Why Mobile Alabama?

Growth in Mobile

• Gross Metropolitan Product (GMP) projects 34% increase 2007 – 2012 by Moody / Forbes Magazine.
• RSA Tower, the tallest building in Alabama and the largest building on the Gulf Coast outside Houston, TX, has leased 80% of its 534,268 rentable square feet in the first year.
• ThyssenKrupp - $3.7 billion steel plant currently under construction will generate 29,000 construction jobs and 2,700 permanent jobs in 2010 (additional 5,000 spinoff jobs in related industries)
• APM Terminals North America and Terminal Link joint venture – New Mobile Container Terminal is a $300 million intermodal facility - opening September 2008 – 1st phase 300 jobs, final phase 1,400 additional jobs
• Northrop Grumman / EADS KC-45A tanker plane contract - 1,800 jobs; includes commitment to also build commercial freighters
• ST Mobile Aerospace (MAE) at Brookley Field – $470 million FedEx contract to convert 87 passenger jets to air freighters – 1,302 jobs
• New Airbus Research & Development Center – 150 engineering jobs
• Austal USA – $25 million expansion - new training facility & $235 million military transport contract.  Austal is building a prototype for a new Navy warship and competing to build 50 more vessels for the Navy – 1,000 additional jobs, complete 2013
• Mitchell Cancer Institute – new $100 million treatment and research facility, will employ 600+ physicians and scientists creating thousands of additional jobs and a $1 billion impact on Mobile’s economy.  (Only stage II and stage III cancer center between Houston and Tampa.)
• Horizon Shipbuilding – 120 job expansion
• International Shipholding (NYSE ticker ISH) moved its Headquarters from Louisiana – 135 jobs
• Signal International Corp. relocated corporate headquarters here in 2007.
• Aaron Oil Company, Evonik Degussa, Mississippi Structural Insulated  Panels – 80 new jobs
• USA Technology Park – 35 acres near University of South Alabama (Mentor Graphics is the anchor tenant) just completed phase II adding 35,000 square feet to existing 76,000 square feet.
• Technology and Information sectors plan to add 6,000 jobs.  (Technology firms with home offices in Mobile include: CentraLite, Epiphany Development, Fort Inc., Global Tel*Link, Logical Communication Services Inc., Mentor Graphics and Xanté Corporation, TeleVox, The SSI Group, CPSI, DocuSys, Digidyne)
• Cruise Terminal expansion and second ship proposed
• Alabama Motorsports Park, a Dale Earnhardt Jr. Speedway, is slated to begin $624 million sports and entertainment venue construction in June, 2008
• Broad base of existing diversified industries
  

Transportation infrastructure

• Port of Mobile with 190 shipping lines – ranked 10th in the country in 2006 and growing.
• Mobile Container Port – Phase 1 complete 2008 – quadruples capacity of port to 350,000 TEUs annually, 800,000 TEUs upon final expansion
• Barge access – Intercoastal  and the Tombigbee Waterways reaches the Midwest and northeast by water
• Rail access – 5 class 1 railroads and several smaller lines
• Interstate access (I-10 and I-65)
• I-10 stretches across the country from Los Angeles (Pacific Ocean) to Jacksonville, FL (Atlantic Ocean)
• I-65 goes from Mobile (on the Gulf of Mexico) to Chicago (on lake Michigan
• Air access (Brookley field and Mobile Airport) – two FAA tower airports
• Brookley has the longest runway east of the Mississippi River (9,600 feet long), capable of landing the Space Shuttle

Business Climate

• Non-union “Right to work” state, low cost labor pool
• Alabama is pro-business
• One Step Environmental Permitting
• Manufacturing training called best in the United States by Expansion Management Magazine, AL Industrial Development Training (AIDT)
• Low state of Alabama property taxes
• Mobile property taxes lowest in the state

Lifestyle

• Temperate climate
• Access to beaches and Mobile Bay
• Family Friendly Lifestyle
• Cultural and racial Diversity
• Largest school system in the state

• Higher education available locally (8 colleges and universities)
• Moderate Traffic
• Dynamic Arts community including Mobile Symphony, Mobile Opera and Mobile Museum of Art
• Birthplace of Mardi Gras in America (1 million spectators annually)
• Exciting and vibrant downtown
• Unparalleled opportunities for participatory and spectator outdoor recreation.