Mobile’s City Council is set to consider a resolution that would fund an effort to add two new historic districts to the National Register of Historic Places and expand a third, a move city leaders say could bolster ongoing redevelopment efforts downtown and in nearby neighborhoods.
The resolution would pay preservation consultant Shaun Wilson $30,000 to prepare the applications needed to seek the federal designation. If both the council and federal reviewers sign off, the recognition would extend to the stretch of St. Louis Street downtown once known as “Automobile Alley,” the Texas Hills neighborhood south of the Oakleigh Garden Historic District, and an expanded version of the Church Street East Historic District.
The agreement would also direct Wilson to survey the Lewis Quarter area and add the Lafayette Heights Historic District to the city’s existing list of recognized historic neighborhoods, according to details of the proposal.
Mobile already recognizes ten historic districts locally, including Leinkauf, Midtown, Lower Dauphin Street, Old Dauphin Way, DeTonti Square, the Campground, Oakleigh and Church Street East, but not all of those carry the federal designation that comes with placement on the National Register.
The resolution is sponsored by Mayor Sandy Stimpson and Councilman Levon Manzie, and ties into a broader push by the administration to reinvest in older sections of the city. A new historic marker for the St. Louis Street corridor and the Texas Hills community would complement other redevelopment work already underway in those areas.
City officials have separately discussed converting “Auto Alley,” named for the strip of car dealerships that once lined the corridor, into a technology hub and business park. Earlier this year, the council approved a roughly $50,000 contract with an Atlanta-based urban planning firm to develop a neighborhood revitalization plan specifically for Texas Hills, a historically Black neighborhood that has drawn increasing attention from city planners.
The council is scheduled to take up the historic-district contract during its Tuesday pre-conference session, followed by consideration at the regular council meeting later that morning. Supporters say national recognition for the districts could open the door to additional preservation grants and tax incentives tied to historic rehabilitation, tools that have helped fund restoration work in other Mobile neighborhoods in recent years.
City preservation officials note that National Register status does not restrict private property owners the way local historic district rules can, but it does make buildings within the boundaries eligible for federal historic rehabilitation tax credits, a detail that has made the designation attractive to property owners considering renovation projects in older commercial corridors.