Waterfront life -- cheaper
Sunday, April 25, 2005
By KATHY JUMPER
Real Estate Editor

Some of the hottest-selling property at the Gulf is not on the beach, but on the Intracoastal Waterway, Realtors say.

The 507 condominium units at Portage Crossings in Orange Beach on the waterway sold out in one day.

The Wharf's first 190 condo units on the south side of the waterway sold quickly, and there is a waiting list of 1,300 for future units.

And the Riverwalk Orange Beach developers, who will open Gulf World Marine Park on the waterway next spring, have boosted its planned condo units to 685, up from 308 units.

"Everybody can't afford to have a property on the beach," said Chuck Norwood of REMAX of Gulf Shores, who sold 23 units in Portage Crossings, where prices averaged $400,000 to $650,000. "And the waterway has a lot of amenities and easy access to the beach."

The prices for condo units on the waterway average $400 to $500 per square foot, according to Realtors. Gulf-front property averages $550 to $650 or more per square foot.

So far, an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 condo units are scheduled for the waterway, said Herb Malone, president of the Alabama Gulf Coast Convention & Visitors Bureau in Orange Beach. There are 13,757 condo or hotel units in the Gulf Shores and Orange Beach area, and about 6 percent of those were taken out of the rental inventory after Hurricane Ivan hit last fall.

At least half a dozen residential and commercial developments are planned along the waterway from Oyster Bay and extending several miles west of the Foley Beach Express toll bridge.

With so much activity, the visitors bureau wants to name it the Waterway District, according to Malone.

"It's a distinct destination within a destination," he said. "We see it as a great opportunity to diversify our appeal and not be viewed just as a beach destination. It also goes along with our golf and fishing. The waterway provides a great boating connection. It's almost like an interstate highway."

Most of the projects are building or seeking approval to build a marina or boat slips for the owners, guests and charter boat owners. Many of the condo buyers have boats and like the deep water on the waterway, said Saul Barr, owner of Barr Group Mortgage in Gulf Shores.

"We have a limited amount of deep water access down here, and that's the key," Barr said. "There's also a limited amount of retail and shopping on the island. These projects are integrating retail, restaurants and a movie theater."

"We're the retail component," said Beason Wilkes, director of development for AIG Baker's The Wharf. The developers plan to put six or seven big-box retailers on some of the land fronting Canal Road, and plan to open 350,000 square feet of retail stores and a 15-screen Rave theater near its 200-slip marina and condo units.

Much of the retail space at The Wharf will be on the first two floors of condo buildings.

The Wharf's first units were priced from $300,000 to $1.2 million for penthouse units. Another 230 units will be released for sale this summer, and there will be total of 741 units when the build-out is complete in a couple of years, according to Wilkes.

"People will come down here, and they will never have to go anywhere else," said Jeff Rouzie of AIG Baker, who is in charge of leasing at The Wharf. "We'll have a resort amenities package with a world class spa."

The Wharf will also have a conference room for meetings during the off season, a 20,000-square-foot pavilion and a 1,100-seat amphitheater, where the first concert is planned for March 2006.

"We're building a new center of activity for Orange Beach," said Paul Wesch of The Mitchell Company in Mobile. Mitchell and Joe Raley Builders of Orange Beach are partners in Riverwalk, which is under construction on the east side of the toll bridge. The city last week approved an amendment to increase the size of Riverwalk's convention center to 56,000 square feet, and allow up to 685 condo units. Presales on the units will start this summer, Wesch said.

"You can't have office space or retail on the beach, and you can't have less expensive condos," Wesch said. "It will all go up and down the waterway. The density will rival all the rest in Orange Beach."

The waterway development was inevitable, said Norwood of REMAX in Gulf Shores. "In a lot of other beach communities, the back water and canals are already developed. From the rental standpoint, is it going to be too many too quick? I don't know."

The CVB's estimate of condo units coming on line on the waterway doesn't include the 1,724 units planned for 47 acres across from The Wharf. The acreage for that development, 47 Canal Place, was recently rezoned by the Orange Beach City Council.

The other projects planned for the waterway include Bon Secour Village, a marina and mixed-use development on 1,000 acres off Alabama 59 near Oyster Bay; Homeport Marina with boat slips and 100 units at The Villas at Homeport next to Lulu's Landing, just east of the Dr. W.C. Holmes Bridge on Alabama 59. Lulu's is a restaurant owned by Lucy Buffett, sister of singer Jimmy Buffett.

Mobile native Jim Mattei plans to develop a resort community on some of the 435 acres he owns on the north edge of the waterway. The project will be unveiled in early June, according to Peter Pappas of Pappas Properties in Charlotte, N.C.

Portage Crossings will be built on 16 acres next to Riverwalk on the east side of the toll bridge, and will include boat slips. The developer is Tim James, the son of former Gov. Fob James and a co-owner of the toll bridge.

The key to the success on the waterway will be to bring in enough commercial and retail development to support what's being built, said Patrick Daily, owner of REMAX of Orange Beach. He and Kevin Corcoran, owner of REMAX Gulf Shores, marketed the Portage Crossings units.

"Five years from now, it will be an awesome place," Daily said. "You will be able to boat to go shopping and boat to go to a restaurant to eat."

Source: Mobile Register