A deal that long seemed like a fairy tale came true for the city of Mobile: the former USA golf course property at Brookley — some 300 acres of mostly undeveloped land along Mobile Bay — has been sold to the city, with roughly half of it slated to become public space and a major bayside park.
Mayor Sandy Stimpson announced the agreement at a press conference attended by Gov. Kay Ivey, who described the state’s role in assembling the deal. Mobile Airport Authority Chairman Elliot Maisel, who had once likened the park dream to a fairy tale, called the turnaround hard to dispute.
How the land breaks down
Under the purchase, state and federal money covers roughly 250 acres of the property. About 100 acres will be set aside for public access and a new waterfront park, another 50 acres of wetlands go into preservation, and 100 acres remain earmarked for development tied to the push to make Brookley one of the world’s largest commercial aircraft construction sites. The city also holds a five-year option to spend $9 million on the final 50 acres, bringing the total purchase price to about $42 million — the vast majority of it state and federal funding.
The property traces back to the old Gulf Pines Golf Course, once owned by the University of South Alabama and later transferred to the USA Foundation in exchange for money that helped build Children’s & Women’s Hospital. The foundation long sought to sell the tract for development, at one point reportedly asking as much as $60 million, and in March 2019 a $45 million option was placed on the land by 24/7 Development Partners before that deal collapsed just before Christmas.
A long campaign for bay access
The park push began in earnest seven years earlier, when retired insurance adjuster Clarence Carrio began arguing that the tract represented Mobile’s last real chance to create a large bayside park with easy public access to the water. Stimpson embraced the idea after taking office, and city leaders kept working on it even as BP restoration dollars flowed to other projects, such as the port’s roll-on, roll-off auto facility.
Supporters note that Mobile is a city surrounded by water its residents have rarely been able to reach, unlike neighboring Fairhope’s celebrated pier-front park. The new plan promises wetland trails, places to launch boats, room to play near the bay — and, backers hope, someday a long fishing pier of its own. For a mayor who has often spoken about legacy projects, advocates call the acquisition the most lasting one yet: the last large piece of Mobile Bay waterfront saved from development and handed to the public.