City of Mobile Opens Western Administrative Complex

Jan 27th, 2011

Can an old military building be decommissioned? No, if you are Mobile Mayor Sam Jones, you spruce it up and move key city services into it and give citizens and business owners better access and more parking.

Those were the orders handed down by Jones when the U.S. Navy handed over the city-owned building at 4851 Museum Drive to the City of Mobile, a facility that was once home to the Navy and Marine Corps.

"This was a structurally sound building,” the mayor said. “We were extremely fortunate to acquire it from the Marines because it fit perfectly into our plans to create a western annex for city services.”

Dubbed the city’s Western Administrative Complex, Jones made the following services available in the 48,000 square foot structure:

• Police Department Second and Fourth Precincts, Traffic Unit, JAG Unit, Tactical Unit, and the Motorcycle Unit;

• Revenue Department – business owners can purchase or renew business licenses;

• Urban Development – residents and business owners can obtain building permits, inspections, and much more;

• Municipal Information Technology satellite location.

Due to the fact that the Marine Corps building sits on land that is one of the highest points in the city, the mayor is also using part of the structure as an Emergency Operation Center for City Hall.

“In the event of a weather-related catastrophic storm that would prevent us from operating out of Government Plaza, we need an alternate location to conduct city business,” Jones said. “We are going to establish the city’s emergency center in this building.”