A $60 million water park and resort proposal unveiled for Mobile County last spring has fallen off the map. But the county is already in serious talks with someone else.
According to District 2 Commissioner Connie Hudson, the county is no longer moving forward with the original Jubilee Park developers and is instead in discussions with another group interested in a similar public-private project near the Mobile County Sportsplex off Halls Mill Road.
“We actually have been speaking with another developer that seems to be very interested,” Hudson said during a Monday, Aug. 24 phone call. “It would appear at this point that we’re moving forward to hopefully reaching some sort of an agreement in the near future.”
What Jubilee Park was supposed to be
The update comes more than a year after county commissioners approved a nonbinding letter of intent to advance planning for the 90-acre resort, water park and athletic complex near the interchange of interstates 10 and 65, on land adjacent to the Mobile County Sportsplex off Halls Mill Road.
Last April, representatives with Louisiana-based Leisure Sports and Recreation, or LSAR, presented comprehensive plans for what they coined “Jubilee Park,” which could have been operational by 2029. The firm, which runs Gulf Islands Waterpark in Gulfport, Mississippi, pitched a destination that included a 20-acre outdoor waterpark with a zipline, a 15,000-square-foot indoor waterpark, a 60,000- to 100,000-square-foot indoor multiuse sports center, a boardwalk lined with restaurants, shops and an arcade, festival grounds with an amphitheater, a year-round public park with trails and a dog park, and lodging ranging from 100 RV sites to 30-50 bungalows with room for a hotel in future phases.
LSAR projected the development would draw 400,000 to 500,000 visitors annually from across the region, generate about 300 construction jobs and support roughly 50 full-time positions along with 300-400 seasonal jobs once open. The developer was expected to fund the roughly $60 million project privately, with the county’s role limited to the public-private partnership structure.
Why the deal faded
Hudson said she could not say exactly when or why the LSAR proposal fell through, but said the company’s attention appeared to shift after it purchased another water park.
“I don’t even know the reason,” she said. “I don’t know if it was a financing issue or what have you. But I know that they had purchased another water park out in Baton Rouge, and so their attention kind of got turned to that one.”
Hudson said the county continued looking for other interested developers after the proposal stalled, leading to the current discussions.
“We continued to gauge interest for other developers, and this one came kind of front and center,” Hudson said. “So, and that’s about all I’m at liberty to say at this point. But I think it should come to fruition and be an exciting prospect for the community.”
A new developer, no timeline yet
Hudson declined to identify the new developer or provide a timeline for when a formal proposal could come before the public, saying the conversations remain too early.
“It’s too preliminary, too premature at this point to give any dates of anything, but it is serious,” she said. “It’s serious discussion.”
Asked whether the new concept would be similar in scope to the Jubilee Park proposal, Hudson replied, “that, at least.”
Why the site keeps drawing interest
The Halls Mill Road site has long been considered one of the county’s best-positioned recreational assets. The Sportsplex property sits within a short drive of the intersection of Interstates 10 and 65, putting it within an easy drive of populations in Alabama, Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle, and next to a soccer complex that already draws tournament traffic on weekends.
County officials have long argued that a water park and indoor sports complex at that location could capture sports tourism dollars that currently pass through Mobile County on the way to Gulf Coast beaches, while giving local families an amenity they now drive hours to reach. Hudson has championed the concept through multiple commissioners’ terms.
Hudson said any future proposal would eventually include a public presentation before the county makes a final decision, giving residents a chance to weigh in on the scale, financing and design before anything is signed. Until then, she said, the county will keep the negotiations quiet.
For a county that watched a $60 million plan fade quietly, the promise of another interested developer is at least a sign the idea itself isn’t dead — only, for now, unnamed.