Mobile Development News

[Mobil1]

Here is the problem with this region of the country (and why a thread can die with so many people in that area). We live in an area that is the last to reap benifits of a boom and the first to fall in a bust. I'm from Pensacola, very nearby Mobile and tied to it econmically and culturally here on the Gulf Coast. When I joined this and SSP, Mobile was adding billion dollar industry possiblities every day and my town of Pensacola had about a dozen mid-rise condo type projects approved for downtown. I thought it was going to be fun to post here and give lots of "progress" updates.

But understand, Pensacola (the actual city...they managed to cover Perdido with high rises in the meantime) started getting this flurry of investment condo stuff at the tail end of Miami building hundreds of high rises and Atlanta building dozens upon dozens. The proposals were just as serious as all those big city ones....but time ran out on that specualtive economy before anything tangible could get off the ground here. But it always does. The first projects to be pulled in such a shaky economy are these types of projects while ones in a place like ATL hang on with hope for brighter days.

It has died here because all of that potential and positive emotion sorta got flushed down the tubes at the first hints this economy was falling apart. Mobile still has a lot going for it from previous committs though. The steel plant will open. It's to much invested to quit now. Politics of the tanker make that opportunity iffy at best. Nicely growing port. But outside whatever boost any of this can give the area...the other speculation is so totally dead that it leaves us with nothing to even dream about. There is no "redefining skyline" coming to Pensacola and there probably never will be a boom lasting long enough for it to ever happen. We are sorta sunk emotionally when it comes to those types of ideas.

Yes the area has well over a million people scattered around in reasonably close proximity. But it is still viewed as the place to run from at the first sign of instability it would seem to me. So my batteries aren't very charged to post. And there really isn't anything to post that wouldn't be laughed at as it isn't on the scale of other places.

[Dale]

Actually, I've gotten the impression that Mobile has weathered the recession better than most cities its size.

[Mobil1]

Dale, as I mentioned Mobile has a steel mill to open soon and a port that is growing quite rapidly. It will weather the storm as well as could be possible. But it is hard to translate that to the kind of projects you are used to seeing here. I've got no red-steel erector set pictures to show you of a 20-floor building rising. The area will continue to grow. But I'm not sure what it will take for us as an area to be motivated to join this community in quite the same numbers way some of our faster growing friends do. Of course, that may have a lot to do with people here not necesarrily being as "urban" motivated as most of us here. That group probably includes me too. The politics are a bit different for the masses. But I wouldn't want to leave for anything.

[desertpunk]

Mobile Press-Register

ThyssenKrupp says it wants to divest stainless unit, effects on Calvert, Ala., plant unclear

Published: Thursday, May 05, 2011

By Jeff Amy, Press-Register Press-Register



MOBILE Ala---ThyssenKrupp AG said Thursday that it's going to look again at divesting its stainless steel unit, a move that could leave two owners sharing the $5 billion facility that Germany's largest steelmaker has built in Calvert.

"The separation from ThyssenKrupp will result in an independent European market and quality leader within the stainless steel industry, giving stainless the opportunity to develop its competitive position with greater flexibility -- also with regard to potential strategic partnerships," the company said in a statement.

Ulrich Albrecht-Frueh, chief executive officer of Calvert-based ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA, said he wasn't authorized to comment Thursday.

The company's statement was released near midnight in Germany, and officials there could not be reached.

The announcement, which also included plans to sell or reorganize some auto-parts units, is the first big move under Heinrich Hiesinger's leadership of ThyssenKrupp.

Overall, the units involved had 10 million euros ($14.6 billion) in sales last year and 35,000 workers worldwide.

It wasn't clear if the announcement would have any effect on the completion of the stainless part of the Calvert complex.

The centerpiece of the stainless section is a melt shop, which would turn scrap into new stainless steel. ThyssenKrupp delayed construction of the melt shop because of the recession and a company cash crunch, but decided last fall to go ahead, and is now sprinting toward a late 2012 opening date.

Within ThyssenKrupp, the stainless business unit is already separately managed from carbon steel.

At the Calvert complex, stainless and carbon steel operations share the hot strip mill, the first step in processing steel, along with support units such as a barge dock and water treatment.

The stainless unit has almost 400 employees now, with a target of 900. The larger carbon unit has 1,350 people, headed toward a target of 1,800 employees.

Sales and profit can fluctuate widely for stainless operations, in part because stainless steel includes high-value ingredients such as nickel.

The European stainless steel business is burdened with overcapacity and ThyssenKrupp had previously investigated mergers with other stainless producers, though as Europe's largest stainless manufacturer, antitrust issues could have arisen.

ThyssenKrupp gave up on merger talks and said it would work on its own to improve profits. In December, the firm said it would close a stainless cold rolling mill in Benrath, Germany, and invest more than 100 million euros to move it to a larger complex in Krefeld, Germany.

The business in North America is healthier, although ThyssenKrupp's competitors have voiced fear that its big melt shop in Calvert could trigger overcapacity.

The world's largest steelmaker, ArcelorMittal, spun off its stainless business this year into a new firm called Aperam, saying it believed investors would put more value on the stainless unit when alone.

ThyssenKrupp's stainless unit, with 11,000 employees worldwide, had 5.9 billion euros ($8.6 billion) in sales in the 2009-2010 year. It lost 121 million euros ($176 million) last year, but that was a big improvement from the 926 million euros it lost in 2008-2009.

