City approves deal to support project
By DONNA THORNTON, Editor
The Albertville City Council approved a project development agreement to support the Alleyway Entertainment development underway at Mathis Mill Road and Bollinger Street.
The Alleyway Entertainment project had been in the works with local developer Don Spurlin for several years before work began in June.
The council slated a public hearing on the request for this agreement with the city for Tuesday, and Albertville Economic Development Director Mike Price shared information about that the 32,000 square-foot facility dedicated to family entertainment.
It will include:
• 20 lanes of bowling
• Private party rooms
• Arcade
• Axe-throwing arena
• Sports bar and restaurant in house
• Sports simulators rooms that will include golf, NASCAR and others
• Laser tag and laser maze
• Virtual reality arcade and games
• 5D theaters
In the past, city approved $1.5 million equity injection, as allowed by the state. The equity injection was part of a bond issue by the city, Price said, and it will be repaid through sales tax revenue generated by the project itself “which is important for us all to remember.
“This administration has only ever approved project development agreements that have the project itself paying for the repayment, without relying on any other source of repayment,” Price explained.
He added that the $1.5 million amount was conservatively derived via a third-party feasibility study and a pro forma that used that feasibility study. Price said the reason that pro forma — a look at the impact of a financial decision — is considered conservative in that it does not include any of the traffic or potential traffic from the Sand Mountain Park and Amphitheater.
“It’s based on just the community at large,” he said.
The request before the city Tuesday was for $1.8 million for all equipment to be purchased for the project, once again, governed by the state law for incentives, he said. “The request will be fully self-funded by the city,” Price said. “The city will maintain a first-security lien interest in all the equipment purchased. Repayment will be based on a 20-year amortization schedule with monthly interest payments paid to the city of 5%.
“The incentive will be fully reimbursed with interest, via 7.5% of gross revenue of the project,” he said. So anything the project brings in, he said, the lease agreement will be 7.5% of that.
Any excess collected will allocated as follows:
• Twenty percent will be deposited to a city-owned repair and replacement account to be used via city-approved requisition to repair or replace the city-owned equipment.
• Eighty percent of any excess will be deposited to a redemption fund.
“Should the redemption fund accumulate to a point that it satisfies the remaining balance, the accumulated redemption fund would be used to satisfy the remaining incentive balance and the ownership would revert to Alleyway Properties and Alleyway Entertainment,” he continued.
Conservative projections made using that feasibility study put payback of the $1.8 million occurring sometime between year five and six, Price said.
Price said the project is scheduled to be open by June 2026, which could change if construction is delayed. The total cost of the project is $10 million-plus, he said. Price said he didn’t have an exact cost number because some square-footage was added to the project after the initial cost estimates he had reviewed.
No one spoke for or against the agreement during the public hearing, but Bonnie Callahan said she had some comments.
Callahan — who lost a bid for City Council earlier this year — said she probably would not be there if the council responded to her request in May to review the original economic stimulus package on this project.
“That request was resubmitted in June to each of you, including the mayor, in writing, with a signed mayoral receipt,” she said, and she reminded councilmembers that public records disclosure is mandated by state law.
“So here we are. This is a two-way conversation,” she said. “Will my questions be answered today?”
“They will not,” Council President Nathan Broadhurst told her.
Callahan said she appreciated the synopsis of the project, that the city should provide that every time a project is put forth.
“The thing is now the city is going to own equipment,” and service it, she said.
“Since you’re not going to have a two-way communication, then I have nothing to say,” Callahan said, adding she couldn’t do or say anything to the city leaders.
The council voted unanimously to approve the project development agreement.
In closing comments, Broadhurst expressed appreciation to Price and Tony Broadmoor for their work on the Alleyway project. He noted that he’d had to vote no on a similar project brought before the council years ago because it was not economically feasible at the time.
“It’s very similar to the type of incentive to what we did for Lucas Cinemas, which has been a huge success, double the projections they brought to us,” he said. He said he was pleased to see another entertainment venue bring brought to Albertville, and he applauded Spurlin for pursuing the project for more than 10 years to bring this facility to the city.
He said he wanted to remind citizens: Requests for public information or documents are not made to the council or the mayor; they are made to the city clerk’s office and handled under the direction of the city legal team, as they should be, and as required by law.
Renderings provided by Nichols Naylor Architects show the proposed Alleyway Entertainment complex that is being built at Mathis Mill Road and Bollinger Street in Albertville. The center will include bowling, laser tag, a restaurant and sports bar and more. The city agreed to a $1.5 million ‘equity injunction’ to help the project, to be repaid by sales tax revenue. NICHOLS NAYLOR ARCHITECTS
