Mobile Arena may finish under budget

The new Mobile Arena is nearly halfway finished, according to its project manager. Though he hesitated to make promises, he said the work could even be finished under its budget of $300 million.

Sam Matheny told the Mobile City Council during its pre-meeting work session Tuesday the 298,000-square-foot successor to the Mobile Civic Center is “approximately 50 percent complete,” with work on its roof wrapping up soon. Exterior walls are going up around the structure, and crews are starting to set up the arena’s mechanical equipment inside, Matheny said.