[desertpunk]

Here's the story from a year ago:

Al.com

AmSouth building becomes the RSA-BankTrust building today

Published: Wednesday, August 25, 2010



MOBILE, Ala. -- Mobile’s second-tallest office tower becomes the RSA-BankTrust Building today as the bank signs an agreement to lease 72,000-square feet in the 34-story structure at 107 St. Francis St.

The bank will lease 25 percent of the building, according to Joe Toole, leasing agent for the Retirement Systems of Alabama, which bought the building for $6.75 million in February 2009.

RSA Chief David Bronner had dubbed the former AmSouth building the “GM” — reversing the initials for Mardi Gras and planning a Carnival color scheme for renovations.

RSA is investing millions to update the façade and renovate the interior of the 1965 structure, a project that should be finished by March, according to RSA.

The bank will lease the first floor and floors 25 through 31 with plans to move its 100 employees there by September 2011, according to W. Bibb Lamar Jr., chief executive officer of BancTrust, the bank’s holding company.

“Having our name on the building was obviously very attractive,” Lamar said. “The new space will allow for future growth.”

RSA will also build a drive-up bank teller window.

The move will allow the bank to consolidate its downtown offices — a leased main branch on St. Joseph Street and an operations building on St. Louis and Royal streets, Lamar said.

The operations facility will be listed for sale.

Lamar said that he wanted to keep the bank’s headquarters downtown.

“Number one, we’re local,” he said. “And there’s been a lot of revitalization downtown, and downtown has always been the banking center.”

BankTrust has 11 branch offices in Mobile and Baldwin counties and is the largest community bank in Alabama, according to Lamar.

BankTrust had $513 million in deposits in Mobile and Baldwin counties at June 30, 2009, the most recent federal data available. That ranked sixth among banks, with 5.73 percent of total deposits in the counties.

Terms of the BankTrust lease were not released. Leasing agent Kate Irvine of John Toomey & Co. said the deal took two years to close.

After renovations, lease rates at the 280,000-square-foot RSA-BankTrust Building should range from $15 to $17 per square foot, according to Toole.

RSA had planned Carnival-inspired purple, green and gold colors in the lobby and open spaces, but that look has been toned down, according to Mike Fitzhugh, executive vice president of BankTrust and market president of the banking company’s Southern division.

“We mutually agreed on a business style,” he said.

---

And here's how the finished product should look:



Complete with New Year's Moon Pie drop!

[Dale]

Other than the Moon Pie, I honestly can't tell much of a difference. Yes, somewhat brighter, but still ungainly and dated.

[desertpunk]

Originally Posted by Dale

Other than the Moon Pie, I honestly can't tell much of a difference. Yes, somewhat brighter, but still ungainly and dated.

I realized that the picture that was uploaded on June 8 2011 was taken Aug. 2010! So I shoved a crappy render in there!

[desertpunk]

Airbus To Open A320 Plant In Mobile


A computer-generated aerial view of Airbus's planned new factory in Mobile, Alabama, shows a sprawling campus at Brookley Aeroplex. (Image: Airbus)

July 2, 2012, 11:38 AM

Airbus plans to start building a new A320-family assembly plant in Mobile, Ala., next summer, the European airframer confirmed today, marking yet another expansion of its narrowbody production ambitions. Scheduled for completion at the beginning of 2016, the plant will produce between 40 and 50 A319s, A320s and A321s annually and employ 1,000, estimates Airbus. Plans call for the first airplane parts to arrive in 2015 and the first completed airplane to roll out in 2016

While many expect the $600 million investment in the U.S. will accompany a less tangible cost in the form of worker and government opposition in Europe, the payback in lower wages and production costs (due to the relative weakness of the U.S. dollar compared with the Euro) apparently proved enticing enough to outweigh any threat of political fallout at home.

The new factory also might help U.S. airlines to more readily make the case for buying A320s carrying the so-called “made in America” stamp. Airbus now controls only 20-percent of the U.S. market for narrowbody jets.

Once the Mobile plant opens, Airbus will operate A320 assembly sites in three continents. The A320 facility in Tianjin, China, which Airbus opened in September 2008 along with a Chinese consortium consisting of the Tianjin Free Trade Zone and Avic, had delivered 80 A320s as of March this year. “The time is right for Airbus to expand in America,” said Airbus president and CEO Fabrice Bregier. “The U.S. is the largest single-aisle aircraft market in the world—with a projected need for 4,600 aircraft over the next 20 years—and this assembly line brings us closer to our customers.”

[desertpunk]

Federal Courthouse Update:

The U.S. Judicial Conference’s five-year plan for ready-to-build courthouses lists Nashville second overall. Mobile, Ala., which has plans for a $140.3 million federal courthouse, is the only city sitting ahead of Nashville.

“For years, we’ve been trending toward the top, but somebody else would jump in ahead of us –– usually someone who serves on the [U.S. House] Appropriations Committee,” Cooper said. “They’re the most famous line jumpers.”

The Mobile and Nashville courthouses were originally slated to receive dollars during the ongoing fiscal year, but funding was never authorized.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j...6PpmljKXVEKaSw

The main focus is on LA that is getting fast-tracked thanks to a new deal for land. Mobile's may take a while longer. Politics?

While everyone's waiting, how about taking a second look at this way cool proposal?