New Hotel Project Coming to Gulf Shores, Alabama

(Photo - City of Gulf Shores)

In early January 2017, the city of Gulf Shores made an exciting announcement about a new development that may be coming to the West Beach area of Gulf Shores. The development team is being led by Ron Durham and architect Mack McKinney and plans include a huge 240-room full service hotel with a spa and meeting facilities on site. The hotel will sit on two acres across the street from the public beach access and the Gulf Shores Hangout. This hotel will be an anchor for a large mixed-use development with retail shops, a restaurant, and a huge third-floor pool deck facing the beach below. The project will cost $80 million, but it can be expected that it will draw in a number of new tourists to the area and help boost the local economy. The lot that the hotel will be built on sit on the corner of West Beach Boulevard and West 1st Street. These plans were developed after the city's request for proposals in 2015 and Mayor Robert Craft has said that he plans on presenting the plans to the City Council for approval in the next few weeks.

The development of this hotel is a small part of the larger Gulf Shores Small Town, Big Beach Vision 2025 for Sustainability. This project will bring a number of improvements to every aspect of Gulf Shores life with the intention of boosting the economy. Improvements to this area will make it more pedestrian-friendly, increase green spaces, help maintain the natural dunes in the area, and will help stimulate the economy for the whole city. As part of this project, improvements also include new educational facilities and efforts to preserve and promote biodiversity throughout the city. As the name implies, this project should be completed by 2025. The Gulf Place Revitalization project, part of the bigger Vision 2025 for Sustainability, has already begun and Phase I should be completed in April 2017.

Gulf Shores currently has a pre-construction condo underway in Phoenix Gulf Shores and is fairly close to completion. Another development, Phoenix Orange Beach, is also underway in Orange Beach, Alabama. Perdido Key has Vista Del Mar and others close to launch, as well. The Gulf Coast is growing and growing and more pre-construction condos are sure to follow. A lot of the larger new developments over the past decade have waterfront condominiums, but Foley, Alabama, in connection with the Poarch Creek Band of Indians, is building an amusement park. OWA is a $500-million development and construction is well underway, with OWA leading the way in terms of money spent in our area. The City of Gulf Shores is using money from a BP settlement to expand and improve the boardwalk area in downtown and the first phase is scheduled for completion this year. View aerial imagery of Gulf Place progress below.

All of this development will have a positive effect on the local economy. Gulf-front condos and beach houses lead the way in terms of revenue-generating investment properties and all of these new developments will boost income for an already great investment scenario for beach house and condo owners. We've published revenue info for both types of investment properties. Quickly find revenue info for all condos and beach houses in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores and compare recently SOLD real estate using previously unavailable information, like the actual SOLD price and SOLD date. (Each of our condos and subdivision pages have links for easy access to view recent sales for that property.) It's a great time to be in the market for properties along the Gulf Coast as all of this new development will have a profound effect on our area's real estate market.