MLILY Mattresses in Mobile, AL

A new mixed-use development in downtown Mobile will wrap a hotel, restaurants, bars, offices, homes and storefronts into one riverfront location, city officials announced today.

“What I see this doing is really changing the image of the city,” Mayor Sandy Stimpson said at the project unveiling on Wednesday morning. “When people drive down Water Street and they see this hotel as they come up the river, they’re going to be impressed.”

The project, known as River Walk Plaza, is a development planned by the city, Kessler Capital and Burton Property Group. It’s expected to break ground in 2025.

An exact price tag hasn’t been provided, but Phillip Burton, president and CEO of the Burton Property Group, estimated that the project will cost “north of $100 million.”

Mobile-based Burton Property has had its hands on many projects and properties in the area, including the South Alabama Logistics Park, the BB&T Centre, the Walmart Supercenter at Airport Boulevard and Schillinger Road and the Foley Square shopping center.

“The ultimate goal here is to be the catalyst to activate the waterfront and giving unfettered access to the water, allowing people to walk from our site, enjoy a beverage grab dinner and walk down to Cooper Riverside,” Burton said.

According to developers, the property is the only available site in downtown Mobile that can “truly connect the downtown entertainment district to the waterfront.”

“All ladies who have a string of pearls would love to see it offset by a big diamond. Am I right, ladies?” Stimpson said. “This is the diamond for downtown.”

The project began when Mobile requested proposals for a potential development at the waterfront property that’s located next to the Mobile Convention Center.

Hospitality developer Kessler Capital has been involved in projects such as the Grand Bohemian Hotel line, which has an Alabama location in Mountain Brook, and Plant Riverside, a riverfront entertainment district in Savannah, Georgia, according to Burton. Gray Reece, an Alabama native experienced in designing luxury hotels, is the architect working with the developer.

“When we go into cities, we’re looking for places where tourists want to come, but also where the leadership of the city is committed to making a better experience for its residents and its locals,” said Laura Kessler, president of Kessler Capital. “Mayor Simpson and your city council and all the members here really have the best interests of the locals at heart, which is really important to us as we do projects.”

River Walk Plaza is expected to provide access for cars and pedestrians over Water Street and the train tracks in front of the property. In addition to the entertainment potential, developers said they also plan to include state-of-the-art office space and condos. Developers said they are still in the early planning stages and will adjust plans based on stakeholder feedback.

They dig the Pig, in Mobile.

That much was made abundantly clear on Thursday, as the grand opening of the city’s newest grocery store, a massive Piggly Wiggly at the intersection of University and Airport boulevards, turned into a gala occasion. It was purely a ceremonial opening, as customers have had several weeks to explore the store since a soft opening in mid-December, so you’d think some of the novelty would have worn off.

But no: Thursday’s ribbon-cutting was attended by a host of elected official and candidates, Chamber of Commerce folk and enough customers to fill the substantial parking lot. Azalea Trail Maids roamed the aisles, partaking of the free food samples being served up by vendors. A portion of the University of South Alabama Marching Band provided music, and USA Provost Andi Kent got a tour of the store’s café area, the University Room, from co-owner Kamal Constantine.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said he was thrilled to have the store occupying a highly visible but long-vacant property at one of Mobile’s most heavily traveled intersections. He joked that the city also appreciated the tax revenue it would generate. County Commissioner Connie Hudson said that on a personal level, she loved the extra-wide aisles. “It seems like a small thing but it’s really a big thing,” she said.

Constantine said he and partner David White own 15 Piggly Wiggly stores, with locations as far away as Mount Vernon and Foley. Many are in underserved areas; the new one at 306 S. University Blvd. isn’t the first big showplace to bear the brand’s name – Fairhope has one comparable in size and style – but Constantine said this one is a declaration.

“We have 10 stores in Mobile, in the inner city, on the outskirts of the city,” he said. “This is in the heart of the city. I wanted to make a statement that we’re going to be as local, as good as any other grocery store. What separates us from other grocery stores is, we’re local. We are here. Our banking, our homes, we live here, our kids go to school here. That’s all important to me.”

