A local developer wants to build a nine-acre, four-state hotel and convention center near Gulf State Park. The 170 million dollar beachfront complex would have a bowling alley, dinner theatre, two hotels and a state-of-the-art conference center. City leaders say the Winfield would rival the Beau Rivage as the Gulf Coast’s premier properties and would create more than a thousand new jobs.
“It will bring in 800 temporary construction jobs for two years and 300 full-time positions,” says Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon. “They should be fairly well-paid jobs, we’re talking about a four-star convention center.”
Pascagoula police on Monday were investigating three weekend robberies, including one in which the victim was knocked unconscious, a spokesman said.
On Friday at 10:22 p.m., an Orange Beach, Ala., woman stopped at the 3 G’s convenience store at 5725 Telephone Road to ask for directions to Singing River Hospital. A man approached her and offered his assistance, but the woman refused his help, police said.
The man forcibly took her wallet and fled, police said. He was described as black, about 6 feet fall and clean-shaven, with short, curly hair.
This past year has seen more than its fair share of amazing fish and marine mammal stories coming out of Orange Beach. Last October 31st, Capt. Eddie Hall and anglers on the Shady Lady spotted about 200 Killer Whales 90 miles south of Orange Beach. On June 6th of this year, Lea Scruggs and his friends fishing on the Wahooter had a close encounter with a beaked whale about 35 miles south of Orange Beach. And now, Capt. Chip Day of Chipper’s Clipper and his fishing team spotted a Great White Shark about 40 miles southeast of Perdido Pass.
Developer K.C. Chiang and his partners will learn Tuesday whether the City Council will allow him the tax breaks he needs to finance plans for a 500-room Gulf-front hotel and convention center.
Two weeks ago, the council unanimously approved designs for Wyndham & Winfield Resort Hotel and Convention Center, which call for a pair of towers — one 17 stories, another 18 — convention space for 1,200, a theater, two restaurants, a 20-lane bowling alley and a 6,000-square-foot spa.
And elected officials have indicated they will also approve a tax abatement deal for Chiang to make it happen at their Tuesday meeting. That agreement will allow the developer to recoup half the sales and lodgings taxes generated at the resort for 30 years as well as levy additional taxes of up to 4 percent on the property
Looking to relieve overcrowding at its two public boat ramps, city officials said Tuesday that they were exploring the possibility of installing a launch on about five publicly owned acres on Terry Cove.
Last month the City Council voted to set aside the northwest corner of that property for a dog park, leaving more than half of the former Walker Marina unused.
chesney1Kenny Chesney is starting an online radio station called No Shoes Radio, launching at high noon on Thurs., Aug. 6. www.noshoesradio.com (not online yet) will reflect his eclectic taste, ranging from country to reggae to rock, and beyond. Drawn in large part from Chesney’s iPod, No Shoes Radio will be the ground zero for all things Kenny such as interviews with the superstar and his friends.
The station will go live from the parking lot of his tour stop in Orange Beach, Alabama at 12 noon ET. Chesney will be joined by tourmates Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum for the inaugural broadcast. That night’s Orange Beach show will be simulcast on NoShoesRadio.com.
Thirty-one condominiums sold at live auction for more than $12 million in less than an hour Saturday at Escapes! To The Shores in Orange Beach, according to The National Auction Group.
The event drew a large crowd, more than 500 , but the Gulf-front units did not seem to bring big-bucks prices, with the top bid at $600,000 for a two-story, three-bedroom penthouse on the 17th floor.
The developers, Cooper Communities based in Arkansas, had 48 of the 88 units to sell, but stopped the auction after selling the 31 units allotted for absolute sale, which means there was no minimum bid on thos
Spanish Fort BBQ Co. has leased a 2,500-square-foot building on U.S. 31 near Coleman Lane just east of Ala. 181 in Spanish Fort, and plans to open in August, according to Dane Haygood of H Proper ties , who represented the tenant. KV Properties worked for the landlord.
Snappers Lounge leased 2,400 square feet in Wolf Bay Plaza on Canal Road in Orange Beach, according to Beau Haginas of Atlas Group in Orange Beach.
