and Woodhaven Dairy Road, east of Fairhope.

Elberta Residential Development

·         Joe Raley Builders of Orange Beach and investor partners paid $7.3 million for 255 acres known as Sandy Creek Farms on U.S. 98 near Old Foley Road in Elberta in February 2006.

Bon Secour Residential Development

·         Sunset Bay, on the Bon Secour River off Baldwin County 6, was developed in 2004 on 65 acres with 48 upscale homes, boat slips and a yacht club by The Bryan Co. based in Ridgeland, Miss. The developers opted for single-family homes instead of condominium units. The Bryan Co. also developed Palm Beach, a 100-unit condo project in Orange Beach. - PR

Fort Morgan Residential Development

·         Pensinsula was developed in 1995 on 800 acres on Fort Morgan road by The Head Companies

Gulf Shores Residential Development

·         Craft Farms was developed in 1988 by R.C. and Robert Craft

o   In 1953 R.C. Craft bought 870 acres of farmland north of Gulf Shores for raising gladiolas.  In 1973, he converted to sod production with Craft Turf Farms.

o   In 1988, the Crafts developed the Craft Farms subdivision and convinced Arnold Palmer to design the Cotton Creek golf course. In 1998, Palmer designed the Cypress Bend course at Craft Farms.

o   In 1994, Craft bought the Woodlands course which was under development by Japanese investors across Hwy. 59 (and named the Links at Brights Creek).  In 2005, Craft sold the Woodlands for $12 million to Colonial Properties trust, who plan to create the mixed-use Colonial Traditions.

·         Construction of the 490-unit Emerald Greens golf community on Baldwin County 6 is "is full speed ahead and is being built no matter what happens with the market," said Chris Harrell of Lindsey Real Estate. More than 100 units have sold in the past year at prices from $179,000 to $399,000, he said. The project includes a nine-hole executive golf course.

·         Volume home builder Mitchell Homes is launching six new subdivisions in Baldwin County, including a development with custom-detailed homes priced as high as $350,000. Mitchell's newest subdivisions will stretch from Foley to Spanish Fort and cover the $150,000 to $350,000 price range – PR 8/20/06.

o   Brookhaven off Whispering Pines Road in Daphne will have 135 homes with amenities and sizes similar to Landsdown, with prices from the $250,000s to the $350,000s. Ashland Place at U.S. 98 and Baldwin County 55 in Magnolia Springs will have 72 homes priced from $230,000 to $300,000.

o   Woodland Trace on Baldwin County 55 in Loxley will have 82 cottage- and traditional-style homes in the $150s to $200,000.

o   Stonefield on Baldwin County 55 and Thompson Road in Loxley will have 61 homes priced in the $150,000s to the $200,000s, and includes a lake and pond.

o   Malbis on Alabama 181 off I-10 is adding 49 lots with homes priced from the $160,000s to the $230,000s. Most of the 54 lots in the first phase have sold.

o   Victoria Place on Juniper Street behind Tanger Factory Outlets in Foley will have 59 condominium and townhouse units in its second phase, all priced at $154,900. There are six units per building, and the single-story units have a single-car garage.

o   The Mobile-based company will market the 70 lots in Audubon off Alabama 181 in Spanish Fort in mid-September, but Mitchell will not build homes in the exclusive subdivision near Rockwell Elementary School. The lots range from ½ acre to 3 acres, with most surrounded by wetlands that offer privacy. The lot prices will be announced next month, he said.

Orange Beach Residential Development

·         The Retreat at Orange Beach features 112 single-family home lots and a marina on about 70 acres along Bay La Launch. The land, just west of Sampson Avenue, is owned by the family of Bay Minette lawyer Dan Blackburn and encompasses the 4.76-acre Lake Baldwin. Originally, Blackburn had proposed a $500 million project called Harbortown with 830 residential units, a 500-slip marina and 18-story condo towers. The plans were renamed Bay La Launch Village and scaled back to include about 500 residential units, shorter condo towers and a less expansive marina. The Planning Commission rejected both of those early designs before voting in favor of The Retreat designs and forwarding the proposal to the council. "I hope that it sends a message that we want a residential area in Orange Beach," Mayor Pete Blalock said. – PR 4/20/06

·         Plans for The Fountains on Canal were criticized by the Orange Beach City Council for lacking green space. Proposed by developer Robert Orlich, the designs called for 56 houses and 30 condo units on about 10 acres between the Twin Lakes Condominium and the Sawgrass Apartments. According to the plans, only a section of wetlands at the rear of the property, which couldn't be developed anyway, was being set aside as green space. "There are plans that are just like Legos, you just line up the Legos and try to get as many of them into a square as you can. And then to use the wetlands as your green space ...," Holiday said. "It is absolutely deplorable in this day and age to bring something to us with no imagination. You need to take out some of that and have a town center, some green space in there." Orlich replied: "Well that's all well and good, but at $200,000 an acre it makes it very difficult." "I don't see where it's any of our business to make sure that developers make a lot of money," Councilman Larry Alexander said. "It's not the city's mission to make sure that the numbers work. All I can say is that there are developers going in there throwing money at homeowners and paying them whatever they want and then you have to end up with these type projects. We hear more and more developers saying the numbers don't work, the numbers don't work.' This is not our charter to make the numbers work." Orlich contended that certain buyers, such as retirees, want single-family homes without yards that would require lots of care. Such developments are gaining popularity nationwide, he said. – PR 4/20/06

·         Portage Creek Condominiums with 507 units were approved in 2005 for a tract along the Intracoastal Waterway with the understanding that they would provide affordable housing -- priced between $400,000 and $800,000. It was put on hold in July 2006. – 4/7/06, 8/13/06

·         The Homestead, a 286-home development, has prices between $200,000 and $300,000 and restrictions on them to prevent frequent sales and price escalation. The property is owned by Deck Investments LLC, a company registered to a Louisiana investor, who, according to Probate Court records, bought the land in December 2003 for $1.495 million.

·         Cypress Village is a residential community on Canal Road in Orange Beach adjacent to The Wharf, has 84 acres with 350 homes sold at prices ranging from $425,000 to $600,000. Ross Easter is a real estate broker working with UCO Development. – PR 8/13/06

 

 

Baldwin Condominiums and Hotels

·         A total of 1,611 condo units were scheduled to open at the Gulf in 2006, but only 1,366 did; 1,027 new units are scheduled to open in 2007, and more than 900 in 2008.

·         In 2006, large, new condo projects came on the market, but in 2007 there are mostly small projects coming on line.

·         The size and style of the new condo buildings has changed considerably. They are adding larger, more modern, three-and four-bedroom condo units versus one- or two-bedroom condos or suite hotels.

·         Condo projects scheduled to close in 2006 included Caribe Resort's phase 3 in Orange Beach, 200 units; Bella Luna, 132 units on Old River in Perdido Key; and Crystal Tower, 170 units, and San Carlos, 150 units, both in Gulf Shores.

Spanish Fort Condominiums

·         There are numerous high-end subdivisions on Alabama 225, and Cypress Point and eight other projects will bring another 3,335 residential units to the area, according to city and county planners

·         The Blakeley at Cypress Point is a condo development on the west side of Alabama 225 at Bay Minette Creek being developed by Patrick James, son of former governor Fob James, and Henry Wise. The developers paid $2.5 million for 21 acres in March 2007. The land was purchased from the Fuller family of Fuller Brothers Real Estate