The Real Deal

By Sharman Egan

Lagniappe columnist

Oh my, what a year it’s been for business and real estate in the Mobile Bay area.

My editor asked me to focus this column on the most important events of 2006. Between spires, race tracks and all the new condos downtown, I hardly know where to start. If you’ve been reading my column, you may have figured out my list includes the recent arrival of South Beach Pizza at the Winn-Dixie on Government Street in Midtown. As earth-shaking as this may be, I thought perhaps some of you might want a broader view of events.

So rather than present my own list, I talked with five business leaders in the Mobile Bay area to see what they thought: Darrelyn Bender, president of the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce; David Clark, chair-elect of the Eastern Shore Chamber of Commerce and general manager of the Marriott Grand Hotel, Win Hallett, president of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce; Lee Metzger, president of the Mobile Bay Area Association of Realtors and director of real estate for Providence Hospital; and Claudene Nichols, president-elect of the Baldwin County Association of Realtors and broker/co-owner of Prudential Nichols Real Estate.

Here’s the list I came up based on their comments (in no particular order):

1. The continuing economic development of Mobile. Three of the five people I spoke with placed Mobile’s boom near the top of their list. They cited the new container port at Choctaw Point, the EADS groundbreaking at Brookley Field, the new Austal Navy contract and the RSA Tower as evidence Mobile is at the center of a regional economy that has thrived in 2006.

“These projects will generate a tremendous amount of business for our area,” Metzger said. “There is a realization by many developers and corporations that Mobile offers a protected location that can serve an area from Houston to Tampa.”

“RSA deserves accolades for what it’s doing with the BattleHouse and the RSA Tower,” said Clark.”This provides economic stimulation for the entire area, and allows us to reach out to the world with a tremendous product.”

2. The completion of two major strategic planning projects: the Eastern Shore Chamber’s Blueprint for Tomorrow and the Baldwin County Strategic Plan. Bender and Clark both noted the successful development of the Blueprint for Tomorrow as one of the key events of 2006 because it represents a successful collaborative effort between key players on the Eastern Shore: the Chamber, Baldwin County and the cities of Daphne, Fairhope and Spanish Fort.

“The Blueprint for Tomorrow is a huge thing for our area,” Clark said. “Hundreds of people got involved to make a plan for our future. We raised $2 million in four months to implement the initiatives in the plan.”

Bender also noted the development of a 10-year strategic plan released by the Baldwin County Commission in November, saying it is a very important step in addressing the growth issues the county faces.

“I’m proud of the way of our elected officials have worked together over the last year. It was exciting to watch.” said Bender. “This is night and day from the way things were here ten years ago, and it will help us in the future. The more we can show our solidarity in Montgomery, the more we can get done.”

3. A hurricane-free 2006. Bender and Nichols saw the absence of hurricanes as one of the most important events (or shall we say non-events) of 2006. “This had such a major impact,” said Bender. “We needed a year for our small businesses to recover, and to give insurance companies a chance to stabilize.”

“This year was a cooling off period for real estate in Baldwin County after the magic years of 2004 and 2005,” Nichols said. The increase in land and construction prices over the last two years, higher interest rates and increased insurance rates as a result of earlier storms caused the market to slow down dramatically in 2006 according to Nichols. She expects this year’s calm hurricane season to help the market recover. “I’m feeling very positive,” she added.

4. New partnerships in healthcare. Hallett cited two recent alliances in the healthcare field among the biggest events of 2006: the strategic alliance between the University of South Alabama and the Infirmary Health System that will move USA’s $100 million Cancer Research Institute to Midtown and the Infirmary’s announcement that it will take over operations of Thomas Hospital in Fairhope.

“These are significant developments,” Hallett said. “The Infirmary is one of the largest employers in Mobile. These partnerships will impact us for decades.”

5. The resolution of the Highway 98 issue. Metzger put this first on his list of major events. “This is huge. First of all, Highway 98 will now get built.” But, according to Metzger, it has broader implications.

“A diverse group of people came together to resolve a very difficult issue. This represents a benchmark for our area. It created a template we can use going forward,” he said.

What’s ahead for the Mobile Bay area in 2007? See what these business leaders have to say in my next column.

Sharman Egan covers real estate and business for Lagniappe. E-mail her at sharman@sharmanegan.com.

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