Gulf Shores Council OKs Boat Factory

Facility expected to employ 48 workers within three years

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

By GUY BUSBY

Staff Reporter

A group that includes former Krispy Kreme top executive Joseph A. "Mac" McAleer Jr. will build a 20,000-square-foot boat factory in Gulf Shores that is expected to have 48 workers within three years, according to area officials.

McAleer already owns 27 acres east of the Dr. W.C. Holmes Bridge, which carries Alabama 59 over the Intracoastal Waterway. The tract is home to Lulu's Landing, a 6,000-square-foot restaurant owned by Lucy Buffett, sister of singer Jimmy Buffett.

The site is also to include a marina and condominium development, according to Ken Carter, a partner in the boat plant.

The Gulf Shores City Council on Monday night approved a seven-year noneducational property tax exemption for the boat plant that will be built on 5 acres inside the city industrial park, located near McAleer's 27-acre parcel.

The company would also be exempt from local sales taxes on building materials bought in Gulf Shores for the project, Lance LaCour, executive director of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance, said Tuesday.

The abatements will save the company about $23,000 in property taxes and an estimated $30,914 in sales taxes, LaCour said. The city would also exempt mortgage taxes worth about $1,700.

In return, Gulf Shores will get a new business with an investment of $1.15 million in construction costs and 48 manufacturing jobs within the next three years, he said. It was unclear Tuesday how many of the jobs would be full time and what they would pay.

Construction is expected to start in July, with plant production beginning at the end of November, according to Carter. Initial plans call for production of 100 boats per year, eventually increasing to 400.

McAleer was out of the area and not available for comment, according to company officials.

McAleer Marine Group will build 19- and 22-foot stern console fishing boats at the plant, according to the company's Web site. The craft, which will be propelled by a jet-drive engine rather than a standard propeller, are designed to be operated in shallow water, such as areas of Mobile Bay, as well as offshore.

Don Druse, another partner in the boat plan, said the boats will go everywhere from shallows with a few inches of water to 20 miles offshore.

The boats are expected to cost $50,000 to $60,000, about the same price as other similarly sized bay boats, Druse said.

Ernie Smith, Gulf Shores city administrator, said the plant will provide not only new jobs, but will help the economy diversify.

"This will be one of the few manufacturing facilities that we have," Smith said Tuesday. "It's hard for us to get manufacturing facilities with our location."

McAleer is the son of the late Joseph McAleer, who established the area's first Krispy Kreme store in Prichard in the 1950s. Mac McAleer became president of the company in 1988 after his father retired. Mac McAleer retired as chair man of the Krispy Kreme board of directors in 2003, according to previously published reports.