New $300 million Civic Center arena for Mobile to host hockey, Mardi Gras balls, major concerts

The 60-year-old Mobile Civic Center Arena, expo hall and theater is set to be demolished later this year and replaced with a new $300 million arena that will host large Mardi Gras balls, ice hockey, concerts, and more under a plan the city will unveil at 2 p.m. today.

The city plans to borrow up to 56% of the costs for the new project, representing the first major financing project Mobile has undergone since Mayor Sandy Stimpson was first elected in 2013.

The state-of-the-art venue will have a maximum seating capacity of 10,275 people and, according to Stimpson’s office, will be able to attract large touring and entertainment acts while having the capacity to host a minor league hockey team.

“We are configured to handle anything going on in the United States,” said James Barber, Stimpson’s chief of staff.

Demolition of the existing structure is set to begin in August, with construction of the new venue commencing in February 2025. A ribbon cutting on the new venue is targeted for January 2027.

The new arena -- a rectangular-shaped structure as opposed to the existing circular bowl -- is a three-level venue with a “grand hall” entrance, loge and premium seating areas, arena clubs and suites, and a large loading dock to accommodate touring acts.

Outside the new arena, the venue will be configured to have a large balcony that can overlook Mardi Gras parades and an adjacent outdoor promenade.

The renderings of the proposed new facility will be released during today’s announcement. The event is occurring outside the main entrance of the existing Civic Center Arena.

The structure would have a smaller seating capacity than Birmingham’s Legacy Arena, but is on par with the Von Braun Center in Huntsville and the newly-built Enmarket Arena in Savannah, Ga.

Negotiations are still ongoing with the arena’s new program manager, Denver-based Oak View Group (OVG), managers of sports venues throughout the country. City officials say that OVG is in the process of taking over the management of the Civic Center from ASM Global, which has long operated the existing structure.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc., the world’s largest live entertainment company, is also expected to be part of the project.

Barber said all management contracts for the new venue are expected to be finalized by April, at which time the Mobile City Council will be expected to vote on them.

Mardi Gras factor

City officials believe what will make the new arena stand out from other venues in the country is its affiliation with Mardi Gras events.

The new 78-foot-tall arena will be specifically designed to host Mardi Gras balls that can attract more than 7,300 revelers, a much larger capacity that what currently attends Mardi Gras balls inside the Civic Center. The adjoining grand hall on the proposed new building’s northwestern entrance will also accommodate up to 1,000 people for Mardi Gras balls and other events.

“There is no other facility like this in the country because of Mardi Gras,” Barber said.

The existing Civic Center has long been an epicenter for some of the oldest and most well-attended Mardi Gras balls during the Carnival season.

City officials say they have not yet determined alternative sites for the Mardi Gras societies that use the existing venue while the new arena is under construction. Demolition of the entire Civic Center property is expected to start in August and will take approximately six months to complete. Construction on the new venue will begin in February 2025, and at least two Carnival seasons -- the 2025 and 2026 seasons -- will be without a civic center arena.

“We don’t want to interfere with more than two Mardi Gras,” Barber said.

Renovation concerns

Barber calls the existing Civic Center Arena “in failure” as a structure, noting that it was classified in 2009 as “obsolete.” He said that an estimate to renovate the existing Civic Center venue would cost $242 million, and with the potential to cost even more.

“You don’t know how much it will cost until you take it apart and find other issues,” Barber said, adding that renovation equates to “a 60-year-old facility with new skin on it. But that’s it.”

The existing facility is also costly to taxpayers, operating at a $1.8 million loss each year. That figure equates to approximately $18 million over 10 years, Barber said.

The costs to maintain the building continue to increase. Last month, the council approved a $287,000 to fix the face of the Civic Center’s theater amid concerns over falling bricks. Some council members, after voting to support the temporary fix, called the entire venue an “old worn-out shoe.”

Barber also said the existing facility, a circular design, is not built to logistically handle modern-era live entertainment shows and concerts. He said the new, rectangular-shaped arena will have a 200,000-pound rigging capacity, which can accommodate the most elaborate touring productions.

