The Wharf takes shape

Sunday, September 18, 2005
By RYAN DEZEMBER
Staff Reporter

ORANGE BEACH -- Developers of The Wharf have paid to have two rusted, hole-laden barges removed from the Intracoastal Waterway as part of the industrial canal's continued transformation into a new resort-lined waterfront.

In a news release from the mixed-use project's Birmingham-based developers, AIG Baker, the company said it hired Magnolia Springs-based M&N of Alabama to cut the ships into manageable pieces with a hydraulic shear and remove them with a 120-ton crane floated atop a barge.

Beason Wilkes, director of Gulf Coast development for AIG Baker, said Friday that attempts had been made to pump out the ships and pull them to the surface whole, but since they had been submerged for as long as 20 years, they were rusted through and kept refilling with water.

"These barges have been a constant source of danger for both commercial and recreational vessels, with a fatality having occurred at the site last year," Marketing Director Stacy Atkins wrote in the news release. "The labor-intensive dismantling and demolition of these barges will take just over two weeks at a significant cost yet will be well worth the effort in improving this stretch of the waterway."

The work began prior to Hurricane Katrina's Aug. 29 landfall and the resulting pile of rusted metal had been hauled to a scrap yard by late last week.

"The barges that (AIG Baker) is digging up out there are public safety hazards," said Orange Beach City Councilman Jeff Silvers. "They're not on his property and I think it's pretty bold of AIG Baker to spend $100,000 to do something like this."

Though the sunken barges were submerged along the north side of the Intracoastal Waterway and The Wharf is under construction along the southern shore, their removal will clear that part of the canal for the boat traffic expected when the nearly 200-slip marina is completed in the coming months.

The portion of the marina closest to the site, on the west side of the Foley Beach Express toll bridge, is already dug and will be used as a sort of parking lot and filling station for boaters who want to stop and shop at The Wharf.

Slips on the other part, east of the bridge, will be reserved for condo owners, Wilkes said Friday morning during a tour of the 220-acre site.

With a concrete and galvanized-steel sea wall in place, that portion of the marina was being dug out Friday. In total, about 500,000 cubic yards of soil is being carved from the waterway's shore so that the marina won't protrude into the shipping channel.

Developers had originally planned on building a 228-slip marina, but when some buyers of the development's condos expressed interest in docking yachts 50 feet and larger there, the firm decided to cut the number of slots to about 190.

"We're probably going to skew toward larger boats," Wilkes said, adding that some spaces will be dedicated to boat broker, Galati Yacht Sales, which will have a retail outlet at The Wharf.

The development's first phase -- which includes the marina, a 15-screen movie theater, half-mile-long boardwalk, 10,200-seat amphitheater, 190 condos, 350,000 square feet of retail space and the Southeast's largest Ferris wheel -- should be complete by Memorial Day, Wilkes said. The second phase will include more condos and big-box retailers at the east end of the property.

Overall, Orange Beach officials have approved plans for more than 1 million square feet of retail, 741 condo units and 253 "condotel" units.

The developers estimate that 12 million people will stroll down the project's shop-lined Main Street each year.

"We figure everyone on the island will come here once a day," Wilkes said.

Elsewhere on the sprawling Canal Road property crews worked to set the footers for the 11-story waterfront Levin's Bend condominium building, which will feature 190 units atop two floors of retail shops, restaurants and pubs. Each of the condo units was sold in a day when they were released.

"We got 358 deposits in 24 hours," Wilkes said. "We didn't know quite to do."

Down what will eventually be Main Street, other crews work to build the Rave movie theater and three-story parking decks, the bottom two floors of which will be open to the public. The Ferris wheel, which is expected to arrive by Jan. 1 from Italy where it is being built, will also be along the central north-south street, according to plans.

Farther to the east is the site of the 10,200-seat amphitheater, which will be the largest such facility between New Orleans and Tallahassee, Fla., developers said. An adjacent pavilion will be built to accommodate larger crowds for special events.

"We're going to use this every day and have 10 to 20 paid events each year," Wilkes said.

Country music artist Hank Williams Jr. is slated to play for its opening, he said, and other acts will be of a wide variety.

"I envision contemporary Christian events that will be free, during spring break we might have a week of music," he said. "I envision having the Auburn-Alabama game on big screens."

The Wharf sits across the Intracoastal Waterway from Riverwalk Orange Beach, which is being developed by Joe Raley Builders and Mobile real-estate conglomerate The Mitchell Co. Inc., another large-scale mixed-use development. The two projects, which bookend the Foley Beach Express toll bridge, will give Orange Beach a new downtown area stocked with retail.

The Wharf alone will bring more retail square footage than existed in all of Orange Beach before Hurricane Ivan, Wilkes said.

City officials were eager to land the project last year and entered into a public-private partnership with AIG Baker to ensure the development.

In the deal with the Orange Beach City Council, AIG Baker will be rebated up to $25 million in sales and lodgings taxes generated by The Wharf and in exchange give to the city an estimated $40 million in public improvements such as the boardwalk, a parking deck and roads.

According to the deal, which was approved by the council first in July 2004 and again that November when a new council took office:

Orange Beach will start rebating half of the annual sales and lodgings taxes created by The Wharf four years after buildings permits are issued, or sooner if the company chooses.

The maximum annual payment required of the city is $2.86 million, which represents the $25 million principal plus 8 percent interest amortized over 15 years.

Payments to the developer of whichever is less -- $2.86 million or half of the sales and lodgings tax generated by The Wharf -- will continue until either 15 years have elapsed or the repayments to AIG Baker reach $25 million plus whatever interest has accrued.

AIG Baker will hand over the public improvements promised to the city when Orange Beach completes repayment of the $25 million debt or 15 years elapses.

If AIG Baker spends less than $25 million on the improvements, the city's debt will be readjusted to reflect the lower value.

The agreement was ruled a legal public-private partnership by Presiding Baldwin County Circuit Judge James H. Reid in December 2004.

Source: Mobile Register