Hotel, rooftop bar, restaurant announced for Mobile riverfront

MOBILE, Ala. (WPMI) — A hub for hospitality and entertainment is coming to the Port City. The city of Mobile coupled with Burton Property Group and Kessler Capital, announced plans to bring a new project to Downtown Mobile called Riverfront Plaza.

"River Walk Plaza intends to combine a variety of uses into one site. Mixed use, hotel, restaurant, office, residential units,” says Philip Burton, CEO/President of Burton Property Group. “With access both from the road and from the water."

Burton says the ultimate goal of the project is to become a catalyst to activate Mobile's waterfront and to provide access to the water.

"Allowing people to walk from our site, enjoy a beverage, grab dinner, and walk down to Cooper Riverside," says Burton.

Riverwalk Plaza will be on city of Mobile property on Water Street, adjacent to the Mobile Convention Center. Mayor Sandy Stimpson says Riverwalk Plaza will have something for everyone and the hotel will be higher end, including a boutique and a rooftop bar.

"This is an image changer, it is going to provide so many things that we currently don't have today and so it just continues to raise the bar for the city of Mobile and that's something that we can all buy into and be excited about," says Mayor Stimpson.

Carol Hunter with the Downtown Mobile Alliance says this project will further cement the city's reputation as a great place for people to visit.

"Specifically, the waterfront is where we will see the biggest impact. We have the most wonderful working waterfront, but it has seemed to be just detached from the rest of downtown,” says Carol Hunter. “It's been a real challenge to connect the waterfront to the rest of downtown."

She says this project will help do that. Mayor Stimpson says as Riverwalk Plaza evolves, they'll be asking the community for input.

"People will drive down Water Street and they'll see this hotel when they come up the river. they're going to be impressed," says Mayor Stimpson.

They aim to break ground for this project in 2025.