New renderings for a proposed Gulf Shores-Orange Beach sports tourism complex were unveiled during the Alabama Beaches Tourism Summit at Gulf State Lodge last week, marking another step forward in a project aimed at expanding sports and event tourism along the Gulf Coast.

Originally announced in 2022, the complex is planned for a 111-acre plot of land in northeast Gulf Shores that was purchased by Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism to support the region's growing demand for sports facilities and tournaments.

"Sports tourism is an important component of our year-round tourism-based economy," said Michelle Russ, vice president of sales at Alabama's Beaches Sports & Events. "Getting to the next step in building a sports tourism complex is both exciting and needed. We are aiming to replace business we've lost due to lack of existing field capacity with our residential growth and seek new business to help the local economy continue to thrive."

The property sits near the intersection of Coastal Gateway Boulevard (County Road 8 East) and the Foley Beach Express, just west of the Auburn University Gulf Coast Engineering Research Station and close to the city limits of both Foley and Orange Beach.

Planning for the facility has been underway for several years, beginning with a feasibility study conducted by The Sports Facilities Companies in late 2022. The process has since included community meetings, site planning and the selection of Chambliss King Architects to develop an initial conceptual site plan.

At the summit, Russ presented the new renderings that showcased a 3D-modeled version of the complex.

"We've updated the site plan, we moved parking to the east, and we have a lot of renderings to show how great this is going to be," Russ said. "We've got plans to show the distance between the homes. We want to have a great picture of this for all of our neighbors, our community, our local leaders, to see what we can do here. We've even got some pictures of lights because that's always a concern. We have been working really hard to make sure we have the right images, the right product and the right complex."

The renderings display the 1,190-parking lot space moved to the east side of the complex along with walking space between the 11 playing fields, a main plaza with screens, shaded areas, concession stands and bathroom locations, an outline of a wired fence set to surround the property and two retention lakes within viewing distance of the walkways.

There are still no dates attached to the complex regarding a groundbreaking. However, at the end of the presentation Russ announced Alabama Beaches had been urged to move forward with the project.

"Just this past week, I'm so excited to share that we turned in our PUD (Planned Unit Development) to the city officials and also our rezoning request," Russ said. "So we've talked for a lot of years about doing this, and our board asked us to move forward, and that's just what we're doing — the next steps are more planning meetings, review the application on April 28 with the Planning and Zoning Commission, and then from there it will go to city council."