The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is staying in downtown Mobile — and getting a new building for it. The Mobile City Council approved a 100-year lease clearing the way for the Corps to construct a six-story regional headquarters on a portion of the Civic Center property.
The building will rise at the southeast corner of the current Civic Center parking lot, facing Canal Street. About 800 employees will work there once it opens.
As part of the deal, the Corps will also build a 1,000-space parking ramp that can serve both its staff and visitors attending Civic Center events — a shared benefit city officials pointed to in backing the agreement.
The lease terms start modestly: the Corps pays just a dollar a year for the first ten years, steps up to $100,000 annually in years eleven through twenty, and then pays market rate for the remainder of the century-long term.
Mayor Sandy Stimpson and a majority of council members argued the arrangement was worth it to keep the federal agency — and its hundreds of jobs — anchored in downtown Mobile rather than losing them elsewhere in the region.