Flotte's Notes on Mobile Alabama Neighborhoods

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

Mobile Neighborhoods

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 Mobile: Church Street East, DeTonti Square, Oakleigh Garden District, Old Dauphin Way, Leinkauf, Ashland Place and Midtown.

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

3-D Downtown Map

Downtown Business Improvement District Map

Walk About City

Land Use Map

Mobile County Revenue Commissioner (Tax Assessor)

Downtown Attraction Map

Areas of Minority Concentration, 2000 Census

Low Income Areas

City of Mobile Historic Districts Map

Downtown/ Business District

· 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 Maryland planner named Bert Winterbottom, now deceased, to come up with a plan. That plan was unveiled with much fanfare before a crowd of 1,500 at the Mobile Civic Center Theater in early 1992. At the time, the plan pegged the price of overhauling downtown at $100 million.

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 Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center and Government Plaza. Miller said he thinks $1 billion has been invested downtown since the redevelopment effort kicked off. Big projects have totaled more than $570 million, according to Press-Register files.

o The String of Pearls includes:

· The Battle House Project

· Mobile Landing, which includes of the Arthur Outlaw Convention Center and the Cruise Ship Terminal, the approval of the soon to be constructed Maritime Museum of the Gulf of Mexico, a ferry service across Mobile Bay, and condominium and retail areas.

· The rebirth of Dauphin Street, Mobile's historic commercial corridor.

· The Arthur Outlaw Convention Center was completed in 1993

· Following the building of the Cruise Ship Terminal, Carnival Cruise Lines’ Holiday began sailing from Mobile in 2004. The 1452-passenger ship, that makes four- and five-day trips to Cozumel and the Western Caribbean, brings more than 120,000 tourists to the city per year and has a potential $20 million annual impact on Mobile.

· 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 United States.

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 Mobile say that the parking lots are bad for efforts to create a lively downtown. Parking lots, though they help support nearby activities, don't generate much activity themselves.

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 Nashville, Tenn., operates 35 parking lots and garages downtown. McMillan said she and her husband got into the parking business in search of extra income when one of their children was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis. She said her husband, who now has Alzheimer's disease, was able work at the post office in the morning and attend to the parking lots in the evening. Almost every week, McMillan said, she gets a letter or a phone call from someone who wants to buy part of her property. She's not inclined to sell.

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 Mobile has hired EDSA planning firm of Fort Lauderdale, Fla. to create a new comprehensive plan for the downtown area and surrounding neighborhoods. The city will spend $400,000 for the plan, and it should be finished in late 2008. – PR 1/1/08, 1/31/08

o The planning area is bordered on the east by the Mobile River, to the south by Interstate 10 and Duval Street, to the west by Houston Street and to the north by Three Mile Creek and the neighborhoods north of Martin Luther King Avenue.

o Project manager Dan Dealy, of DSD Services Group in Mobile, said the plan could include suggestions on zoning changes or overlay districts, which are areas that have their own, separate land-use rules. It could also suggest things such as park improvements, road repaving, new street signs or even enhanced police presence.

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 Mobile since 1996. That plan was never adopted by the City Council, so its recommendations were never made part of the city's budgeting process

· Downtown Mobile Investment Report – Oct. 2007

· Out-of-town developers are increasingly interested in working in downtown Mobile and with the construction of the RSA Tower downtown, Mobile is becoming an attractive "two-tier" city to out-of-state firms according to realtors.

· Recently renovated and reopened downtown buildings include the GM&O Building, the Convent of Mercy, the Battle House, Mattress Factory condominium on Dauphin Street and the St. Louis Lofts in the former Mobile Fixture building.

· 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.

· Mobile is hurting for new or updated hotel rooms, according to Leon Maisel, president of the Mobile Bay Convention & Visitors Bureau. By spring 2008, there will be more than 1,000 hotel rooms downtown for conventions. There are about 6,000 hotel rooms citywide.

o The owners of the 170-room Radisson Admiral Semmes Hotel on Government Street are planning the addition of 200 rooms on land behind the hotel.

o Two Renaissance brand hotels on Royal Street: the 250-room Battle House Hotel, and the 375-room Riverview Plaza, which is undergoing a $60 million renovation were completed in 2007. Both are owned by an affiliate of the Retirement Systems of Alabama

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 Birmingham. The owner-developers are the Edmonds family based in Brent, Ala., who own a chain of hotels and restaurants.

· About 1,500 people live inside the Hank Aaron Loop, including residents of the Church Street East and De Tonti Square neighborhoods.

o Residents moving to downtown Mobile would fill more than 250 housing units a year for at least five years if developers could build them, according to a 2006 study commissioned by the Downtown Mobile Alliance.

· Water Street Landing:

o Millennium Mobile, a Pasadena, California-based development company owned by the Yi family, planned an $80 million 239-unit condominium development with 60,000 square feet of retail space at the foot of Government Street at the site of the CSX building. They paid CSX Railway $1.8 million for 1.6 acres. Andew Oliver, a Mobile native, first introduced the downtown riverside condo project in 2004. It was later revealed that Oliver had a criminal record, including a conviction in connection with a bank robbery and murder in Georgia in 1965. Oliver offered to step aside if his involvement would hurt the project.

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 Los Angeles County, Calif., according to Bruce McGowin of Hand Arendall in Mobile, the local representative for Millennium. – PR 6/20/08

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 Government Street, which Nodine has said he wants used for a condo or retail project. – PR 6/20/08

· County Courthouse Site: The city of Mobile earmarked $1.2 million for a Mardi Gras-themed park on the county-owned site of the former county courthouse, and will ask the county to match that amount. Jones said the total cost of the park is projected at $5 million to $6 million. – PR 10/29/07

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 Government Plaza because its design does not fit the standards of the Church Street East Historic District in which it would dwell. Commission President Stephen Nodine said that any deal on the park would be contingent on a compromise that would allow the county to start work on the Probate Court building.

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 County Commission, the body voted to build a park on the land. When Jones was replaced by Juan Chastang in 2005, Chastang said he wanted the land to be the site of a condominium development that would help bring more residents downtown. Nodine said he found the proposal worth considering. Jones had proposed swapping the courthouse site for land around the Civic Center. After Chastang left office, the idea for a condominium on that property lost steam. Dean said he was never very fond of it to begin with, and Nodine said earlier this year that the land should be used for a park.

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.

· Birmingham developer Mike Cowart has a contract to purchase half an acre at the corner of Conti and Royal streets and plans to build a 7-story hotel there, he confirmed. The Irving Ripps family owns the land and the purchase should be final by next spring, according to Gordon Ripps, a Realtor with Ono Professional Partners. Cowart also has a contract to buy a parking lot owned by the Meaher family at the corner of Government and Royal streets, according to Cowart. The Meaher land would be used for hotel parking. – PR 10/1/06

· Terry Hillery, a Boston developer with roots in Mobile, had originally planned to use the bonds to finance a seafood shipping business and office renovation in a pair of historic properties he owns, but those plans have changed, he said. Hillery is now considering turning his building at 355 St. Michael St. into a residence for himself, and a building on St. Francis Street on the market for potential condos. They were originally slated to be offices. – PR 8/12/07

· 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

Name	Height	Floors	Year
RSA Battle House Tower	227.1 m	35	2007
AmSouth Bank Building	129.0 m	34	1969
Adam's Mark Hotel	114.0 m	28