Mobile Development Thread

[nimsjus]

Two articles from the PR today...
The first is about the Port Authority nering completion at Arlington Park
http://www.al.com/business/press-register/index.ssf?/base/business/1238059032296030.xml&coll=3
The second is about temporary scale backs at TK. They have decided not to fully complete their dock/unloading facility. Since they postponed the complete opening of the plant by a year, they felt like they could put off completion of 2 out of the 5 planned berths.
http://www.al.com/business/press-register/index.ssf?/base/business/1238058935296030.xml&coll=3

[nimsjus]

Lagniappe has been reporting on this situation for months, but now that the council and others are involved the PR has a story on the noise situation between a local bar and a downtown resident. Because of the situation, William Carroll has basically promised a noise ordinance downtown. It looks as though public opinion is strongly on the side of the bar. Most people seem to have the common sense to understand that if you live in downtown on Dauphin that there might be some noise late at night. I think this noise ordinance is a terible idea. Developers and people looking to move downtown need to respect the fact that our entertainment district is the only thing that got our current renaissance going. They were the only ones brave enough to invest in downtown when everyone else was fleeing to the suburbs. I think their right to be down there should be protected over new residents. Developers and residents should look to other areas of downtown for residential properties and Dauphin Street should be left to bars, restaurants, and shops.

[nimsjus]

I had heard this the other night at a party and we have speculated that it would happen for a long time, but Namans is officially closing the market. I loved the food there and I thought it brought a much needed option to Mobile and the Midtown area. The economy seems to have done them in according to Naman. I thought the food was slightly over priced, but I was willing to pay a little extra because I appreciated what they were doing by rennovating an old building in an up and coming area, bringing in a nice deli/meat and three and a locally owned market into a great area of town with alot of potential. It definitely seemed like the reataurant did much better than the grocery side of the market. Hopefully when the economy gets back on track someone else will take a chance on this location.

[Electrical Porpoise]

Originally Posted by nimsjus

I loved the food there and I thought it brought a much needed option to Mobile and the Midtown area. The economy seems to have done them in according to Naman. I thought the food was slightly over priced, but I was willing to pay a little extra because I appreciated what they were doing by rennovating an old building in an up and coming area, bringing in a nice deli/meat and three and a locally owned market into a great area of town with alot of potential.

I liked the store and hopefully they get another shot somewhere. The problem was it was too fancy for that area and Mr. Naman grew up with and caters to the same people that shop at the Fresh Market. He was fighting an uphill battle.

[MobileLSUboy2005]

can someone go on Google Maps and look at mobile, specifically West Mobile, and figure out what the hell all the names of areas that are listed are? They look like census designated places, but ive lived there 20 years, and none of those places EXIST! they arent even neighborhood names or street names! for example, my neighborhood of Lamplighter on Grelot is listed as Thornhill....wtf? and the whole block between airport, hillcrest, grelot, and university is listed as Berkleigh....yahoo maps has the same thing.....

anyone know where these names really come from, and if there is a way to let google know that its crap?

[Scottybo]

Originally Posted by MobileLSUboy2005

can someone go on Google Maps and look at mobile, specifically West Mobile, and figure out what the hell all the names of areas that are listed are? They look like census designated places, but ive lived there 20 years, and none of those places EXIST! they arent even neighborhood names or street names! for example, my neighborhood of Lamplighter on Grelot is listed as Thornhill....wtf? and the whole block between airport, hillcrest, grelot, and university is listed as Berkleigh....yahoo maps has the same thing.....

anyone know where these names really come from, and if there is a way to let google know that its crap?

They actually are the neighborhood names...though I'd always considered the "Berkleigh" area as Pinehurst.

Thornhill

Berkleigh

Though, I also just randomly noticed that Bit & Spur turns into Dilston Lane, Tanner Williams Road, Old Shell Road, then Tanner Williams again and finally Old Shell again.

[Bayside]

Originally Posted by nimsjus

Lagniappe has been reporting on this situation for months, but now that the council and others are involved the PR has a story on the noise situation between a local bar and a downtown resident. Because of the situation, William Carroll has basically promised a noise ordinance downtown. It looks as though public opinion is strongly on the side of the bar. Most people seem to have the common sense to understand that if you live in downtown on Dauphin that there might be some noise late at night. I think this noise ordinance is a terible idea. Developers and people looking to move downtown need to respect the fact that our entertainment district is the only thing that got our current renaissance going. They were the only ones brave enough to invest in downtown when everyone else was fleeing to the suburbs. I think their right to be down there should be protected over new residents. Developers and residents should look to other areas of downtown for residential properties and Dauphin Street should be left to bars, restaurants, and shops.