Mobile does have another locally based chain, Greer’s, but the market is full of regional and national players as well, including Publix, Aldi, Winn-Dixie (now owned by Aldi), Walmart, Rouses and Fresh Market.

Constantine said that what really sets this store apart is the prominent floor space given to local partner businesses. One prime example is a large counter and table display featuring candy and cakes from Mobile-based Three Georges Fine Southern Chocolates. Three Georges owner Scott Gonzalez previously told AL.com that he expects this “store within a store” to sell more of the company’s products than its classic downtown soda fountain location.

Near the Three Georges display was a space occupied by Naman’s International Foods, with ready-to-eat and heat-and-eat options above and beyond those found in the nearby Piggly Wiggly deli area. Restaurateur and caterer Alec Naman, a figure so highly regarded in Mobile that he found himself getting a steady stream of requests for selfies with customers, said the in-store presence had gotten “amazing” response since the soft opening.

“The store is very unique,” he said. “We see people who come to us just to get dinner, at night-time, that don’t necessarily need to shop. But we also have those that are using their time in the store to get their groceries too.”

Farther back in the store, Bill E. Stitt was frying up samples of the gourmet small-batch bacon he cures at his Fairhope restaurant, Bill E.’s. He said he loved the treatment he was getting as a local producer. “They’ve got me here, and there, and over by the tenderloin,” he said, pointing at various display cases. “I couldn’t be happier.”

“I think it’s wonderful,” Stitt said of the restaurant. “It’s a family company that’s all Mobile, that is just doing everything they can to bring quality to the neighborhood. I think it’s going to be more than a grocery store. I think it’s going to be where the locals want to hang out.”

There are other partners, whose brands aren’t necessarily as well known as Three Georges and Naman.

“I wanted to encourage local businesses, entrepreneurs, to start businesses here, and to make sure that they succeed, and if they succeed, I succeed,” Constantine said. “You know, when you help people go up, you just go up with them.”

New customers also may notice some house brands, such as Flying Pig Coffee Co. and Pigfish Seafood.

“Our seafood has become very big” since the soft opening, Constantine said. “We have done five times what we projected to do. Because it’s all fresh, we make sure it’s all fresh.”

Another prominent feature of the store is faith. Biblical quotes adorn the walls here and there, including a quote of Matthew 22:37-39 above an employee service entrance. “To God Be The Glory” is lettered prominently over a wall of coolers.

Alan Floyd, lead pastor at Cottage Hill Baptist Church, touched on it during a blessing before the ribbon cutting. “We’re grateful and we’re excited about this new place of business,” he said. “May it be a place that feeds this community, giving physical nourishment as well as spiritual nourishment.”

Constantine made a point of singling out several employees for their work to get the store open. “We get the credit, but we have a huge team who support us,” he said.

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In 1969, the same year that Mobilians Cleon Jones, Amos Otis and Tommy Agee patrolled the outfield for the Amazin’ Mets and their run to the world championship, Willie McCovey was terrorizing pitchers throughout the National League.

“No one wanted to pitch to him that year,” said Cleon Jones, recalling McCovey’s MVP season in which he led the National League in home runs, RBIs, on-base and slugging percentages. McCovey, a Mobile native, was a first baseman for the San Francisco Giants. Also slugging home runs that season was Hank Aaron, also a Mobile native, whose Braves would play the Mets in that season’s National League Championship Series.

“I’ve been (asked) all around this country (about the MLB and NFL greats) ...how do you get these kind of players from a small city like Mobile?” Jones said on Wednesday. “Hank Aaron used to say, ‘It’s in the water.’”

Soon, the statues of the hall of famers will be erected near Mobile’s waterfront. A groundbreaking ceremony for the approximately $9 million project took place on Wednesday adjacent to the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center, where the plaza will be constructed.

“It’s really about us being able to recognize those who brought recognition to the city,” Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said.

Jones called the development a “dream” of his to recognize Mobile’s unique contribution to Major League Baseball – the city, per capita, has the most homegrown members inducted into the MLB Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.: Aaron, McCovey, Satchel Paige, Billy Williams and Ozzie Smith.

