City Council to Vote on Waterfront Development
Mar 26th, 2002
By MARK HOLANStaff Reporter - Mobile Press Register
The Mobile City Council today is scheduled to vote on two contracts worth a total of $3.3 million to continue developing the city's downtown waterfront south of the convention center.
The city is using federal transportation department funds to extend Cooper Riverside Park to a stub of Eslava Street that runs east of Interstate 10 and build a combination maritime museum, welcome center and Mobile Bay ferry terminal.
Last week, the city received the second of three federal grants worth $4.9 million each for the project, which is expected to continue into next year.
Both contracts on today's council agenda are with Ben M. Radcliff Contractor Inc., of Mobile.
Late last year the contractor was awarded $2.1 million to build a roughly 1,000-foot bulkhead along the Mobile River from the park's edge south to the Matt Sloan Fire Station, which is located along the waterfront at the end of Eslava Street.
That work is under way at the site.
A new $883,000 contract will pay for an additional 400 feet of bulkhead from the fire station south to Eslava Street, said Alfred "Hudson" McDonald, the city's director of Projects Architectural Engineering.
A second $2.4 million contract with Radcliff Contractor will pay for drainage, utility, parking and lighting work on the roughly 10-acre site, called Mobile Landing, which is more than three times the size of the existing park.
The second contract also calls for the construction of a waterfront promenade with brick paving and a rail fence, an amphitheater and a decorative fountain, McDonald said.
"This project will be constructed concurrently with the piling and dock work, and it is imperative that it be initiated as soon as possible in order for the transition area between Cooper Park and Mobile Landing be completed prior to the arrival of the Tall Ships on July 4," McDonald said in a memorandum to the council.
McDonald said he expects only about 500 feet of the waterfront promenade will be completed in time for the arrival of the ships, which is part of the city's Tricentennial celebration.
Portions of the property still under construction will be fenced to keep out the crowds expected to jam the riverfront, McDonald said. Access to the site will be limited to only through the existing park.
The newly developed property will rise about three feet higher than Cooper Riverside Park.
The entire bulkhead and site work is expected to be completed by the end of the year. The city eventually hopes to build two pedestrian walkways over the CSX railroad tracks at the west side of the property along Water Street, as well as access from Eslava Street.
Final plans for the maritime museum, welcome center and Mobile Bay ferry terminal are less clear.
Thompson Engineering is designing the building which will occupy about one fourth of the area now under development.
The council will have another contract to review on next week's agenda, for $1 million with the Mobile company.
Up to about $6 million in federal funds could be used for the building, which might cost up to twice as much.
Mayor Mike Dow and Al St. Clair, the city's waterfront development director, sailed out of Mobile on Monday aboard one of the cruise ships testing the vacation market here this month.
They could not be reached for comment.
As the city waits for word of a long-term commitment from the cruise ship industry, St. Clair has suggested the waterfront site could serve as a terminal for one of the lines.
The city is using Alabama State Docks property to berth the ships for this month's test voyages.
"If we are going to accommodate the cruise industry, we don't have much of a choice other than getting this done," said City Councilman Thomas Sullivan, who represents the downtown area. "I think it's appropriate."