Flotte’s Notes on
Mobile Neighborhoods
An Unofficial Encyclopaedia of Mobile & Baldwin Counties
Promoting local history, culture, outdoors, businesses,
attractions, food, people, and places
Please submit all comments, additions, and corrections to: admin@flotte2.com
Available through www.flottesnotes.com
or www.notesonmobile.com![]()
Church Street East/Government Downtown Dauphin Street DeTonti
Square Other
Loop Oakeigh Garden Leinkauf Old Dauphin
Way Midtown DIP/Dog River Riviere Du Chien Campground Toulminville Crichton Springhill West Mobile Causeway
Historic
Preservation
·
The Historic Mobile
Preservation Society was founded in
1935. HMPS's mission includes curating the Oakleigh
Historic Complex
·
In 1962 the Historic Districts Ordinance was passed by the Mobile City Commission
creating the Mobile Historic Development Commission
o The DeTonti Square and Church
Street East districts were created in 1962, followed by Oakleigh Garden District
in 1969.
o The Architectural Review
Board regulates buildings in the historic districts.
§
In 2008, The Mobile City Council
reorganized the board by removing the six at-large members who recommended by
the Mobile Historic Development Commission, replaced with eight new positions -
one representative from the historic commission and seven from each of the
city's seven historic districts. The reorganization came after a handful of
high-profile complaints about its rulings. – PR 4/30/08
·
The Mobile Revolving Fund has bought dilapidated properties for renovation
·
There are eight historical districts in
o All districts are on the Department of the Interior’s
National Register of Historic Places, providing federal funding and protection.
o Property owners (except in the Midtown and Campground
districts) must get permission from the city's Architectural Review Board for
construction or changes, including garages, sheds,
fences, driveways, and exterior painting.
Maps
Downtown Business Improvement
District Map
Mobile County
Revenue Commissioner (Tax Assessor)
Areas of Minority
Concentration, 2000 Census

·
The "String
of Pearls" initiative undertaken by
the administration of former Mayor Mike
Dow – PR 6/25/06
o
Downtown had
bottomed into an ugly trough in the 1980s, with one of the final blows coming
with the closings of department stores Gayfers and Zoghby's in 1985 and 1986, respectively.
o
Lawyer Jack Miller
headed the volunteer Downtown Redevelopment Commission and coined the phrase
String of Pearls.
o
Mayor Mike Dow,
Jack Miller, current cruise terminal chief Al St. Clair and others began
plotting to change that after Dow was elected in 1989. The first step was for
Dow to "make peace," as St. Clair put it, with the plans for a
waterfront convention center. Dow had opposed those plans during his campaign,
and the issue helped him to turn out incumbent Mayor Arthur Outlaw, for whom
the convention center is named.
o
In 1990, city
officials hired a
o
From 1992 to
1995, $176.8 million was spent on downtown projects, including $152 million in
local, state and federal funds, according to a city report. That includes $125
million just for the
effort kicked off. Big projects have totaled more
than $570 million, according to Press-Register files.
o
The String of
Pearls includes:
·
The
·
Mobile Landing, which includes of the
·
The rebirth of
·
The Arthur Outlaw
Convention Center was completed in 1993
·
Following the
building of the Cruise Ship Terminal, Carnival
Cruise Lines’ Holiday began sailing from
·
The Downtown
Mobile Alliance is a
non-profit organization established in 2006 as a partnership between the
Downtown Mobile District Management Corporation and Main Street Mobile, Inc.
o
Zimmerman/Volk
Associates wrote a housing study for the Downtown Mobile Alliance last year.
o
The state has
granted the Downtown Mobile Alliance $44.4 million in tax-exempt Gulf
Opportunity Zone Act bonds – PR 7/25/2007
o
Main Street Mobile is a private philanthropic organization whose focus
is the entire area within the Hank Aaron Loop.
o
The Downtown
Mobile Alliance has organized a Downtown
Living Tour.
·
The Mobile Business Improvement District (BID)
grew out of a study commissioned by Main Street Mobile, Inc. in 2002. In 2005,
a majority of the property owners and the City Council approved the formation
of the BID.
o
The Downtown Mobile District Management
Corporation (DMDMC) is the property owner-funded management organization
that coordinates services within the 75-block Business Improvement District
(BID). The BID provides district-wide security, beautification initiatives,
concierge patrols, intensive litter collection and economic development programs.
Currently, more than 1,000 BIDs exist in the
o
The BID is
supported by an assessment on property within the 75-block district. Assessment
levels are based on a sliding scale, depending on value as determined by the
County Revenue Commissioner. Owner-occupied, single-family property is exempt
and property owned by a 501(c)(3) designated nonprofit
organization are eligible for a 50 percent reduction. Average annual
assessments are $1234.35.
·
Laid out in the
18th and 19th centuries, downtown lots were meant for relatively small
buildings. Today, it's not uncommon to have one block cut into 10 or more small
parcels. But most developers today need at least half a block to create a large
development.
