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Retail and Manufacturing in the Mobile Area

Jay Williams 

Crossman and Company recently released its 2016 Southeast U.S. Retail Real Estate Market Report. The report, released nationally to retailers, developers, appraisers, and lenders, includes information on the top 30 retail markets in the Southeast. The report’s Mobile, Alabama section quotes Dr. Reid Cummings: “We’ve seen several big box operators come to the market and open their doors within the last year, including Costco, Field and Stream, Home Goods, and Whole Foods. Furthermore, a significant observation is the fact that the development and redevelopment of these centers has not been concentrated in one part of the market. We’ve seen landlords and developers respond to favorable market conditions along three major retail corridors: the Airport Boulevard area, the intersection of Highway 90 and Interstate 65, and Schillinger Road.”

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Commerce and Economic Development Jay Williams met with leaders of the public-private partnership Advancing Southwest Alabama on Wednesday, February 24, 2016, at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. The discussion focused on the Manufacturing Industries study recently completed by Dr. Reid Cummings, Director of USA’s Center for Real Estate and Economic Development. Chamber CEO Bill Sisson said the Chamber commissioned the study to, “…understand better where the supply chain opportunities are for all of our communities. It is intended to help identify gaps, so the coalition can then work strategically to recruit businesses that can help us in that supply chain realm.”  In the past five years, Mobile has experienced a 33% increase in manufacturing jobs compared with about 8% nationally.

The photo shows U.S. Assistant Secretary for Economic Development, Jay Williams with Bill Sisson, President and CEO of the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, and Lynn Chronister, Vice President for Research and Economic Development at the University of South Alabama and other leaders of the public private partnership Advancing Southwest Alabama at a meeting at the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce in Mobile.