Construction is nearly constant these days, but the big builds still awaken a special thrill for the owners, the builders and the communities anticipating these new projects.
Alabama is home to some really big builds these days — projects that hope to attract sports fans, music fans, Mardi Gras revelers and a host of high-paying jobs.
Sure, the creation of standard office buildings and housing are vital to the success of the construction industry. But the projects that are quirky or sprawling or just plain fun add spice to the landscape.
Here is a progress report on four such projects in various stages of development throughout Alabama.
Regions Arena (Mobile)
After serving the city for six decades, the original Mobile Civic Center was demolished in 2024 to make way for a new entertainment venue on the same site. Regions Arena, which is scheduled to open early next year, will be able to accommodate up to 10,000 people for a wide variety of events, including concerts, sports and — most importantly for Mobile — Mardi Gras festivities.
“It’s a very exciting project for Mobile,” says John Sandoval, a Mobile resident and senior project manager for BL Harbert International, which is overseeing construction. “Mardi Gras culture is a huge part of this city, and this arena is going to be one of the centerpieces of those celebrations. So, it’s a lot of fun to be a part of such an important project to this city.”
Sandoval says the nearly 300,000-square-foot arena is unlike most construction projects because of the large amount of open space inside where the games and concerts take place, as well as the sports-specific requirements needed such as electronic scoreboards and an ice rink for the new Mobile Mysticks hockey team.
“These arenas have a huge open space with no columns or structural supports in the middle. So structurally, how you assemble it is a little bit of a difficult process of working your way through with multi-piece roof trusses,” Sandoval says.
“You also have a lot of arena-specific components that aren’t in your typical office building or hotel. The scoreboards, audio systems, camera and lighting systems. All the infrastructure to support large productions. Then the ice rink system is complicated. It requires a lot of coordination that’s different from what you see in a regular commercial building.”
Companies that have been helping with that coordination include architects Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC) and Populous, structural engineer Walter P. Moore, MEP engineer Henderson, and program manager Volkert.
One other aspect that makes this project special for Sandoval is that, unlike an office building or housing complex, he actually will be able to spend time inside a structure he helped create.
“That’s a little bit of a different experience, to be a part of something that is open and available to the community,” he says. “I’ll get to go back and enjoy the space that I was part of creating. And so many of my friends and family will be going in and out of that building.
“It’s rewarding, because it’s impacting so many more people than, say, the 200 people who might work in an office building. Plus, this will be a building that’s used for fun and not work. It’s cool to be part of a project that the public gets to come and enjoy for entertainment.”
JST Facility (Guntersville)
The new JST Corp. manufacturing facility is scheduled to open in 2029. That’s important to know because once it’s open, you might not be able to tell it’s there from just a quick glance.
The Japan-based electronics manufacturer has announced plans to create a $500 million, 540,000-square-foot facility in Guntersville’s Conners Island Business Park, with a design that will incorporate the natural setting adjacent to 69,000-acre Lake Guntersville.
JST’s architectural partner, Ryuichi Ashizawa, is known for seamlessly incorporating facility design, landscaping and natural resource preservation. That will be the case in Guntersville, where the property will remain in such a natural state that part of it will be open for public use.
“The property’s large footprint is ideal for JST’s commitment to environmental stewardship,” JST Plant Manager Kevin Lauret said in a news release. “Our plans include keeping the bulk of the property in its natural state.”
Eli Lilly Facility (Huntsville)
Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly has announced plans to invest more than $6 billion into an advanced manufacturing operation in Huntsville. Set to be built on a 260-acre site just off I-565 (with an additional 240-acre adjacent parcel being held for future expansion), the facility will create 450 high-paying jobs for engineers, scientists and lab techs.
Construction is scheduled to take approximately 5 years, with completion in 2032. The construction phase alone is expected to generate more than 3,000 jobs.
“Huntsville’s track record of science and innovation, supported by advanced manufacturing expertise and a skilled workforce, makes Alabama an ideal location for Lilly to expand domestic manufacturing capacity for next-generation medicines,” Eli Lilly Chair and CEO David Ricks said in a news release.
Sports Illustrated Resort (Tuscaloosa)
There is nothing quite like the moments leading up to kickoff on a college football gameday. The excitement steadily builds until, finally, the players take the field and the crowd begins to cheer. For Alabama Crimson Tide games, that means a sustained roar of “Roll Tide” in the moments just before kickoff.
Now imagine if that anticipation lasted for five years. That is basically what is taking place right now in Tuscaloosa with the construction of the much-publicized Sports Illustrated Resort, which was announced in 2023, broke ground earlier this year and is scheduled to open in 2028.
“This has already been a high-profile project, and it’s going to stay that way for another two years,” says John Tschudin, project manager for Doster Construction. “There’s just a lot of excitement around it. There are a lot of people very interested in the outcome of this job.”
In many ways, the project is similar to most any other condominium construction. It will be a six-story combination of 75 privately owned condos and 86 timeshare vacation units, with onsite restaurants, bars and other amenities.
What makes this project a little different are the names involved — Travel + Leisure is the owner and Sports Illustrated is the brand — along with the overall concept, which is for the facility to have an emphasis on the game-day experience for all sporting events in Tuscaloosa, not just Crimson Tide football.
“It’s a game-day resort targeted for sports enthusiasts, either for ownership or just staying as a vacation rental,” Tschudin says. “There are going to be some high-level amenities. Commercial kitchen and coffee bar, swimming pools, pickleball courts, rooftop terraces. The level of finishes is very high.”
In addition to Doster, LJC Design & Engineering served as the architect, Genesis is the primary engineer, TTL is the civil and geotechnical engineer, and John Plott Co. is the site contractor.
Cary Estes is a Birmingham-based freelance contributor to Business Alabama.
This article appears in the September 2026 issue of Business Alabama.
