Orange Beach Reworks Event Center Sale Terms, Advances $1.4 Million Medical Center Conversion

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — Two items on the Orange Beach City Council’s agenda this week move real property in opposite directions: the city is selling one building and converting another.

Restructuring the Event Center Sale

The council will consider modifying terms for the sale of the Orange Beach Event Center at The Wharf to Wharf Retail Properties, LLC.

The headline number does not change. The revised agreement maintains the overall $7.5 million transaction value. What changes is how that value is delivered.

Under the revised structure, the buyer pays $5,565,000 in cash and $1,935,000 through a loan structured via an updated warrant. The city, meanwhile, leases the facility back through Dec. 31, 2026.

Each piece of that arrangement does specific work.

The split between cash and financed portions determines how much the city receives at closing versus over time. At roughly 74% cash, the city takes the large majority up front while carrying the remainder as an obligation owed to it.

A warrant, in Alabama municipal finance, is a debt instrument local governments use in place of general obligation bonds. Restructuring the financed portion “via an updated warrant” indicates the terms of that instrument were revised rather than the price renegotiated.

The leaseback is the practical element. Selling a facility the city still has bookings in creates an obvious problem: events scheduled under city management do not disappear at closing. Leasing the building back through the end of the calendar year lets the sale close now while the city honors commitments already on the calendar and manages an orderly handoff.

Maintaining the transaction value while modifying the payment structure and adding a defined leaseback period suggests a negotiation over timing and mechanics rather than over what the building is worth.

A Finance Building Becomes a Medical Center

The council is also prepared to move forward on a healthcare project by awarding a $1,409,690 bid to Langan Development Company LLC.

The contract covers renovation of the former Finance Building at 4151 Orange Beach Boulevard into Orange Beach Medical Center South.

The project remains within its $1.5 million capital budget — coming in roughly $90,000 under the allocation, which is a comfortable but not enormous margin on a renovation of this size. Renovations of existing buildings carry more cost uncertainty than new construction, because conditions behind walls and above ceilings are not fully known until demolition begins.

Converting municipal office space into a clinical facility is not a cosmetic job. Medical use imposes requirements that general office space does not: mechanical and ventilation standards, plumbing at each exam room, electrical capacity for equipment, accessibility compliance and infection-control considerations in finishes and layout.

The reuse itself is notable. A city that has vacated an administrative building has a choice between selling it, mothballing it or repurposing it. Converting it to a medical facility puts a publicly owned asset back into service for a use the community needs, on land the city already controls.

Two Transactions, One Pattern

Taken together, the items describe a city actively managing its real estate portfolio rather than simply holding it.

The Event Center transfers to private ownership at The Wharf, a commercial destination where a private operator may be better positioned to program and market the venue. The former Finance Building stays public and takes on a new function. One building leaves the books; another gets a second working life.

Meeting Details

The joint regular meeting and Committee of the Whole work session is scheduled for Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026, at 5 p.m. in the Orange Beach City Hall Council Chambers.

Orange Beach City Council meetings routinely draw strong community attendance, with residents participating in discussions on the city’s comprehensive plan, infrastructure improvements and long-term growth strategy. The Committee of the Whole format, which pairs the regular meeting with a work session, gives council members room to discuss items in more depth than a standard agenda allows — and gives residents a window into that discussion before votes are taken.

Update: The Rest of a Long Agenda

The Event Center sale and the medical center conversion are the largest dollar figures on the Sept. 15 agenda, but they are far from the only items. The council’s full docket runs from traffic engineering to children’s theater.

During the regular session, council members are scheduled to discuss and possibly vote on:

• Vendor payments totaling $1.6 million for goods and services provided between Sept. 2 and Sept. 16.
• A permanent traffic signal at the intersection of Canal Road with Wharf Parkway East to the north and Money Bayou Drive to the south. Big River Electric submitted the lower of two bids at $345,000. A temporary signal is operating at the intersection now.
• A 2025 Chevrolet Tahoe for the police department at $60,011, funded with insurance reimbursement money. The purchase replaces a 2024 Ford F-150 totaled in an Aug. 21 crash at Roscoe Road and the Foley Beach Express, when another vehicle ran a stop sign and struck the city truck broadside.
• A video surveillance system for the city jail, at $26,123 from Vision Security.
• Tourism promotion spending, authorizing expenditures and promotional donations on amenities and events described as promoting tourism and attracting visitors for the enhancement of the local economy.
• A legal services contract with paralegal Renee Smith.
• Two theater contracts for the city’s performing arts division’s 2027 spring production of “Finding Nemo: The Family Musical” — $6,000 to Gerald Mills, paid at $2,000 a month for October, November and December, and $2,000 to Shannon Gray of TIDULHUE Creative.

Committee of the Whole: Forensics, Birds and a Drone

The Committee of the Whole portion carries items that are less about spending and more about capability.

• The 2026 road resurfacing project, with bids to be opened Oct. 1.
• A comprehensive safety action plan for the city. Three proposals received Sept. 4 are under evaluation.
• Digital forensics software from Magnet Forensics for the police department, a renewal of an existing contract. In a memo to the council, Police Chief Trent Johnson wrote that the product is the only tool capable of overriding passwords on iPhones lawfully seized under a valid warrant when a suspect refuses to provide a password.
• Bridge safety inspections by Safe Span at $2,800, meeting the requirement for inspection every two years.
• An amended agreement with the National Audubon Society for the stewardship of coastal Alabama beach-nesting bird habitat.
• A water fitness instruction contract with Carolyn K. Collings for the Aquatics Center.
• A NEOGOV software agreement for employee management, compliance and training, at $47,446 for the first year and $76,735 for the second.
• A Motorola Solutions drone for a one-year drone-as-first-responder trial program at no charge to the city.
• A public hearing date for a conditional use permit for the All About Storage expansion at 24140 Canal Road. Oct. 6 was the suggested date.

An 11 a.m. Work Session on Recreation and Bear Point

Before the evening meeting, the council will gather at 11 a.m. in the south conference room at City Hall for a less formal work session focused on projects rather than votes.

City staff are expected to present status updates on the city’s recreation campus and on localized stormwater infrastructure work in the Bear Point neighborhood. Council members will also review operational plans for city-owned property and hear a historical and operational overview of The Wharf and the Event Center — context that sits directly behind the sale item on the evening agenda.

Also on the morning list:

• A Christmas lighting proposal for the coming holiday season.
• Future options and plans for the Old Finance Building.
• A community request regarding Lindsey Lane.
• Potential revisions to the city’s noise ordinance.
• Additional items for upcoming council agendas.

The noise ordinance discussion is the one most likely to draw residents. In a city that depends on tourism and live entertainment while housing year-round neighborhoods within earshot of both, sound standards are a recurring point of tension, and work sessions are where that conversation happens before an ordinance is drafted.

Related coverage from South AL News

• Orange Beach Begins $1.4 Million Conversion of Old Finance Building Into Medical Hub
• Orange Beach City Council Agenda: $1.5M Shooting Complex Clubhouse, Road Resurfacing, Police Drone Trial
• Orange Beach Council to Weigh Bear Point Stormwater Plan, Micromobility Ordinance
• Orange Beach Council to Review Recreation Campus, E-Bike Rules and Pay at Tuesday Work Session