All five of those baseball greats will be joined by National Football League Hall of Famer and Mobilian Robert Brazile Jr. as the representatives of Heroes Plaza. Nine-foot-tall bronze statues those six Hall of Famers, currently being made by Michigan sculptor Brett Grill, will be installed in Heroes Plaza once it opens approximately this time next year.

The statues will be placed on pedestals. A seventh pedestal, sans a statue, will also be built to allow people to have their picture taken standing amid the Hall of Famers from Mobile.

Brazile, the only Hall of Famer at the groundbreaking, seemed to be elated over the project. He was accompanied to the groundbreaking with his 91-year-old parents, Ola Mae and Robert Sr.

Brazile, a linebacker once nicknamed “Dr. Doom,” played for the NFL’s Houston Oilers from 1975-1984.

“I want to cry,’ he said. “I’ll have a 9-foot-tall statue (of me) that my grandkids and all of the people who know me and what Mobile has done for me … it’s such an honor for me.”

Heroes Plaza will also serve as an entry point to Cooper Riverside Park, where the city envisions hosting more community events and concerts.

It will also be within a short walking distance to the RSA Battle House Tower, where the Mobile Sports Hall of Fame board of directors is hopeful to add an interactive exhibit honoring professional athletes who came from Mobile.

The Mobile County Commission voted on Nov. 13, to appropriate $300,000 to support the museum contingent on matching support from the Mobile City Council. The city could be asked to pitch in an additional $500,000 to support the project.

Stimpson told AL.com that the Hall of Fame representatives have been in contact with the Mobile City Council about the project.

“Once they get the city council on board, we’ll pursue that,” Stimpson said.

Stimpson and Brazile credited Jones, a member of the Mets Hall of Fame, for driving the Heroes Plaza concept. Jones, however, has a vision of recognizing even more former professional stars from Mobile with a concept that he calls “Field of Dreams.”

Stimpson said there are talks about adding a display recognizing additional sports stars from Mobile – including the 1969 Mets outfield. But he said there is no final plan developed.

“We’ve had a couple of ideas on how to display it,” he said. “We’re trying to determine how we properly represent it.”

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Elected officials and business leaders celebrated the opening of Mobile’s new Topgolf facility on Friday morning, describing it as a “talent attractor” that will boost the city’s efforts to build its economy and its workforce.

“We don’t normally go out and recruit businesses like this to come to Mobile,” said Bradley Byrne, president and CEO of the Mobile Chamber. “But this is so important. We all agree, we recruited this business to come to Mobile because it is so important for the quality of our life. It’s so important for the development of our economy and this is a major talent attractor. And we’re in the business of attracting talent because we got plenty of jobs for people. We need more talent.”

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson and County Commissioner Randall Deuitt readily seconded the sentiment.

“We’ve got a lot of ribbon cuttings, but this one is so unique,” said Stimpson. “We’re just very, very fortunate. Nobody does it quite like Topgolf. And I can remember probably started conversations about Topgolf five years ago.” He credited developer John Whitson for coming up with a workable plan, “And then because of the support of the city council and the county commission with incentive money, he was able to figure out how to make all this work,” Stimpson said.

In August, the Mobile City Council and the Mobile County Commission each endorsed $1.25 million incentive packages for the $22 million project.

Deuitt said he’d wanted a Topgolf for Mobile since the first time he visited one.

“It’s been a dream or a desire of mine to have one in Mobile because this adds to everything that Mobile is doing,” the commissioner said. “Like Bradley said, we’re trying to attract talent. We have jobs that we need to fill. And along with those jobs, you have got to have a source of entertaining people’s families if you want them to live and thrive in your community. So that’s, that’s why this was very important, not only for that, but it gives Mobile a destination for people who are traveling. People will actually plan their Disney trips from Texas to stop at Topgolf in Mobile now and spend the night here. So that’s important to us.”

The facility, at 1250 Satchel Paige Drive, sits in a corner of the McGowan Park Shopping Center at the intersection of Interstate 65 and U.S. 90, with its high-rise netting plainly visible from the interstate. It is the third Topgolf facility in the state, joining sites in Huntsville and Birmingham.

