After more than a year of construction delays, Spanish Fort’s new $7.8 million community center and city hall complex is finally nearing completion, with city leaders now targeting a grand opening this fall.
Mayor Mike McMillan pushed back on comparisons between the project and Mobile’s much larger and more expensive GulfQuest maritime museum, which faced similar construction setbacks. While both projects experienced lengthy delays, multiple contractor change orders and uncertain opening timelines, McMillan noted the Spanish Fort project is on track to come in under its original budget, unlike the far costlier GulfQuest development.
Inspections were scheduled to determine remaining punch-list items, with officials hopeful a certificate of occupancy could be issued within days. The Spanish Fort City Council planned to hold its first meeting inside the new 35,000-square-foot facility in September, with the city’s first-ever public library expected to open around the same time. McMillan set his sights on an October grand opening ceremony, timed symbolically to mark the anniversary of the city’s first council being seated more than two decades earlier.
Originally expected to open roughly a year earlier, the project was slowed by subcontractor issues, wet weather and challenging terrain. Despite those setbacks, the final cost is expected to land nearly $500,000 below original estimates, thanks to savings on furniture costs, library shelving folded into the overall project budget, and lower-than-expected construction interest expenses.
City officials emphasized a conservative financing approach, opting for a 15-year bond to repay the project rather than the 30-year notes many municipalities use for large construction projects. Annual repayment is expected to run around $420,000, with the debt retired well within the standard repayment window used by comparable government projects.
The centerpiece of the new complex will be Spanish Fort’s first public library, featuring more than 4,000 books, computer labs and classroom space. The city’s newly hired library director said she envisions the space as a gathering point that brings together different generations of residents, including programming that pairs teenagers with senior citizens for technology classes covering everything from e-readers to social media.
The new library will join Baldwin County’s library cooperative, which includes branches in Daphne, Fairhope, Bay Minette, Foley and Gulf Shores. City officials pointed to strong usage at those existing branches as evidence that demand for library services remains high even as some communities nationally report declining library usage.
With the facility’s opening now within sight, Spanish Fort officials say the community center and library will serve as a long-term civic hub for the fast-growing Eastern Shore city, providing government offices, library services and community meeting space under one roof for the first time in the city’s history.