Anchor Title has leased 1,500 square feet in the Coast al Bank & Trust building on Canal Road in Orange Beach, according to Donna Haginas of Atlas Group.
Founders Square developer Mike Bernhardt said he plans to start construction later this fall on 3,400 square feet of office space and a loft apartment in the second phase of his project off Section Street in Fairhope. The four gated townhomes in the first phase are sold. The 1,600-square-foot loft apartment is priced at $619,000, he said.
Developer K.C. Chiang’s designs for a high-rise Gulf-front hotel and convention center won unanimous approval from the Orange Beach City Council, but now the panel must decide if it wants to grant the developer a tax abatement worth tens of millions of dollars to see the project come to fruition.
During a two-hour public hearing Tuesday night that preceded the council’s vote on the designs, Chiang said that he and his partners need Orange Beach to share millions of dollars of revenue generated at the resort to secure their $160 million financing package.
Specifically, they are asking for half the sales and lodgings taxes for up to 30 years as well as the ability to levy additional taxes of up to 4 percent on the resort’s rooms and at its restaurants and shops.
A public forum regarding the Beach Express will be held April 28 at 6 p.m. or immediately following the 5 p.m. Orange Beach City Council committee of the whole meeting. The forum will be held at the Orange Beach Community Center and is sponsored by the Orange Beach Citizen’s Association.
Neil Belitsky, CEO of American Roads, will be the special guest. The forum will present an opportunity to find out more from the operators of the Beach Express, including toll rates, future expansion, new discount programs and more. A recap of the first quarter revenues of the city of Orange Beach will also be presented
Foley Mayor John Koniar was one of three area mayors to talk with state officials in Montgomery recently concerning the Gulf State Park convention center issue
Koniar and mayors Tony Kennon of Orange Beach and Robert Craft of Gulf Shores were in Montgomery last week talking to state officials about getting a new convention center in place, an issue that has been bogged down in legal proceedings since Gulf State Park Resort and Convention Center were dealt knockout blows by hurricanes Ivan and Katrina in 2004-2005.
According to Koniar, the three area mayors traveled to Montgomery to talk about the issue since a new hotel and convention center would be good for the area and to dispel the rumor that the three cities don’t work well together.
Some people living in Orange Beach want their neighbors to stop ’short-term renting’ their homes. For young party-goers, short-term renting is ideal for spring break. They can enjoy all the amenities of a home with little to no supervision. But those who live close to the “short-term” renters say the spring-breaker’s dream is becoming their nightmare.
Neighbors are complaining that the noise is too loud. They say some renters are even using the balcony as a bathroom.
The property once at the center of the federal government’s corruption case against former Mayor Steve Russo and later slated to host a 258-home subdivision has been foreclosed.
Probate records show that the property’s owner, Deck Investments LLC, paid almost $3.1 million for 62 acres on Canal Road and a nearby waterfront parcel on Gulf Bay Road in two separate transactions spaced about two years apart.
Deck Investment’s lender on both purchases, Vision Bank, foreclosed on both properties and later bought them at auction with a bid of $2,006,900, according to a foreclosure deed filed in Baldwin County Probate Court late last month
Drawn up seven years ago as a multifarious entertainment district that would someday boast a water park, dolphin shows, shark tanks, several hundred condos, an office complex, acres’ worth of shops and restaurants, and a convention center, Bama Bayou has instead become the latest lofty proposal dreamt up during south Baldwin County’s boom years to become bank-owned.
Vision Bank, which lent Bama Bayou’s developers $21 million, foreclosed on nearly the entire property late last month, then bought up all but a few slivers of the 144 acres at auction, probate records show.
Vision, the only bidder at auction, paid about $10.3 million for the property, or about half the total debt attached to the land, according to probate records and lawyers for both sides
With 40 percent of its work done, Orange Beach hosted a tour through the new Waste Water Treatment Plant Wednesday to show residents what its municipality is doing to enhance the city.
When finished the new treatment plant will have two 2 1/2 million gallon tanks and one 5 million gallon tank. There is also space and the possibility of adding another 5 million gallon tank if needed.