Director of operations Brian Walsh said that the state’s newest Topgolf facility, with two decks and 60 hitting bays, isn’t its largest. But “We have the latest and greatest technology,” he said.

The facility also has an extensive indoor-outdoor bar and restaurant area and a mini-golf course among its features. Such amenities, plus “year-round family-friendly programming” help the facility pitch itself as a “prime spot for team outings, family gatherings, meetings or really anything Players are looking to celebrate.”

But the main attraction doubtless will be the climate-controlled hitting bays, from which golfers can take aim at a field dotted with bullseyes. According to promotional materials, golfers can “take aim at giant targets on the field while playing virtual courses or Topgolf’s signature games like ‘Angry Birds.’”

On the serious side, “Toptracer” technology “traces each golf ball’s flight path, distance and other metrics,” giving serious-minded players data on what’s going on with their game.

Dignitaries at Friday’s ribbon cutting had a mixed view on trying it all out. “I don’t know how to play golf and I’m gonna go out there and swing away, trust me, because you don’t have to be a great golfer to come here and have fun,” said Byrne.

“The last time I played golf is when they opened Timber Creek,” said Stimpson. “I got home and I told Jean, I said, ‘There are other things I can do to humiliate myself other than swinging at a golf ball.’ So if you see me swinging, you better take a picture of it.”

“Not only should you take a picture if you see him swing, but make sure you duck,” advised Deuitt.

For full information on the facility, visit topgolf.com/us/mobile.

Nestled along the shores of the Gulf of Mexico, Mobile, Alabama, offers a unique blend of Southern charm, rich history, and vibrant culture. With its proximity to the water, residents can enjoy various outdoor activities, from boating and fishing to relaxing on the beautiful beaches. Mobile also boasts a thriving arts scene, with numerous galleries, theaters, and music venues, making it a haven for creatives and art enthusiasts. Whether you’re searching for homes for sale in Mobile, looking for an apartment to rent, or want to learn more about the area, this Redfin article will dive into what Mobile is known for.

1. Historic architecture

Mobile is known for its historic architecture, beautiful homes, and grand oak-lined streets. The city’s rich history is reflected in its well-preserved buildings, such as the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion and the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, attracting history enthusiasts and architecture fans from all over.

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Mobile is the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the United States, known for its vibrant and colorful celebrations. The annual parades, elaborate costumes, and lively street parties make Mobile a popular destination for revelers looking to experience the festive spirit of Mardi Gras outside of New Orleans.

3. Seafood cuisine

Renowned for its delectable seafood cuisine, Mobile showcases the region’s coastal flavors through fresh Gulf Coast seafood served in local restaurants and markets. The city’s culinary scene features diverse seafood dishes, ranging from succulent shrimp and oysters to mouthwatering crab and fish, providing a flavorful exploration of the Gulf’s bounty.

4. Port City heritage

Evident in its maritime heritage, Mobile is a historic port city, showcasing a rich nautical history and a deep connection to the sea. A must-visit for maritime enthusiasts and history buffs, the city’s waterfront and museums pay homage to its seafaring past, captivatingly exploring Mobile’s maritime legacy.

5. Azalea City

Mobile is affectionately known as the “Azalea City” due to its stunning azalea blooms that paint the city in vibrant hues during the spring. The annual Azalea Trail Run and the Azalea Festival celebrate the city’s natural beauty, attracting visitors who appreciate the picturesque landscapes and floral displays.

6. Historic battlefields

Steeped in Civil War history, Mobile commemorates its role in the conflict through numerous historic battlefields and sites. For history enthusiasts, exploring these significant landmarks like the USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park offers a profound opportunity better to understand Mobile’s place in the nation’s history.

If you are represented by an agent, this is not a solicitation of your business. This article is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for professional advice from a medical provider, licensed attorney, financial advisor, or tax professional. Consumers should independently verify any agency or service mentioned will meet their needs. Learn more about our Editorial Guidelines here.

Ana is part of the content marketing team and enjoys writing about home improvement and life & style. Her dream house would be a Mediterranean style home featuring expansive windows.

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