·
The acres of
surface parking lots downtown are one target for development. Consultants who
have studied
o
John and Winifred McMillan own more
than 15 parcels downtown, most of them parking lots marked with distinctive
yellow signs and chains. The lots are now being leased by Central Parking. That
company, based in
o
A report was
commissioned by the Downtown Mobile Alliance, says the city has a bad deal with
Central Parking Corp. In 2003, when Central Parking briefly handled
ticket-writing, downtown business owners protested because the company's
yellow-jacketed "parking diplomats" were handing out nearly 100 tickets
every weekday. Then-Mayor Mike Dow reacted by hiring retired police officers to
write tickets, and giving them unofficial marching orders to not work as hard
as the diplomats. – PR 7/23/2007
·
Source:“Big Buildings, Big Challenges”, Jeff Amy, PR 3/12/2007
Downtown Development
·
The city of
o
The planning
area is bordered on the east by the
o
Project manager
Dan Dealy, of DSD Services Group in
o
Mayor Sam Jones
said that three major downtown landowners have been in discussions with
developers, but none are prepared to move forward with any deals until the city
adopts a downtown plan.
o
This will be the
city's first plan for downtown
·
Downtown Mobile Investment Report – Oct. 2007
·
Out-of-town
developers are increasingly interested in working in downtown
·
Recently
renovated and reopened downtown buildings include the
·
Besides the land
bought for RSA, developers have assembled whole blocks for a new FBI building
and a new Social Security building in the last decade.
·
o
The owners of
the 170-room Radisson Admiral Semmes Hotel on
o
Two Renaissance
brand hotels on
o
A planned
seven-story 150-room Hampton Inn & Suites at the corner of Royal and Conti
streets will be opening in summer 2008 according to developer Mike Cowart of
Cowart Hospitality Services in
·
About 1,500
people live inside the Hank Aaron Loop, including residents of the
neighborhoods.
o
Residents moving
to downtown
·
Water Street Landing:
o
Millennium
o
Construction
slowed after the lead developer, Jim Maloney, died. An $869,724 lien was field against
the developers by the local architect for the project, Watermark Design Group.,
and another was filed by White-Spunner Construction.
– PR 1/28/07, 7/22/07
o
In June 2007,
Sharman Egan of Lagniappe reported the project was canceled, based on
information from James Ellis, president of MDi media,
the marketing firm representing the developer. On July 22, the Press-Register
reported the project was still on track, quoting the lead partner, James Bostick. On Aug. 28, Egan reported that Millennium Pacific
Icon Group had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. – Egan, Lagniappe, 8/22/07; PR
1/28/07, PR 7/22/07 Website. Old Website.
o
In June 2008, PR
reported the project had been canceled, and the property put up for sale for
$2.25 million. The property is in "receivership" in the Superior
Court in
o
Mobile County
Commissioner Steve Nodine said Thursday that he
thinks the city and county should work together to buy the property and put the
planned Mardi Gras park there. The city plans to put
the Mardi Gras park on the old Mobile County
Courthouse land on
·
o
Before that park
can be built, county commissioners said that the city needs to help the county
move forward on the proposed Probate Courthouse being held up by the city’s
Architectural Review Board. The city's denied the
county permission to construct its Probate Court building next to
o
The building --
which will house the Probate Court along with offices for the license and
revenue commissioners -- originally was supposed to cost $19.5 million, but
commissioners said that has risen as the price of construction materials has
increased in recent years.
o
In 2002, when
Mayor Sam Jones was on the
o
Nodine said the county was not in a financial position to
spend $1.2 million on the park. He said he would rather spend money on parks in
the western part of the county, outside the city limits. Beyond city and county contributions, plus
$1.3 million already pledged by the Hearin-Chandler
Foundation, Jones said he hoped to persuade leaders of the Mobile Carnival
Association to help raise the rest of the money from private sources.
·
·
Terry Hillery, a
·
Law firm Lyons,
Pipes & Cook, for example, has either completed or nearly completed four
downtown renovation projects totaling more than $1.5 million using accelerated
depreciation, another benefit of the Gulf Opportunity Act, said Cooper Thurber,
president. Accelerated depreciation translates into big tax deductions for
property owners like the law firm. "It was of greater benefit to us,"
Thurber said. Lyons, Pipes & Cook's holdings include about a fourth of the
downtown block at the southeast corner of Royal and Dauphin streets, and had
originally proposed a parking garage and retail complex there, Thurber said.
Those plans are indefinitely on hold due to skyrocketing construction costs,
but the property could be developed if a feasible plan is presented, he
said. – PR 8/12/07
·
Mobile Public Space Action Plan
Downtown Skyscrapers
|
Height |
Floors |
Year |
|
|
|
227.1 m |
35 |
2007 |
|
|
129.0 m |
34 |
1969 |
|
Adam's |
114.0 m |
28 |