South Alabama Logistics Park seen as transformative project

ALABAMA – Mobile is literally building on its economic development success.

The 1,300-acre South Alabama Logistics Park (SALP) will invest $350 million in its first phase to bring 6 million square feet of master-planned warehouse, distribution and manufacturing space near the Port of Mobile and the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley.

Burton Property Group is working with Team Mobile on the project. Team Mobile is Alabama Power Co., Alabama State Port Authority, city of Mobile, Mobile Airport Authority, Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, Mobile County, Spire and University of South Alabama. The entities work together to bring economic development to the Port City.

“With over 6 million square feet planned in phase one, this development would not only be the largest in the state but one of the largest in the Southeast,” said Philip Burton, president of Burton Property Group.

The Alabama State Port Authority, Burton Property Group, the city and the county have been planning the project for three years. SALC will be off Interstate Highway 10 near the Theodore Dawes exit, just south of the Amazon sortation center in south Mobile County.

Burton Property Group is expecting to close on the property this summer and is in the process of investing in needed infrastructure. Plans call for building speculative sites and offering build-to-suit construction projects in the park.

“The logistics park is an exciting venture for Mobile County and for our entire region,” said Patrick Murphy, vice president of Alabama Power’s Mobile Division. “The project will attract new industry to the area.”

Large international companies like Airbus and Austal have continued to expand while improvements at the Port of Mobile and the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley have created ripe conditions to build on that growth, officials said.

“To fully capitalize on the growth from the port and the Mobile Aeroplex at Brookley, we must have sites ready for large companies to locate with utilities and infrastructure already in place,” Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson said, calling the project “a huge step forward to propel our growing distribution hub.”

Regional projects by Walmart, Aldi, Amazon, Coca-Cola UNITED and Ren Seafoods show the desire for more distribution operations near the port. The challenge is having properties ready for companies ready to set up operations in the region.

“This is a huge step in continuing our success in economic development,” said David Rodgers, Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce vice president of Economic Development. “Product development is a core focus of what we do, and we must have quality sites ready for the final site selection process.”