A developer is floating plans that could reshape the Orange Beach skyline, proposing a pair of condominium towers that would stand taller than anything else along the Alabama Gulf Coast.
The project envisions two towers, tentatively named Ascension and Grace, rising 36 and 35 stories, respectively. If built as pitched, they would edge out the current record holder, the 33-story Turquoise Place tower in Orange Beach, which reaches 370 feet and has long been the tallest structure on the coast.
The proposed towers would go up on Gulf-front land across from a Publix-anchored shopping center along the beach highway. The site sits near the intersection of Perdido Beach Boulevard and Alabama 161, a busy stretch at the heart of the city’s resort district.
Behind the plan is GCOF Orange Beach Gulf Front LLC, an entity headed by Nathan Cox, who owns the Spanish Fort-based firms Bellator Real Estate and Development and Truland Homes. The company acquired the roughly 10.5-acre property in late 2012 for about $11.4 million through the Gulf Coast Opportunities Fund.
To make the towers possible, the developer needs a zoning change. The Orange Beach Planning Commission was scheduled to take up a request to rezone two Gulf-front parcels from their current designations, beach resort high density and multi-family residential, to a planned unit development, or PUD.
That distinction matters. A PUD is a flexible zoning classification that gives the city council room to approve taller buildings than standard rules allow. Under the property’s existing zoning, condominiums are capped at 26 stories, a total that typically includes 20 residential floors, five levels of parking and a single floor for amenities such as an indoor pool. The special PUD designation would let the developer seek a waiver from that height limit as part of a larger master plan.
After an initial review by the city’s Community Development Department, the developer asked to defer the matter to the planning commission’s December meeting, where a recommendation would then move forward to the council for a final decision.
Tall condominium towers have become a defining feature of Alabama’s beach communities, drawing seasonal visitors and second-home buyers to the Gulf shoreline. A project of this scale would mark another milestone in the vertical growth of Orange Beach, which has steadily added high-rise resort development over the past two decades. Whether the towers ultimately clear the city’s review process remains to be seen, but the proposal signals continued developer confidence in the Baldwin County coast.