ORANGE BEACH — The Wharf plans to expand across the Intracoastal Waterway with the purchase of 89 acres of the former site of the Bama Bayou development, but the fate of part of Bama Bayou is still undecided.

The Wharf announced last week that it had acquired some of the former Bama Bayou property.

Jim Bibby, Wharf manager, said the company is preparing plans for the site.

"We purchased the land. We purchased 89 acres of undeveloped land. We're in the process of just meeting with developers and seeing what type of projects we will put in there right now. Right now, we have some plans in place for the east side that we've been working on for some time, but we've got several acres we don't know what to do with."

He said Wharf owner Art Favre is working with developers on uses for the new site. He said some of the area could become retail developing with other attractions.

"We've discussed maybe some light stuff over there as far as having water taxis going back and forth. It's a pretty nice property and Art thinks that we can really develop into a pretty area along with partnering up with the city or some other people to develop it," Bibby said. "We're always looking at ways of enhancing the property and offering a unique experience. We think this is going to enhance what we've got here at The Wharf. I'm excited."

One part of Bama Bayou that is not included in the acquisition is about five acres that includes the buildings constructed as part of the original project, according to Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon. Kennon said the buildings are dilapidated and need to be torn down.

Kennon said those buildings are on property that is still part of a lawsuit filed against the original developers.

"We've been in the court system for 13 years," Kennon said. "Lawyers getting rich off of it. Judge wouldn't let us clean the place up like it should have been. Take the buildings down. So, I'm hoping maybe somebody will get their act together, get that property cleaned. I mean, it's just an absurdity that it's been sitting there for 13 years. An absolute eyesore at the gateway to Alabama's beaches."

Bibby said the price of the developed property was too expensive to be included in the purchase.

"We were not interested in those because of the costs involved in those buildings," Bibby said. "They're pretty expensive to purchase those. I don't know the number, but I know that, we carved that out because of the cost of the buildings."

Bibby said The Wharf wants to work with the city to get the rest of the site cleaned and the buildings renovated or removed.

"Again, we're excited about this opportunity to work not just with Tony but the city," Bibby said. "They want to clean up that area and so do we. I drive across there every day and those buildings need something done to them, whether it's to be torn down or remodeled, or whatever the situation is, but we don't want to purchase the property and it just looks the same. So, we're as interested in getting that fixed as anybody else. We're going to make it happen. It's going to be a challenge, but we're going to get there."

Plans for Bama Bayou began about 20 years ago. Construction began, but later stopped as funding ran out.

One of the banks providing the funding, Vision Bank, sued developers in 2009 claiming that they had defaulted on loans totaling about $21 million, according to court documents. The case reached the Alabama Supreme Court.

In 2020, the Supreme Court ruled that the lower courts had not made a mistake in awarding judgements in favor of the banks that did not include accounting for interest and sent the case back to Mobile County Circuit Court where it had been filed, according to court documents.

As recently as 2018, another private developer, Presidium of Austin, Texas, announced their plans to develop the property.

The company said it planned to buy the entire site and build a large-scale, mixed-use development, including hotels, convention center, water park, aquarium, interactive marine mammal experience and other attractions, including animal rescue and rehabilitation facilities.