Barber said renovating the existing structure would not give Mobile the ability to compete with other cities that have newer venues for touring acts.

“The lifespan for a renovated building is 15 years versus 50 years for a new building,” he said.

No theater – for now

For now, the city has no plans for rebuilding a theater on the Civic Center property.

A proposed future site plan calls for building a new theater on the Civic Center’s 22-acre property’s far western side abutting near Lawrence Street. Other future developments include a new hotel adjacent to a parking garage that is under construction and new residential and mixed-use development.

Theater shows will be relocated into other venues, Barber said, such as at the 1,900-seat historic Saenger Theater in downtown Mobile.

“We think we can accommodate 60 percent of what happens at the theater,” he said. “Everyone is trying to work through this process.”

The new arena would be built further east than the existing arena. An outdoor promenade, which could be used as a future staging ground for Mardi Gras parades, will be constructed west of the arena’s entrance.

The entrance to the arena would face the outdoor promenade. The current arena entrance faces Spanish Plaza.

Financially doable

Stimpson said the city is poised to pay for the project without having to sacrifice city services or whittling away at capital improvement projects.

Under the plan, the city plans to borrow $165 million to $170 million, and repay the debt over a 20-year period.

Stimpson said the plan also includes the city putting up $100 million in cash toward the overall development. Of that, $50 million would come from the city’s “unassigned fund balance,” which is sometimes referred to as a budget surplus.

The city has dipped into that balance to provide $30 million for a new airport terminal project under construction at the Brookley Aeroplex, and to support the new Civic Center parking garage that is expected to be finished in January 2025. The 1,000-space garage will service both the Civic Center and the nearby U.S. Army Corps of Engineers office building that is currently under construction.

Stimpson said the city’s overall finances are in good enough shape to pursue the project. He said the city’s existing debt – once at over $300 million in 2012 – is expected to be paid off by 2030.

Stimpson said that for the first four years, the city will plan on making interest-only payments while the remaining existing debt is paid down. After 2030, the city plans to make principal and interest payments until the entire bonded amount is retired by 2045.

“Not only do we have the will to do it, we have the means to do it,” Stimpson said.

The new arena is expected to draw 400,000 people annually, while adding new jobs within the service industry, Stimpson said. The Mobile Chamber is currently undergoing an economic impact analysis for the new arena.

The city is also looking for outside help that includes $40 million for naming rights associated with the building and features within it, $3 million to preserve existing mosaics currently on display within the Civic Center, and a 10% investment from the arena’s partner – presumably OVG.

Candace Cooksey, a spokesperson for Stimpson, said there will be a “check point” on the overall costs of the project once it’s at 60% design, which is expected to be this summer. She said that the project is currently at 30% design.

Volkert Inc., the project managers for the city on the Civic Center project, are charged with ensuring that the project does not exceed $300 million, she said.

Hockey

The new Civic Center plan caps off years of discussions on what to do with the existing venue that once hosted Elvis Presley in concert but has been diminished in its usage for decades. It continues to remain one of the hottest spots during the city’s Carnival season, which is Alabama’s largest annual festival.

The current venue was also once home to the Mobile Mysticks minor league hockey team until it suspended operations in 2002.

Barber said the design for the new arena includes an ice arena to host shows such as Disney on Ice. But there is also interest in luring a minor league hockey team to Mobile, although details appear to be preliminary.

Jason Johnson, a spokesman for Stimpson, said the city is not engaged with talks right now about attracting a minor league team to Mobile.

Barber said that OVG would be charged with bringing a hockey team to the new arena. He said the company would also be charged with the site selection of a hockey club’s training facility.

The nearest minor league hockey franchise is the Pensacola Ice Flyers (previously the Ice Piolets), who have played their home games at the Pensacola Bay Center since the mid-1990s.

The Ice Flyers play in the Southern Professional Hockey League, consisting of franchises in the southeastern U.S., Illinois, and Indiana.