A landmark downtown building is headed for a residential future. Vallas Realty recently sold the property at 951 Government St. — an eight-story, 75,000-square-foot structure on the corner of Government and Marine Streets — to an out-of-state developer who paid $275,000 and plans to convert the building into apartment units.
More Mobile Real Estate Moves
The sale was one of several notable transactions around Mobile that summer:
John M. Delchamps of Merrill P. Thomas Company brokered a short-term seasonal lease of the former Sawyer Furniture Store at 3767 Airport Blvd. to Spirit Halloween.
Local investors purchased a 10,000-square-foot office building at 3315 Demotropolis Road with renovation plans for tenants, with Joey Betbeze of Betbeze Realty negotiating the deal. The same buyers also acquired an adjacent vacant lot for additional parking; Betbeze represented the purchaser and Paul Carter of The Paul Carter Agency represented the seller.
Marl M. Cummings IV of Cummings & Associates leased the former Jags Grill space at Old Shell and University — 3,210 square feet — to Momma Goldberg’s Deli, with an October opening planned. Cameron Weavil of the Weavil Company represented the tenant. Cummings also represented the buyers of a 4,000-square-foot office building at 2 N. Florida Street, at the northeast corner of Dauphin and Florida Streets.
In a larger portfolio deal, Provence Real Estate was selected to manage five Mobile apartment communities totaling 2,013 units after their $98 million purchase by Colony Hills Capital of Wilbraham, Massachusetts. The communities include Cabana Apartments, Sandpiper Townhomes, Yester Oaks Apartments, Windsor Place Apartments and The Pathways Apartments, with management effective May 20, 2013, and a local regional office planned.
International Women’s Chamber Chapter Launching in Mobile
Mobile native Darlene Moore, an actress, screenwriter and producer, was appointed chapter chairperson of the ASSOCHAM Ladies League (ALL) of Alabama, part of a global business network founded under India’s Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry, established in 1920 and now claiming 4.4 million members. The chapter planned its official launch Thursday, Aug. 15, 2013, at the Mobile Marriott under the theme “United to Serve, Educate and Assist Women around the World,” with Penelope House Executive Director Tonie Ann Torrans as keynote speaker.
BP Settlement Claims Window
Attorney C. Bennett Long of Long & Waite pushed back against BP’s advertising campaign casting itself as a victim of fraud in the class action settlement the company itself helped draft. Long noted BP employed top attorneys in producing the roughly 1,200-page agreement and encouraged claimants with proper documentation not to be intimidated. The Deepwater Horizon Claims Facility was set to accept applications through early April 2014, though hearings could have moved the cutoff sooner.
Ingalls Authenticated Keel of 11th LPD
At Pascagoula-based Ingalls Shipbuilding — a major Gulf Coast employer drawing on more than 10,000 shipbuilders and 650 suppliers across 38 states — the keel was authenticated for Portland (LPD 27), the company’s 11th amphibious transport dock, then about seven percent complete and slated for launch in early 2016 and Navy delivery in late 2017. Somerset (LPD 25) was preparing for builder’s sea trials and John P. Murtha (LPD 26) was half complete. Ingalls spends roughly $175 million a year supporting the LPD 17 San Antonio-class industrial base.