Mobile’s only waterfront park will be closed for the next year for repairs after an engineering group discovered structural defects along a walkway overlooking the Mobile River.

Cooper Riverside Park remains a part of the city’s long-term plans to spark more entertainment along its downtown waterfront surrounded by museums, a convention center and cruise terminal.

The park could also be the first stop for Amtrak passengers if a train stop is built at the foot of Government and Water streets to support a new New Orleans-to-Mobile twice daily route.

“There is so much you can do with that space and it doesn’t cost a lot of money to do it, creates so much happiness and connectivity to (the waterfront),” said David Clark, president & CEO with Visit Mobile.

Big fixes

The Mobile City Council approved a nearly $7 million contract on Tuesday with Mobile-based Rob’t J. Baggett Inc. to replace the bulkhead – a man-made structure that forms the shoreline at Cooper Riverside Park.

The money to pay for the project comes from oil and gas leases the state receives annually from the federal Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act of 2006 (GOMESA). Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey, who is charged with doling out GOMESA money to Mobile and Baldwin counties, allocated $8 million to the city in 2021 to support the park’s enhancements.

Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, in a statement to AL.com, said the bulkhead repairs represent the first phase of a two-phase project that will help secure the waterfront and “set the groundwork for future upgrades and improvements in Cooper Riverside Park.”

The bulkhead was constructed in 1995, and a deck rehabilitation within the park last took place in 2004.

“Activating the downtown waterfront is something my administration has been focused on for some time, which you can see in the plans already in motion for the Hall of Fame Courtyard and the recently announced Riverwalk Plaza hotel and retail development,” Stimpson said, referring to two projects announced within the past two months that are under development nearby.

“Ensuring Cooper Riverside Park is safe and ready for events of all sizes is an essential part of that vision for connecting Mobilians and visitors to our downtown waterfront,” he said.

The section closest to the waterfront was barricaded in September, following an underwater survey by Moffatt & Nichol revealed multiple holes and voids behind the retaining walls of the bulkhead and platform. The closure, according to the city, was out of an “abundance of caution” and at the recommendation of Moffatt & Nichol.

The park will be closed during construction, and no public events will take place within it for the next year.

Events held within the park will be hosted in an alternate location, like Mardi Gras Park in downtown Mobile. The “Saturdays at the Coop” events held within the park have been postponed until the project is completed.

Mobile City Councilman William Carroll, who represents the downtown area, said the repairs are long overdue.

“I can remember 10 to 12 years ago, we had (a need) to repair it,” Carroll said. “Hopefully this repair will do what we need it to do to have at least a 20-year life expectancy out of it.”

He said access to the park is limited while repairs take place.

“We are very limited due to safety,” he said. “We want the public safe and secure.”

Activating waterfront

Clark said he hopes plans evolve in the next year on what the park should look like as other nearby developments evolve.

He said he would like to see the park’s amphitheater covered with a canopy, the restrooms upgraded, fiber optics installed, and the park activated with small businesses like restaurants and bars that operate inside a container ship.

“I’ve always thought this space has always been underutilized,” Clark said. “I think our city parks and recreation department has done a good job of programming throughout our city and trying to use this space more. It is a space with tremendous placemaking in all ways whether it’s strolling the riverfront, watching the cruise ship come in, and the freight ships. Not many cities have the opportunity like we do to use the waterfront and have so many multi-dimensional uses.”

Cooper Riverside Park’s revitalization could take place around the same time as other nearby developments occur:

• The city is examining a complete overhaul to the Mobile Civic Center, built in 1964 but considered outdated compared to more modern sports and entertainment venues. A parking deck to support a future Civic Center revitalization is already under construction as is a new office building for the U.S. Amry Corps of Engineers.

1/7

• River Walk Plaza – a new mixed-use development featuring a hotel, restaurants, bars, offices and storefronts – will be under construction in 2025, and is located a short walking distance to Cooper Riverside Park.
• Heroes Plaza facing Water Street and the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center is under construction and could be completed by the end of this year. It will feature statues of Mobile’s five native members to the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame – Hank Aaron, Satchel Paige, Willie McCovey, Billy Williams and Ozzie Smith – as well as its only homegrown member of the National Football League Hall of Fame, Robert Brazile Jr. The Plaza could also be a future home for a Visit Mobile Welcome Center.
• The park’s entry is adjacent to where Amtrak covets a new train stop to support the new Gulf Coast passenger rail connection that could be restarted this fall. The Mobile City Council still has to vote on a lease agreement to allow for the construction of the train stop.

Clark said there are also discussions about building a new boardwalk behind the Convention Center that would connect to Cooper Riverside Park.

He said connectivity of the new developments will be key in creating a new entertainment district that encompasses the waterfront.

Clark said the interest in revitalizing the park is backed by a survey that the city’s parks and recreation department did about four years which showed “the No. 1 thing residents wanted the most was access to the waterfront.”

“We’ve been talking about it and collaborating on this with the city for six years,” Clark said. “Sometimes it’s kind of a long-term (strategy). You keep collaborating and throwing out ideas and then you get the money in place … it’s all about timing. And the timing is coming together nicely.”