The Foley City Council will be meeting in a special-called meeting on Sept. 26 at 1:30 p.m. to discuss the sale of city-owned property to a prospective hotel developer. The meeting will be in council chambers at city hall.

The council will consider a resolution to allow Mayor Ralph Hellmich to sign closing documents for the sale of a parcel of property for developers Eddie Spence and Jim Brown to build a Cobblestone Suites with a Wissota Chophouse steakhouse included. See related story.

The 2.19-acre parcel is located in the Foley Farmer’s Market subdivision at the corner of County Road 20 and Koniar Way west of Wolf Bay Lodge. It will require a $10,000 non-refundable deposit on the property from the prospective buyers.

Spence said he hopes to break ground on the project in 45 days.

The purchase price was not directly stated but the action also amends the fiscal year 2023 budget by adding $164,250. According to Baldwin County tax records, the parcel was appraised at $453,700 and the city was assessed $90,740 in property taxes.

Also, included in the resolution is an easement for the buyers to allow the discharge of storm water from the parcel, lot eight of the subdivision, unto lot seven. 

“It is adjacent to another lot we own and we are letting them expand our pond for their stormwater,” Hellmich said.

Spence said he and Brown are also planning to develop a second Cobblestone Suites in Gulf Shores on the north side of East Beach Boulevard north of Lighthouse Condominiums. It will also include a Wissota Chophouse.

In the summer of 2023, Orange Beach OK’d the building of a Cobblestone Suites hotel at The Wharf on the site of the old mini-golf course, but ground has not been broken on that project.