Gulf Shores Mall Deal with Colonial Headed to Court

Posted on Mon, Oct. 31, 2005

Associated Press


GULF SHORES, Ala. - The legality of a deal between Gulf Shores and Birmingham-based Colonial Properties Trust will be tested in court more than a year after the city council agreed to buy 42 acres for $10 million and lease it back to the developers for a retail center.

A hearing is scheduled for Nov. 21 in Foley on the court filing by Gulf Shores, which is aimed at getting judicial approval of the constitutionality of the deal and showing that public funds are secure.

Under the transaction Colonial Properties, a publicly traded firm, will build a 270,000-square-foot retail center called Colonial Pinnacle at Craft Farms. The center, to be completed in 2007 after a total investment of $49 million, will be anchored by a Target store that is under construction and a 14-screen Cobb Theatre, which opened this summer.

Baldwin County District Attorney David Whetstone said the hearing plan could change because a challenge to Gov. Bob Riley's Gulf State Park redevelopment proposal is set to begin the same day in a Fairhope courtroom.


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Information from: Mobile Register, http://www.al.com/mobreg/mob.html