The Real Deal

By Sharman Egan Lagniappe columnist

Grand boulevard needs love

It all started with a rumor about the large office building at 951 Government St. just west of Broad Street in Midtown. It’s been on the market for some time, and now the grapevine was saying a local filmmaker/songwriter had purchased it and he was going to redevelop it into condos with a penthouse on the top floor. Woo-eee, that sounded like a good idea to me. I live just around the corner and I’d love to see something happen with the mostly vacant building.

Alas, it turned out to be nothing more than talk. But it was enough to get me going on a topic I’ve wanted to write about for awhile.

Several interesting properties have come on the market recently in downtown Mobile and close-in Midtown. I’m thinking (or at least hoping) they may offer an opportunity for some interesting new development in the area. As exciting as the residential and retail development downtown is, wouldn’t it be great to see it expanded to Government Street? Or to even cross the great divide of Broad Street into Midtown?

Driving from the Eastern Shore last week, as I came out of the Bankhead Tunnel onto Government Street around 5 p.m., I was struck by how deserted Mobile’s premier street is at that time of day.

The appearance of Government Street has improved considerably since I moved to Mobile a couple years ago. A number of vacant buildings have been renovated, including the historic downtown library. A handful of retail shops have opened.

Two hardy souls (Max Morey and John Switzer, developers of the Crescent Theater on Dauphin Street) are building new homes on Government at Bayou Streets. Work has begun on the Bellingrath Carriage House at 1114 Government St.

While these projects are encouraging, most of the renovations have resulted in more fast food restaurants, office buildings and banks, hardly the type of development that brings vitality to the street. We’ve still got a long way to go before we have the type of lively in-town ambiance many of us envision. These new listings offer potential for developers with a little imagination.

Let’s start with the particulars on the 951 Government building. Saad & Vallas recently took over marketing of the eight-story building on over two acres. It’s listed for $1.2 million (reduced from $1.5 million). The property includes over 55,000 rentable square feet and more than two acres of land. The building needs significant renovations (among other things, the elevators don’t work and there’s asbestos that needs to be removed).

Justin Smith of Saad & Vallas sees an opportunity for the building as a mixed use development with retail on the ground floor and offices and condos on the upper floors. “The building needs a facelift,” Smith acknowledged. “But it’s concrete and steel, and it’s survived a lot of hurricanes in the last 50 years. And where else are you going to get a $20-per-square foot building downtown?”

A new listing, the former Goodyear store at 600 Government St., intrigues me. It came on the market a few weeks ago at a listing price of $850,000. The property fronts three streets – Government, Warren and Conti – taking up the better part of a city block. The building is 13,518 square feet with just under an acre of land.

What’s so intriguing about an old Goodyear store? As a former Atlantan, when I see an old vacant garage, the first thing I think of is a new restaurant. There are a number of popular restaurants in Atlanta – Fellini’s, La Fonda Latina, Rolling Bones and others – located in old service stations. The garage doors create the perfect indoor/outdoor café ambience – open to a patio in nice weather; closed in cool or rainy weather. I would just love to see a neighborhood restaurant on Government – something a cut above the plethora of fast food joints but casual and reasonably priced like Callaghan’s or the former Guido’s. That type of development is challenging with a listing price of $850,000, but what about a combination market/restaurant/coffee shop? I can dream, can’t I?

Realtor Paul Thompson has been getting calls every day since he listed the property, and the prospective buyers have had a variety of uses in mind. “One person was looking at it for a grocery store. Another was considering an indoor/outdoor store,” Thompson said. “It’s unlikely it will be used for an automotive store in the future.” He thinks the property would make a good site for a first-class hotel or condos.

The most interesting of the new listings, at least to me, is just off Government Street on Broad Street facing the new Bring Back Broad streetscape. The former Russell Elementary School at 300 S. Broad St. in the Oakleigh Garden District is listed at $700,000. The property includes two buildings with a total of 31,885 square feet on a little over an acre of land with plenty of parking. Listing agent John Vallas of Saad & Vallas Realty Group is marketing the property as an “ideal multi-family condo conversion project.”

The three-story main building dates from the early twentieth century. Much of the interior has been converted to standard low-end offices with drop ceilings and cheap cubicle dividers. Hiding behind these unappealing “updates” is a beautiful old building filled with historic charm.

If you’re interested in the Russell Elementary property, you may be too late. According to Vallas, an offer has already been submitted to the owner of the property, the Mobile County School Board, for review.

Sharman Egan is Lagniappe lagniappe columnist. Contact her at Sharman@SharmanEgan.com.

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