Personally, I think they should rezone that block and keep bars out of that area. Perhaps ban bars from the Cathedral down to Washington St. There should be zoning to separate entertainment from residential. Otherwise, complaints will continue. Rather than noise ordinances there should be zoning ordinances. Zone on a block by block basis if needed.

[nimsjus]

Originally Posted by Bayside

Personally, I think they should rezone that block and keep bars out of that area. Perhaps ban bars from the Cathedral down to Washington St. There should be zoning to separate entertainment from residential. Otherwise, complaints will continue. Rather than noise ordinances there should be zoning ordinances. Zone on a block by block basis if needed.

I definitely agree there needs to be zoning ordinances, however I feel like Dauphin should be business/comercial from the water to Broad. There are several other succesful bars and restaurants between the Cathedral and Washington that have not caused any problems that woudl be affected by this too. The city has spent the last two decades marketing Dauphin as Mobile's entertainment district. Now they want to go back and place restrictions on that. I feel like that is alot of time and effort wasted if you are going to come back and restrict what goes on. NO doesnt have these types of limits on Bourbon and niether does Memphis with Beale St. There are still single family homes with yards and driveways in downtown that are still in disrepair along with tons of empty buildings. I wish they would work on residential options in these areas before messing up things in our up and coming entertainment district.

[Scottybo]

Was looking through WKRG's User Submitted Pictures and stumbled upon this skyline pic with the USS Alabama in the foreground. If only it were bigger....

[Bayside]

Originally Posted by nimsjus

I definitely agree there needs to be zoning ordinances, however I feel like Dauphin should be business/comercial from the water to Broad. There are several other succesful bars and restaurants between the Cathedral and Washington that have not caused any problems that woudl be affected by this too. The city has spent the last two decades marketing Dauphin as Mobile's entertainment district. Now they want to go back and place restrictions on that. I feel like that is alot of time and effort wasted if you are going to come back and restrict what goes on. NO doesnt have these types of limits on Bourbon and niether does Memphis with Beale St. There are still single family homes with yards and driveways in downtown that are still in disrepair along with tons of empty buildings. I wish they would work on residential options in these areas before messing up things in our up and coming entertainment district.

I drove down Dauphin Street this morning and see that with the exception of the Mardi Gras bar (or whatever the name of the troublesome bar in the news is) there are no bars or eateries between Franklin and Warren streets. There are, though, several condominiums. I see no reason to infiltrate noisy late night bars and bands into this small neighborhood. Between Warren and Broad (Wintzel's area) you find another district distinctly different from the one between Royal and Franklin streets.

I say let the people who live in the four-block area between Franklin and Warren live in peace, and encourage more residential to the north and south of this area. Nimsjus, take a closer look next time you are downtown and let me know what you think.

[SouthSky]

Two Airport related stories today...

Delta adds Two Flights to Mobile Regional... However, that addition only increases capacity 2%
http://www.al.com/business/press-register/index.ssf?/base/business/1238591689320790.xml&coll=3

The Mobile Airport Authority gets some ink in Airport Business magazine
http://www.airportbusiness.com/publication/article.jsp?pubId=1&id=26377

[10101000]

Great news South Sky! Thanks

[Alxx611]

I'm pretty sure Alabama Music Box has been in its location in some form or another long before those condos were built, but correct me if I'm wrong.

I still say the condo owners need to deal with what they invested in, which is downtown living-noise,people, debauchery. They're on freakin Lower Dauphin Street. If anything, most downtown residents in other cities have to deal with much more noise, this is nothing.

[Bayside]

Originally Posted by Alxx611

I'm pretty sure Alabama Music Box has been in its location in some form or another long before those condos were built, but correct me if I'm wrong.

I still say the condo owners need to deal with what they invested in, which is downtown living-noise,people, debauchery. They're on freakin Lower Dauphin Street. If anything, most downtown residents in other cities have to deal with much more noise, this is nothing.

I see your point. We should discourage development of residential living space in downtown Mobile in favor of more bars and debauchery.

[10101000]

Move it elsewhere, you need more residence in that area.

[CottonCity251]

Originally Posted by (Tim)

Move it elsewhere, you need more residence in that area.

I agree.

[spookyapp]

Not sure if anyone already posted this, but Mobile was recently named #60 on the list of Best Places for Business and Careers.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/1/bizplaces09_Mobile-AL_2495.html

[nimsjus]

Originally Posted by Bayside

I drove down Dauphin Street this morning and see that with the exception of the Mardi Gras bar (or whatever the name of the troublesome bar in the news is) there are no bars or eateries between Franklin and Warren streets. There are, though, several condominiums. I see no reason to infiltrate noisy late night bars and bands into this small neighborhood. Between Warren and Broad (Wintzel's area) you find another district distinctly different from the one between Royal and Franklin streets.

I say let the people who live in the four-block area between Franklin and Warren live in peace, and encourage more residential to the north and south of this area. Nimsjus, take a closer look next time you are downtown and let me know what you think.

If you take a look at the area you are discussing, the only successful businesses are Alabama Music Box (which was formerly the super successful Soul Kitchen-one of the city's best live music venues) and The Corner Bar (which just expanded due to its popularity). While the corner bar is new, the other bar has been something successful for going on 15 years now without creating an issue. Now take a look at the residential in that section. The only residential projects of any substance in that stretch are Clarkson Townhomes (which is probably my favorite) and Mattress Factory. Both of those have no neighbors because they take up basically the whole block or have empty space between them and their neighbors. That was smart of those developers to ensure that they could create the most quiet/privacy that can be expected when living downtown. The residents there are not complaining. I think that shows that things can coexist when done properly. The reason that particular stretch is uninhabited retail and residential wise has nothing to do with the bars. Noone will touch that stretch (retail/commercial/residential) because Catholic Services has a homeless clinic and pharmacy there. People tend not to like homeless people congregating in front of their business/residence. That stretch will remain dead until it moves(which has been proposed by the Downtown Alliance and the Archdiocese). The few bars that are there now at least keep Dauphin as a semi-continuous stretch of food/bars/galleries/etc. I want downtown residential to take off as much as the next guy, but not at the expense of our existing, hard-earned, entertainment district. This seems an awful lot like the bridge deal to me. Kill/limit your existing, thriving, cruise/port/historic downtown with a bridge when there are other solutions. Why force residential on Dauphin (potentially destroying/limiting the 2 decades worth of work to create a reason to come downtown) when there are blocks of rotting dilapidated structures, empty parking lots, and prexisting residential structures that would be suitable for downtown residential? I agree with you bay that the area is not exactly thriving, but I think this move could set a dangerous precedent that could be taken way to far. Dauphin to me is for entertainment and has been for about 20 years now. If you choose to make it your home, then you know that going in. In my opinion we shouldnt risk messing up that established entertainment district for a single residents compaint about a single bar, especially when there are so many other options to increase residential living downtown. Just my take though. It appears most hear think we should run off all the bars in favor of residents. I'm just not sure people will want to live down there if you take away all of tha kind of stuff.

[BlessedMobile]

[QUOTE=nimsjus;4172450]The reason that particular stretch is uninhabited retail and residential wise has nothing to do with the bars. Noone will touch that stretch (retail/commercial/residential) because Catholic Services has a homeless clinic and pharmacy there. People tend not to like homeless people congregating in front of their business/residence. That stretch will remain dead until it moves(which has been proposed by the Downtown Alliance and the Archdiocese). QUOTE]

Maybe your assumption is true but some of the statements are wrong. Catholic Social Services (CSS) is the landlord for the Franklin Healthcare for the Homeless Clinic (HCH) and the Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy. CSS does help the pharmacy screen and select patients to receive free and heavily discounted medications; most of the people are never seen on the street as they are visited by caregivers and shipped the medications. Franklin sees about 25-50 sick persons per day who qualify for care; they may or may not be homeless. I can't see the "loitering" issue as a problem for HCH because they have to go get and bring most of the ill persons to the clinic. Franklin has its own pharmacy on MLK. If any place might be a problem to downtown residential development it would be 15 Place on Joachim; they serve meals and provide an address for most of the homeless. There are probably 200 or more persons per day who come to the service center. This is less than one block from Dauphin street. There will probably come a time when it is best to move the clinics off of Dauphin and onto a side street but that won't happen anytime soon as HCH was remodeled only recently. Many people would be surprised at how many of the downtown buildings are owned by CSS. I would like to know when DA or CSS asked for the clinics to move?

[Port_of_Bama]

Originally Posted by spookyapp

Not sure if anyone already posted this, but Mobile was recently named #60 on the list of Best Places for Business and Careers.

http://www.forbes.com/lists/2009/1/bizplaces09_Mobile-AL_2495.html

Not bad I noticed it had Mobile`s metro population aaround 422,000.